Piper, 2019

by Jeff · April 4, 2019

Anyone who knows E, knows that she really isn’t that spontaneous. Not saying she can’t be, it just doesn’t fit in with being her normal compulsive planner personality.

Last week she sent me a text out of the blue and said, “we have three days off together, let’s take Piper somewhere”. Now we haven’t been anywhere in Piper since before I got sick in 2017. Piper is kept under an RV structure and I had winterized her prior to my being out of commission so it should just be a matter of loading her up and going!

Well, this is the slow time at work for me and I headed out a little early for home upon receiving this text (2 hours early and was tempted to run code 3). Must check lights, put hitch in the Beast, fuel the Beast, do systems checks, hook up…You know, all those things that happen prior to towing a fifth wheel down the road.

E got home and we loaded up the linens and some food and I got reservations at the Premier RV Resort in Lincoln City, Oregon at last notice. Neither one of us even thought about the weekend being the start of Spring Break, so we were lucky to find anything at all open.

Thursday morning, we loaded up, pulled out of the driveway and headed south. Route decision was to go down Interstate 5 into Oregon and then across highway 99W out to Lincoln City. This route is the fastest to our destination and we have driven it hundreds of times on our travels to this area. We line up on the Interstate and as usual The Beast is towing Piper along beautifully and she is tracking and being have behind us. Ah, the sound of that Duramax doing what it is meant to do is just music! The rhythm of the sounds of the road and the sounds of the engine along with extemporaneous planning with E makes my soul fly! This is my stairway to Heaven!

We enjoy the scenery of spring through the Yamhill County country with sunshine streaming down. Past McMinnville with a stop at the Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde to check out our old poker playing go-to place and then on to the coast. We arrive in Lincoln City and check into the Premier and get Piper set up. Something is working great because we haven’t had a single issue and our backing job went off without a hitch.

With Piper set, we head out to cruise the town and get onto the beaches for some walking and quality time. On the south side of town there is a great beach with some rock formations that you can walk to without getting wet during low tide. There is parking and it is all big enough for the Beast. We luck out to be there as the tide is just turning from low slack and we get out along the beach for some beautiful pictures and some healthy salt air. During the walk, E’s phone rang. She doesn’t usually answer it when we are out like that but it happened to be her daddy Geezerguy. What a delight it was for them to talk via video call with her background being the Pacific and the beautiful beach. Some photo opportunities followed for Flynn and Ollie and then we found our way back to the truck and headed out for dinner.

Maxwell’s is a locals restaurant/bar in Lincoln City and serves some fantastic Halibut and Chips. We witnessed what a truly locals place it is when this absolutely wasted guy at the bar fell off his stool. He had been celebrating his birthday a little too heavily. The bartender and the manager came out as we picked him up off the floor (he had fallen into my stool at the bar) and the manager told the bar tender to give him a ride home without any hesitation.

On Friday we spent the day exploring. We wanted to go south to Otter Rock and along the way we stopped at the pullouts overlooking the ocean. What a grand surprise to discover that the Grey Whales are migrating north and the Oregon Department Parks and Recreation has organized volunteers into the Whale Watching Spoken Here ambassadors. https://whalespoken.wordpress.com/

Otter Rock
Ollie at Otter rock
Yaquina Head Light House
dedication to the Lost

After an excellent day out exploring the area and visiting the Yaquina Head Light House we headed to the Mazatlan in Depoe Bay looking out over the entrance to the bay. If you haven’t seen this bay, you should take the opportunity if in the area. This is the worlds smallest navigable bay and has it’s own Coast Guard Station. The mariners who work out of this bay are truly masters of their craft. We also picked up the obligatory bag of salt water taffy made in town.

entering Depoe Bay

We left Depoe Bay and headed back to Piper to change and prep for a night out. We decided to go with F&O to the Spirit Mountain Casino and play some poker in our old stomping grounds. For an account of that click here. https://flynnandollie.com/

On Saturday it was time to head home. We awoke to discover that Piper’s battery charger has gone bad. She is old enough that most of her systems are 12 volt with a few 120 volt circuits. After some cussing and discussing I hooked up Beast’s battery to the slide circuit and got them in.

We headed up highway 101 back home and were again blessed with a beautiful sunny drive through this breathtaking area.

If you get to our fabulous Pacific Northwest, you need to make the Oregon and Washington coast drive up Highway 101 a priority in your travels. These little towns along the coast provide for great diversions and shopping as well as opportunities to enjoy exclusive Pacific Northwest experiences.

Pro Tip: Highway 101 can be twisty and narrow in places…Summertime is heavily traveled by both RV’s and cars and the locals still have to be able to commute. Use the passing lanes (infrequent) and the slow vehicle turnouts to allow faster traffic to get by. Be courteous and allow extra time for your trip and it will be very rewarding.