The First of a Thousand Trails

It's landscapes like the coast of Oregon that make me appreciate the creative hand of God. What a beautiful week we've enjoyed! ...in spite of the chilly rainy weather.

We left Spokane Wednesday, on threat of snow that was predicted for Friday and Sunday. The snow never sticks in November...usually. But considering the crazy weather across the country this year, we weren't about to take any chances. Wednesday night we stayed at Agate Acres again, in Plymouth, WA, which is right along the Columbia River just before crossing over to Oregon.

Our drive along the Columbia River was amazing, especially through the Cascades. Once we passed Portland, our route took us over Highway 6, which crosses the Coastal Range (elevation 1,500 ft.) to Tillamook (of cheese fame) on Highway 101. From there we headed south to Pacific City. The several "chain up zone" signs we passed along the way only served to confirm our decision to leave Spokane when we did.

A free one-year membership to Thousand Trails, a national RV resort company, was a perk for buying our motor home through PPL. The membership is a $600 value and gives us (with some caveates) free or reduced camping in parks within a given zone. Thousand Trails breaks up the country into five zones-- North & South West, North and South East, and Central. AND, for an additional $45 a year, we can select additional zones after our first choice. So for our free membership, we selected the Southwest, and then added the Northwest to take care of our initial travel plans. There are quite a few campgrounds in their system in these two areas, and we will be planning our campsites as much as possible around the Thousand Trails options.

This campground in Pacific City is our first experience with Thousand Trails. There are things we love about it and things that are less than ideal. For instance, the campsites themselves are level and surrounded by foliage, but they are a bit close together. We love the proximity to the ocean. We were able to make a short walk to one of the most famous Oregon beach landmarks, Haystack Rock (pictured here), on a very narrow path through the dense vegetation that flourishes in coastal Oregon's notorious wet weather. On the other hand, the roads throughout the park are poorly maintained and full of potholes. Finding a cell phone signal or internet coverage has been nearly impossible without getting in our car and driving up the hill (over the potholes) to the Family Center. And Dish TV is useless. Nevertheless, we can't beat the price. Considering most RV park site fees range from $20 to $50+ a night, Thousand Trails has already paid for itself. And when we renew, if we use it at least a week or two of every month, it will be well worth the cost.

Saturday, we drove down the coast a little way to Newport to visit their weekly farmer's market. Being the winter season, it was indoors, which was great since it was raining.  We found some wonderful fresh organic vegetables and pastured meat, among other things.

Today we pull up stakes again and head south, hoping for warmer, dryer weather.