Free Andy Van Tour: Part 2: Oregon Coast

Day 4, Friday Oct 15th (Seaside - Newport)

After our failed attempt to visit Portland, we were happy to be out of the cities and along the coast. Things are really different out here compared to i-5 (the massive highway). We are going to follow the coastal 101 highway... which is slow going and takes forever compared to the other extreme. We decided to break the mold and head to a campsite early so we could set up and make dinner in the light. We grabbed a few live crabs from a sea food shack thinking that it would be cheap, two crabs run you $50. However, a 60 of Canadian Club is $20, so we were able to make up the difference. Apparently the yanks don't think to much of Canadian Whiskey. We found that the campsites that the tour guide book directs us towards is the opposite of what we want. This campsite had 300 sites with massive RV's parked next to each other. So we now pick the worst rated sites in the book.

Taylor decided to wander down to the ocean in the wee hours... turned out he lost his camera and couldn't find it in the dark. He returned the next morning and still couldn't find it and was pretty upset but thankfully someone found his water proof camera floating around in the surf, took a picture of their dog, looked through the pictures and saw free andy and then took the effort to find the van in the campsite and dropped the camera off. What a good break!

- Jason

Day 5, Saturday Oct 16th (Newport - Florence)

Today we decided to be really touristy and visit all the attractions that Newport had to offer. We checked out a couple of lighthouses (which were kind of a joke because you couldn't even go to the top of the lighthouse), took a tour of Ripley's Believe it or Not, and cruised the streets of the old town along the bay. Before leaving town, we stopped at the local Walmart for some road supplies...Camo coloured beers and proceeded to head down the coast. Along the way we picked up some hitch hikers who were headed in the same direction as us and dropped them off 30 minutes down the road where we stopped to camp. Lisa had no say in this as she was sleeping in the back right before we stopped and...well, she wasn't impressed...we'll leave it at that. Before retiring for the night, the three of us pulled over along the dunes and checked out the sunset which turned out to be pretty epic. We figured that we were better at setting up camp in the dark, headlamps on! Personally I wanted nothing to do with setting up my tent, so I took the option and slept under the picnic table.

- Taylor

Day 6, Sunday Oct 17th (Florence - Coos Bay)

After a late night of finishing a couple bottles of wine and whiskey and playing "golf" we had a late start to our day. We don't have any major plans today so it was a good day for a sleep in. After we showered up and cleaned up our campsite we headed back on our way to the 101 scenic route. While we driving we ended up driving past our hitch hiking friends from yesterday and in order to avoid the awkwardness of driving past them and not picking them up we decided it would be best for us to take a detour and go find a back route to get back onto the highway. What we didn't realize is that no roads lead back to the highway and we ended up taking a tour of what Oregon real estate had to offer us. After Jason's good samaritan act of the day of helping a biker pick his bike back up we headed back for the highway. We headed through Dune City and stopped to take in a little beach action for the day. We bundled up, took some pictures and stuck our feet in the ocean. Now we are back in action, snagging some wireless from a Coos Bay macdonalds parking lot, while Jason is eating meat burgers in my face.
I bought her apple slices and she didn't appreciate them.
-Lisa

Day 7, Monday Oct 18th (Coos Bay - Brookings)

We havn't really been up to that much other then driving, checking out beaches and camping. We decided that we are tired of paying top dollar for fire wood from a pallet, so we're gathering drift wood from the beaches to keep costs down. We are unsure of the legalities of this operation so we are making sure to remain discrete. I decided to see what the hood of the van would look like with a paint job, so I used masking tape as a commitment free sample. We've decided it looks good but needs a few changes, and have the art supplies, however time and weather hasn't been on our side. We also decided to get supplies for a big canadian flag on the sliding door to combat the massive american flags that are displayed everywhere. Our favorite pass time is cards, we've been playing 'golf' and have had some heated games around our free fires. There hasn't been too much to do in the small coastal towns of Oregon so we've made our own fun... on to the much anticipated Cali next! We are anxious to see if the rumors are true, Wal-mart sells hard liquor!

-Jason