OREGON...Tired of the Exile

August 16, 2026: I'm at my breaking point. I feel like I've seen everything there is to see although I know I haven't. Some locations and highways I've seen two, three, and four times as I zigzag all over the place. I'm tired of driving, tired of worrying about where to park, where to get healthy food, fighting Oregon's parking ordinances. Not that I really have a "home" to go "home" to, but I still feel hopeful for Tucson. Except for the current 106 degrees AND DUST STORMS. I really don't know where in the whole world I want to be!

After seeing the Titanic exhibit, Google Maps took me on a tour of Portland's rich neighborhoods up in the hills. This was an attempt to head west back to the coast. Eventually I reached Highway 26. I considered staying at a rest stop for the night that was highly recommended online, but I arrived too early for the twelve hour limit. I planned to go to the Astoria Aquatic Center for a shower. Online said the showers were inexpensive (the pool is indoors so swimming wouldn't do), but when I looked again online to confirm times, today they cancelled swimming on Mondays! UGH! I kept going. 

Fantasizing...

Here I want to pat myself on the back for 1.) NOT buying that incredibly delicious Gluten-free Chocolate Cream Pie in Corvallis, and 2.) NOT buying the taste-bud tantalizing S'mores Cheesecake in Astoria! I kept driving. Kudos to me. I did, however, eat something with gluten in it a few days ago and my neck is sore. It's doing a number on my thyroid, but I didn't eat enough to really take a toll so my energy hasn't crashed. I really need to be better. So I'm not all angelic with my incredibly restrictive diet. Living in a van with consistently high stress levels tempts my willpower so I cave a lot. I love my comfort food! 

Drove down the coast to Tillamook. Again! This time the traffic going north and east was bumper to bumper! Parking everywhere was filled and the beaches looked like California! Eeeewww! Maybe this is the last hurrah before school starts? It wasn't this way a week ago. I ended up on the Cape Meares Lookout, same place I was a few weeks ago. Lots of silent fog, drizzly mist, and falling leaves. It's is a quiet off highway location with the exception of the honking cars speeding by at 4:30 am. Again, Oregon is a very unfriendly state. I don't ever remember honking cars in any other state!

This, however, is new:

What is it? Initially it looked hard like plaster, but I sprinkled some water on it and it's powder. You can see over to the left where the water hit it's clumping. What is it? If it's just flour, why would anyone dump it on the side of a road?

I considered reporting it to the police, but then I figured they'd think I'm some paranoid, crazed old woman wasting their time. Why do I care? I can't control rude, thoughtless people who litter let alone people dumping illegal drugs! Or flour!

August 17, 2026: I'm feeling bored now and long to go back to Tucson. Just killing time trying to stay out of the heat. Tucson is supposed to be 106 degrees today. No thanks. I can be patient. It was foggy, wet, and cold all day.

August 18, 2026: Drove through Oceanside early in the morning. Then to Lincoln City where the Spring Lake Loop Hiking Trail was located. It was short and nothing to look at except screaming children in front of me. I even took an unknown trail in hopes of getting lost (and getting away from screaming children), but it just dumped me out on the road up from where I started.

There are quite a few backpackers walking down 101. Every now and then I'll see a backpacker early in the morning come out of the woods. I don't think the backpackers are hitchhiking since no thumbs are visible, but walking the coast! Very cool! There are a lot of cyclists, too. It would be hard to ride a bike in some of these winds! At least it's not raining.

On the route today I passed an RV hanging off the highway over the cliff supported by pine trees! OMG! It was quite frightening! The front of it was facing the highway so my assumption without knowing anything is something sideswiped it and pushed it off the highway! It couldn't have driven off the road or the front would be facing the ocean. You really can't plan for these things. Life is fragile. I hope no one was hurt.

Went to the Newport Walmart and the Oceana Food Co-op for supplies. Stopped at Neptune Beach just south of Yachats. Beach walked a bit, breathed in the fresh air, dipped my toes in the ocean waves. I'm trying to suck in as much ocean as I can before it's time to head back to the dusty, dry desert. Same with trees. It still brings me so much joy to be surrounded by so much green!

On to Coos Bay for organic food and overnight at the public parking with 24 hour limit. Very quiet night.

August 19, 2026: I've reached a milestone!!! At around 7am as I'm lazying around in bed thinking not very seriously about starting my day, I got my first knock on the van! Two very pleasant police officers good morning-ed me then proceeded to tell me overnight parking is NOT allowed in Coos Bay municipal parking lots. 

I apologized profusely, pointed to the sign not ten feet away that says "24 hour limit" and said something to the effect, "I would interpret that as one overnight is allowed. AND, this location is on the iOverlander app and many people have claimed it's a wonderful place to park overnight. No one has ever had any issues." 

He replied very kindly by reciting the ordinances and locations one can park. I told him I was aware of the 8pm to 7am street parking and all the other options in the area, but I selected this one due to its proximity to the food co-op [one block away] AND it seemed very inviting with THAT 24 HOUR SIGN! Seems like you all need some new signs if you don't want nomads parking here." 

He said, "I understand. If you plan to stay in town at any length or plan to come back, just so you know." 

I informed him, "I stayed here about a month ago. I was traveling up the coast and now I'm on the way down. I'll be leaving in about an hour." 

They were nice, but really??? The 24 hour limit sign needs to be replaced with an unfriendly common Oregonian warning "NO OVERNIGHT PARKING" or how would we know? I watched them walk to the next van and knock on their door. I always have these unwelcome experiences in Coos Bay. 

I packed up and left heading south. Stopped at Arizona Beach! I saw this exit off 101 on the way up, but missed the turn off then and vowed I'd return. I'm from Arizona! I have to go the Arizona Beach! It's a day-use only beach. I met some ladies who were camping in the camping section hidden beyond. Camping is by lottery only. They said they come every year and it's named Arizona Beach because it gets a constant pocket of sun. True to its name, it was sunny! Most places on the coast especially this early in the day are drizzly and foggy! However, it smelled like dog doo-doo! I moved spots thinking maybe there was some nearby, but it didn't matter where I moved. Maybe people are not picking up after their dogs here leaving a copious amount all over? I went walking along the beach...it's a really clean beach compared to most. Probably because there aren't any humans around with dogs.  I spotted only one doo-doo dump from one very large dog.  

I took off my sneakers, waded in the stream that blocked the parking lot from the beach, and walked the length of the beach. No one around. very relaxing. Closer to noon it became very populated. I left. I picked a container of blackberries on the way out.

The southern end of the Oregon Coast is so much less crowded! The dramatic cliffs and jutting giant rock islands make it so beautiful. 

Drove to Gold Beach for some flat rocks. Maybe I'll paint them. Ten acres of the beach foliage is BURNT! It wasn't like this last time I was here! Last week there was a fire. It is believed someone in a tent on the beach was cooking with a fire. The once fresh ocean air smelled like smoke. Yuck!

I considered for a minute starting to drive east just to find an overnight off the noisy highway, but the temperatures quickly rose to 75 degrees. Too hot! I am such a wimp!! I drove back and parked on the side of 101 overlooking the ocean as I tried to gain perspective. It is warmer down here in the south. The highway traffic was noisy. It reminds me of Alaska. After a while I got tired of overnighting on the sides of highways with too much traffic noise. I've reached my limit.

Hwy 101 just south of Port Orford

I decided to move, drove to Sixes River Road which is about three miles north of Port Orford. Side of road pull out. The traffic was a little busy around the end of the day, but at night so nice and quiet.

August 20, 2026: Drove to Port Orford. Found Buffington Park and ate breakfast. Went looking for a shower that is supposedly at the marina, but the one I found was outside and looked filthy. It's only 60 degrees and foggy. I'm not going to shower outside and freeze. Went back to Buffington Park and ate a salad for lunch. The park is very cool, in the woods, but with lots of entertainment: skateboard area, horse area, baseball fields, mini-golf track, bathrooms, jogging/hiking trail.

The temperatures are supposed to be in the high 70s over near Klamath Falls eventually. The date keeps moving further away. I'm waiting and plan to head back there, BUT there are also SEVERE FIRE WARNINGS so we'll see what happens between now and next week.

Overnighted right on a large 101 cement pullout south of Port Orford with the view above. It was cold, densely foggy, but the traffic not too bad.

August 21, 2026: Worked all morning. Cloudy, foggy and cold! I went to bed last night with frozen feet, and they have been frozen all morning. This means it's too cold for my body. This morning was about 55 degrees. Still tolerable, but borderline. I hate cold weather. Time to head east...maybe...slowly.

Headed south to Gold Beach (again!) to find some refill water. Then toward Agness on a beautiful river canyon highway. It's so green with mountains of pine trees! And the sun came out! I sang aloud all the way down the highway, "Green. Green. Green. Sun. Sun. Sun." Yeah, my songwriting talents are wanting.

Online there is a overnight area that was advertised as huge and off the highway just before one gets to Agness. I got here and there are big piles of gravel...? What is it? On the other side are old blacktop pieces piled up growing grass so I'm guessing it's a dumping ground for ODOT? They don't work on the weekends. There isn't a sign saying it's private property or "no overnight parking" so I'll take my chances. The highway is very quiet so hopefully no one will even notice me. The deciding factor: This space is within the Siskiyou National Forest so I can stay for fourteen days! Of course, it could be private property and just not marked. This is my thought process when trying to figure out where I can overnight without problems!

It's Friday night. It's always a risk in the country not knowing what kind of hooligans might be bored and hoping for something ignorantly entertaining to do. I always imagine the worst, but I'll risk it because I don't want to go too far east too soon as Grants Pass is still in the 90s. It's about 72 degrees right now. Nice, but still cool.

August 22, 2026: Very quiet night in the national forest-ODOT dumping ground just west of Agness!!

Speaking of national forests, I came across an article on the top ten worst tick infestation locations in Oregon. This sounded like good information to know until I read the article and the ten locations basically covered every inch of Oregon!! I kept saying, "Been there. Been there. And there. Parked there. Also there." There is no safe place to stay away from ticks. I just don't want my blood sucked nor do I want a tick infestation in the van. I try to remember to check for ticks when I come back from a hike, but sometimes I'm so tired and distracted I forget.

Second night at the ODOT dumping ground. I've had maybe three vehicles pull in, two left immediately, one parked and the couple got out. I have no idea what they were doing leaning on the bed of the truck. Ten minutes later they left. There are bullet shells all over so I wonder if on a Saturday or Sunday some of these people were here to shoot off some guns. I have no idea. The second night was very quiet.

August 23, 2026: I was worried when I plugged in Galice into the Google Maps when it gave me a "restricted access" warning for the road without explanation. My paper map has a note the road is closed during the winter. I had no idea what was at Agness as it's one of those unincorporated communities. Sometimes all they have is one building used for a grange. I calculated how much gas I had left in case I might have to turn around and go back to the coast should the road be closed. I did NOT want to go back to the coast! The drive is so incredibly beautiful especially early in the morning along the Rogue River. If I didn't run out of food, I'd stay a little longer. 

I drove about five minutes and out in the middle of no where was a resort! It looks like they have a campground, cabins, and a store right next to the river. I asked at the store about N.F. 23, the road to Galice. He said it's fine, four small gravel sections, 50 miles to Galice. No mention it is single lane with pullouts! BUT the road is spectacular, as usual for Oregon! It looked like a park road with white lines on each edge. There were a few viewpoint parking lots with gorgeous views of Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. They don't have "no overnight parking" signs so someday I may return!

Then there are the damn truck drivers racing toward me like they had somewhere important to be on a Sunday morning without any regard that there is a very large van coming at them! I slow to a stop or we might collide.

Green! Green! Green! Green!

After happily arriving in Galice, which is a campground with a store and a few houses (that's it!), I drove to Grants Pass. The weather jacked up to 88 degrees. Shopped for healthy food at Gooseberries (almost every item was at least $1 more than any other store in the state!), paper products at Walmart, forgot to get water at Winco (damn!) and then headed north up a mountain for some BLM camping. The dirt road was horrible, water rutted, and dusty. The first flat area with sky I stopped although Google Maps wanted me to climb further up. Later someone said there is nothing up there and according to the online maps, I'm not even in the right vicinity of where I was supposed to be! Oh well! This is Google at its best! It's an adventure! It's Sunday afternoon so I hope all the ATVs have gone home or they are going to drive by and cover Big Blue with dust. I guess it wouldn't matter since Big Blue is already covered in dust. Only four vehicles came up the road and kept going down the other side. I found out from one of the jeeps that "other side" dirt road went to Porter, a tiny hamlet seen on the paper map, but in the right direction where I want to go.

Wonderfully quiet and peaceful night!! Well, except I'm still fantasizing about Chocolate Cream Pie! Can I drive two hours to satisfy a craving? I hope I don't cave...