leg 5

the final stretch toward home.

wednesday may 11 2011

before going to bed scott and i had mapped out the rest of our journey. we knew how many days we had left, where we would like to go and where we would stay. this included one more night at cape lookout. the only reason we would move on, was if it started to pour and blow so hard that it made it unbearable...this was very unlikely as the forecast looked great.

we woke to rain, light rain, but rain none the less. a little broken hearted we cooked up breakfast and dressed the girls in rain pants to set out for a little walk through the forest trails. we stopped by the entrance booth to the campground and paid for one more night, besides, a little rain has yet to hurt anyone. though both scott and my spirits were dampened the girls skipped and hopped through the forest despite the rain. we found a salamander, and mushrooms, we looked for frogs and snails, we watched what happens to the ocean when you add rain to it and the girls asked if they could bring their buckets down to the beach to play...we said not right now, maybe when the skies cleared up a bit. at this point the rain had started to fall a little bit heavier, but still we were determined. we put on warm fleece pants in the van and let the girls watch tinkerbell on the laptop. all the while waiting for the rain to subdue. as we sat there i glanced around, maybe with a little envy at the massive trailers and motor homes that surrounded our little van. their lights and fireplaces on, water boiling on their stoves for tea and i am sure that fresh cookies were about to come out of their little kitchen ovens. i am pretty sure that the majority of their get away vehicles were bigger than our real home, deep sigh. my eyes now see beyond the surrounding homes and notice that the rain is falling at a rather quick speed and with great intensity, the wind has also started blowing...very hard. our tarp is caught by the wind and is ripped out of the ground, now flapping with vigor in the rain and wind. i make eye contact with scott...maybe now is the time to talk about finding a hotel.

we chat, we plan, we notice that it is not even lunch and it is going to be an awfully long day in the van. bless his heart, scott layers up and heads outside. at this point i wish i had taken a picture of him to show just how wet and crazy he looked. i packed up the inside, he packed up the outside...all the while, the girls are happily watching tinkerbell. scott heads to the bathroom with clean pants and undies...cause that is how wet he is.

we stop by the ranger station and are refunded our nights pay. we get on the road and smile at each other, are you serious, good thing we have a sunburn from the day before so we can pretend we had amazing weather on this trip when we get home.

we head toward tillamook, the cheese factory seems like a great rainy day adventure. we watch for an abnormally long time as the workers pack cheese, the girls seem fascinated by it, we are dry and warm, so we don't mind how long they look. we sampled cheese and ice cream and then head further north to seaside. in bed in a hotel we giggle at the crazy day. what the heck are we doing taking a road trip in the middle of may, and why have we not seen any other vw vans on the road.

[looking back at where we have come from]

thursday may 12 2011

we poke in our favorite surf shop and nearly bought a third board...next year i guess. we turn south and spend the day at cannon beach. the sun has come out again and we sit on the beach, run up dunes, explore the haystack rock and squeak through the sand.

when we finish we head to our final camp spot at fort stevens. after dinner we went on a family adventure with our flashlights. we followed our map and the trails, got lost, ate a mosquito, were eaten by mosquitoes, had races, scott was sarcastic and quite funny (he was ready to be home), we all laughed at him.

[learning from the haystack rock awareness program]

friday may 13 2011

there is an old ship wreak and we didn't get a chance to see it last year, so this time we decided to walk there. a mere two miles with kids who were ready to go home made it a bit long, but still fun...anything is possible as long as you carry snacks. we explored the ship wreak, i read in my best pirate voice the plaque that talks about the ship and what happened. i was asked to read it again...so i did but by this time a crowd had formed behind me so when asked for a third time i said no. we found more sand dunes and went dinosaur hunting, we trudged home. the girls had a nap and scott and i sat by a fire and stayed there the rest of the day. kind of a great way to end our trip. we had an older hippy man give us the rest of his wood, maybe he understood the dampness we felt whatever it was he kept giving us the peace sign, so we took his nods and peaces and smiled back at him. our fire burnt from three in the afternoon until eleven at night. scott and i had challenging conversations around its flames before we headed to bed.

[the mighty ship]

[just up from a nap...maybe still wanting to be there]

saturday may 14 2011

we packed up, had one last adventure in th e forest behind our camp site and then headed toward the I5. we made one stop at the centralia factory outlets where we noticed our beloved van was rather hot and maybe not doing so well. we let her cool off and finished doing a little shopping. we made it just past tacoma in the hov lane when the overheat light came flashing on and steam came pouring out of the back vents. we pulled over on the left hand side of the road as we could not get over and she needed to stop now. scott unloaded the back of the van to open up the engine and let her cool down. not knowing what was wrong scott and i set a plan in motion. a police man came and set out flares to help us get back on the road after sitting for just over an hour. there was an exit one mile up and we prayed hard we would make it there. at the exit there was a mcdonals and knowing that there is free wifi there, we pulled in, as the van started to overheat again. i excused myself to the bathroom to have a little cry then took a deep breath and joined scott as we called our dear friends to have them come and pick the girls and i up. matt drove three hours to get to us and three hours home. we arrived back just after one in the morning, leaving scott and the van behind. i was nervous but knew that without us he would have the freedom to try things without feeling the responsibility of getting his family stuck. i prayed hard, not knowing what his thoughts were or what he was going to try. before we had left i had seen a tow truck, so i wrote the number down just in case. just after two the front door opened and in walked scott...oh happy heart. the poor guy figured out that he was able to drive either 50km in second gear or 80km in third gear without the van overheating. so from tacoma home, that is what he did.

poor girl still sits in the parking lot waiting to finish being fixed.

she did well, i suppose she is pretty old and she has never given us any trouble before.

so this is it, our adventure from along the oregon coast. the way i remember it, the pictures that i loved from it, the moments that are etched into my heart from it.