Hitting the Pacific Ocean

After leaving Port Angeles we headed south on infamous route 101 (the Pacific Coast hwy). We stopped for coffee at Forks which was full of motorcycles of all shapes and descriptions (see photo of tryke and scooters) in for a Rain Forest Poker Run Rally.

EWWW, wow to see the Pacific Ocean on a beach near Kalaloch, Washington, the ocean in all its glory, pounding surf, billowing mist and lots of driftwood to sit on for lunch (see photo).

We camped at a KOA at Bay Centre, on Willapa Bay, the Oyster capital of the northwest. There were mountains of oysters shells all over (see photo). We spent a day exploring the Long Beach area which included the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Centre at Cape Disappointment which is just around the corner from Dismal Nitch and a lighthouse marking the entrance to the Columbia river....oh my gawwwd with those names, did these guys not enjoy seeing the ocean...isn't that was President Jefferson wanted Lewis and Clark to do? Actually in the end we agreed with the naming given that it drizzled and fogged most of the day.

We crossed the Columbia River over a loooonggg bridge at Astoria and entered into Oregon.....while the rain, fog and mist continued.

Whenever we left sea level, the rain and mist caused Bev's windshield to become impossible to see through. She had to slow down to try to find her flashers and then to wipe the front of her screen with her hand, which was no mean feat given that she was travelling at 60 km/hr with one hand on the screen, the other on the throttle and 20 cars behind her on wet twisty roads. She was getting frustrated. She could hardly see Dave and the guys backed up behind her must have been swearing. Dave's windshield is adjustable so he had no such problems, I guess Honda got something right! Why don't bikes have windshield wipers....they have everything else such as cruise control, GPS, radios, etc.

In Oregon we noticed that the WasteWater Authority provides excellent service to everyone, notice the public washrooms attached to their office building (see photo of a greatly relieved Bev).

While continuing down route 101 we saw a very large sign on the roof of a building which read "Air Museum" although the building several km. from the road. This building was 200 ft. high and 1000 ft. long and was built during WWII to house 8 blimps that were used as submarine spotters. Each blimp was about 1 1/2 times the size of the Good Year Blimp. The frame of the gigantic hanger was a series wooden arches (see 2 photos one of which includes a plane that survived 29 Gulf War missions and had duct tape over a number of bullet holes).

We are currently staying in Lincoln City, Oregon, treating ourselves to a very nice motel while waiting out a predicted thunder storm.