As we leave Cle Elum & begin the journey over the magnificent Cascade Mountains, these are some of the views.

Spotted this little old timer (car, don’t know the age of the driver) going at a good clip in the fast lane as we travel down the I-5.

After we pass through all the busy cities in southern Washington & northern Oregon, we enter farmland.  Wheat has just been harvested from this farm.  And more harvesting is happening in the picture below. Hot, dusty work.

A little slice of heaven.  We reach our destination of Winchester Bay, Oregon.  Located north of Coos Bay about 30 miles, south of Newport about 70 miles, it is just 4 miles from Reedsport.  It is home to a contingent of Coast Guard personnel & equipment. It is also known as the ‘Gateway to Oregon’s Dunes’, a huge recreational area of forest & sand dunes. We showed several pictures of the dune buggy & dirt bike riders on last years website.

At the marina’s edge, next to the campground, there are a few shops & restaurants. Fishing, crabbing & oyster gathering are a big part of the water business & recreation found here.  So naturally the restaurants serve up this fine fare.

Among the shops found around the marina is this kite, windsock, spinner shop.  I had fun in this store!  There are also charter boat reservations & bait shops.  Along with a Thai restaurant.  Makes a nice break, I guess, from the 3 seafood specialty restaurants.

Found this 1912 Hudson in the parking lot of the marina stores.  I didn’t get my camera out in time to catch the couple in period dress who accompanied this superbly restored wonder.  I was driving at the time. By the time I got back to get a picture of the car, it had been joined by three other antique beauties.

After reading a little card in the window of each car, I learned that they were participating in an event at Coos Bay called ‘The Oregon Coast Nickel Era Tour. Three of the cars were from Washington and one from Idaho.

This pristine 1931 Plymouth roadster would probably be a hit today. Looks like a fun car, complete with rumble seat.  Next to it is a 1929 Ford Model A Coupe.

A simple dashboard....with actual gauges.  No complicated bunch of dials & dash controls for this & that. Just a key ignition, a choke control, a couple of gauges to note speed & oil pressure, temp gauge & perhaps a clock. That’s it!

A 1929 Hudson Touring car. This very big vehicle carries a yellow ‘ribbon’ on its side proclaiming ‘Keep My Son Safe’.  Obviously they have a son serving in the military. A sobering reminder of our young people in harm’s way.  We hope their son remains safe as we hope all our brave military can stay safe in these troubled times of war.

The duck hood ornament on the 1929 Ford Model A, seen in the Plymouth picture above. Don’t know if that is original or the owner’s whimsy.  We have been fortunate to have seen so many unusual vintage cars on this trip and we haven’t been to one car show. The creativity of so many to bring these beauties back to life has brought us much pleasure.

Our new spinner flutters in the breeze.

Every once in a while we’ll see an expression of joy about the lifestyle of RVing. And isn’t it wonderful that a dream has come true for these folks as they sit in their comfy RV on a foggy evening looking out on the bay?

The full moon is shining on us as the sun sets on our first day here.  A bit foggy & damp.

We drove north about 20 miles to Florence, another coastal town.  This is another of the interesting bridges you find along Hwy. 101. This one is in Florence.

Florence is a good-sized town with lots of stores, fast food, markets, etc. We went into their historic district to go to the farmer’s market. This is just one of the pretty houses found in the neighborhood.

A small farmer’s market with the bulk of it being eating opportunities and crafters.  On a sunny morning, it’s a nice experience to wander the booths as the boats go chugging by. We did find two produce booths & got some nice stuff.

Another vintage car. This one is a 1954 Chevy.  Gary’s first car was a ‘54 Chevy without the sun visor, but with tuck ‘n roll upholstery, lowered front end and hood & trunk ornaments removed with midnight blue metallic paint. What a beauty it was.  All for the low, low price of $400.  This one is probably worth far more in today’s market.

A candy shop in the historic district.

Wind & fog & cold are not going to interfere with beach fun on a Saturday afternoon in Florence. With a rather uneven, driftwood laden coastline in Oregon, there is a complicated system of estuaries, bays, inlets plus rock-lined manmade channels for boats to get to protected marinas. It makes for many opportunities for recreation.

The incoming tide is swelling along the channel into Florence’s marina.  There are signs warning those who scramble amongst the rocks to beware of rogue waves that could sweep them away.

These two vehicles appear to be caught in some primeval tug of war as the waves crash dangerously close.

Ever the opportunist, this coastal crow looks over the containers that certainly have something in them he might like.  Fortunately for the picnic goers, everything is zipped up tight.

Just a pretty roadway into the Lane County Park. These ‘beach’ pictures were taken in this park..

A lagoon-like setting. A flock of Canadian geese were floating just outside of this shot. The disintegrating remains of the uprights for a dock are on the edge of the water.

As we returned to the coach, this osprey had just caught his dinner in Winchester Bay marina & is making his way to the trees where he’ll enjoy his catch.

We revisited the Elk Preserve along Hwy. 38 just a few miles outside Reedsport.  They have an open, but roofed building where you can learn about the wildlife in the preserve.  And some of it lives in the rafters of the building. Lots & lots of swallows. This baby is getting impatient as he waits for his folks to return with some grub.  If you look carefully you can see the disgruntled expression.

Meanwhile, this killdeer is looking for something to munch on as he strolls the muddy waterfront.

The star of the show.  The Roosevelt elk is the largest land mammal found in Oregon.  There are many of these guys ‘n gals roaming the preserve.  I wonder how hard it is to look dignified when you have a bird on your backend.

The Umpqua River is huge.  Three rivers have converged to make this vast waterway. One more will join it before it hits the ocean.  Named for a local tribe of Coquille Indians, it is quite a sight. Part of the trip to Reedsport on Hwy. 38 from I-5 has you driving alongside this massive river through the Coast Range mountains. Truly beautiful.

The Umpqua lighthouse set high above the sand dunes at Winchester Bay.  Now operated by the Coast Guard, it is surrounded by housing for the men & women of the Coast Guard & their families.  There is an interesting museum here that we wrote about last year.

A humback whale’s jawbone. 6’2” Gary is dwarfed by the length of that bone!

Back in the campground, I noticed these two ducks casually walking, & pecking around for food, in front of the motorhomes on the marina side.   This walkway is used by folks out for a walk, usually with their dogs. Oblivious to any threat, these two are walking slowly in front of the dogs shown below. Only a few feet separated these 4.  And the dogs were as oblivious to the ducks as the ducks were to them.

Now the pair of them are staring at a dog who has been dragged off by its leash by its owner.  The ducks never moved as the little dog charged at them. Blase seems to be their attitude.