Travels with a Tiny Trailer – Day 2 ( Cont.)
How to manage a soaking wet tent and still wet chairs when the back of the Subaru is already full of the bicycles we were not able to load on the bike rack? We put the dry side of the rain fly over the bikes, pile the tent and chairs on top, close up the kitchen, and fire up the GPS. Thank goodness, just up the highway in Grant’s Pass we find a friendly and well-equipped Big 5 sporting goods store, where Sis buys new dry walking shoes, and I pick up a couple of igniters. Fortified against all ills we head on to Washington.
Lunchtime arrives, and Sis is eager to try the stove for the hot meal we did not have the night before. I’m driving, and I see a sign for “Douglas County Fairgrounds and Museum, Umpqua River Park.” “Let’s try this,” I say, exiting with care. “There are bound to be trees, picnic tables, and toilets at a county park with a fair attached, it’ll be nice by the river, and we can pick up some postcards at the museum maybe.”
So we follow the signs and find ourselves in a very large parking lot. Behind a cyclone fence we see the fairgrounds, abandoned in October. We climb the berm surrounding the parking lot and find the river, but no sign of a picnic table or a restroom. Our stomachs are rumbling, and at least the parking lot is level and the sun is shining.
The Douglas County Museum is at the far end of the vast asphalt stretch. I hike across the expanse, my need becoming more urgent at each step. Oh happiness – the museum is open and it does have a very clean restroom as well as indoor and outdoor displays of mining and farming equipment, a large collection of natural history items including a stuffed example of Oregon’s state animal (the beaver), and a charming gift shop.
Meanwhile, back at the trailer, Sis is putting together a delectable hot meal of vegetarian tacos. We set up our chairs (now nearly dry) and our little table on top of the berm where we can see the river, and despite the asphalt we feel we are finally camping in style.
We get dressed in the confines of the tiny trailer. It’s not easy to pull on trousers without being able to stand up , but we manage it. Our water-resistant jackets are about dry after a night of hanging inside, and our moods improve as we plan on quickly making a hot breakfast on the two-burner stove in the pop-up kitchen in the back of the trailer. Sis fills the water carrier. All we need to do is boil water, and we’ll have coffee and instant oatmeal with fruit and brown sugar mixed in. So much easier than camping with a propane stove – nothing to set up, nothing to connect, just a quick flick of the lighter and….
In the morning, in daylight, we can see that the un-protected section of the tent roof is quite obviously not rain-proof. However, the bottom of the tent is water-proof, and Sis’s shoes are sitting soggily in a considerable puddle that has collected inside the tent.
The weather was perfect: warm, no fog or wind, as we left Hearst Castle.
Further up the road there was an even bigger slide, with an obviously temporary one-lane road perched nervously across the new ground. But it was fascinating to watch the big diggers roaming and scooping atop huge mounds of dirt and stone. And that road remains a marvel of impossible engineering, spectacular vistas, and a maddening plodding pace behind the inevitable road boulder, often a “Rent-Me-RV” whose first-time RV driver is scared to death of his rig and the road. And they won’t pull out to let the long line of vehicles behind them to pass, which is the law, or, if it isn’t, there oughta be.
We took the remains of a bottle of local Pinot Noir back to our balcony to finish off the evening with the complimentary chocolate chip cookies from our check- in desk. We sat on our balcony again to watch the crescent moon setting near where the sun had set before our dinner. Suddenly stars! The Milky Way! D even saw a shooting star. Only one spotlight shining on the entry sign for our hotel spoiled the dark sky.
So – come to Bilbao for the walk, the outdoor art, the architecture, the parks… and that’s only the first day!
We got the fog we had hoped for on our second day at Point Reyes. Since we had part of the area south of our home base on our 
We fled the South Bay expecting a foggy few days on the Marin coast. To our surprise, the fog held off on our arrival, so we took advantage of the sunshine before we even checked into our lodgings. Our first stop was the Visitors Center at 
The Earthquake trail follows the natural escarpment where the San Andreas Fault skirts the edges of the California coastline before disappearing into the sea towards Alaska. It’s a shady stroll through pastureland and underneath gian twisted bay trees. Along the trail are interpretive placards explaining earthquake geology, plate tectonics, and the effect of the Fault on California geology. A line of blue posts marking the center line of the fault marches along the ridge above the trail. The high point of the walk is a point where two halves of a fence have been offset by almost 15 feet – the result of the ground movement in 1907, when action on the Fault caused the disastrous San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.
Allyson Johnson 