Hospitality from No Cal to Oregon

So, we're only a couple days out from the Edwards' house in Carmel, but several noteworthy things have come to pass. When we left the house, Ben, the middle-est kid, put us in touch with some of his friends up the coast just north of San Fran. So we just drove straight from one welcome home to another. Nick and Clark, the strangers up north who happened to know Ben, were completely hospitable and chatted and chilled with us for hours, both that night and the next morning. And in between that time, we slept marvelously on our complimentary futons. It was great.

The next morning, with great local suggestions from the boys, we continued north up the 1, enjoying gorgeous views of both ocean and redwoods, and the occasional secret local beach, thanks to Nick's directions. That night, we found ourselves in a grassy meadow campsite right over the water. Sure, we were dripping with sea air in the morning, but the sounds, the smells, the feel, made the wetness pretty well worth it.

The next day, we enjoyed some fun sights, with highlights including: the scenic alternative route called Avenue of the Giants (redwoods!!!), driving through a redwood, and seeing a giant Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Now that's classy--I don't care who you are. Before we knew it, we were in Oregon, looking for sleep. We hadn't seen any legal-looking free camping since Arizona, so when we found a pulloff over the beach that didn't have no camping signs, we stopped. It didn't have camping signs either, but it didn't say not to, so we threw down on this beach in what appeared to be some Shipwreck Cove from a pirate story. The beach was smooth and flat, but treacherous 50-100 foot rocks stood out of the water like broken glass guarding the land. Very cool.

Next morning, as we laid all our sleeping stuff in the sun to dry for hours, we met some folks, Melvin and Donnie, who had camped in a completely decked out school bus in the same pulloff. They were friendly, and full of good suggestions for our northward wandering. As we talked, the topographic map sheets were utilized, the bus was toured, and, eventually, dinner was offered. That's right, our first morning in Oregon, the first people we meet offer us a home-cooked meal after our day of exploring. We spent the day checking out many of the places Mel suggested, and met a few other characters, one of whom claimed to be Cory Wells, from Three Dog Night. I'm not sure that he actually was, but that was still pretty cool. It's not every day you meet someone who claims to be from Three Dog Night.

Mel lives right off the 101, in North Bend, and by evening we were there just in time for a steak dinner with him and his wife, Barb. It was soooooooo good. Next, Mel took us out to some giant sand dunes near the coast in his Jeep, and took us on a pretty exciting Jeep tour, including some improbable looking (and feeling) hills, and a lot of sliding sideways. To top it off, Mel dropped us off at a hotel for the night, which he paid for, which is where we are now. A flippin' hotel to ourselves--how cool is that?! And, I must say, so far we are enjoying Oregon.