Camp Scamp

The coastal drive towards Bullards

The drive into Oregon on 101 is nothing short of spectacular. With mild ups and downs and a small number of well-marked sharp turns, it was hard to keep my eyes on the road when the view was so amazing.

Jaya the one-man welcome wagon

We needed gas and pulled into a Chevron. I popped the hood to check the oil and started to get out of the car when Jaya appeared. He had a Chevron uniform on and a full-service smile. He filled our tank with 87 octane, checked our oil and transmission fluid, and told us all about his 1979 13 ft. Burro, a fiberglass trailer similar to ours….

Our very simple site

Continuing on into Oregon, we passed through the tiny town of Denmark, and finally found Bullards Beach State Park where we were camping for the night. We had a crying French baby on one side and a dog with a squeaky chew toy on the other. So I pulled out the banjo and all was well in our neighborhood.

We were by a beach but didn’t have time to do the walk, so the next day when we pulled out, we drove down to see it.

So long Bullards Beach

Our Campsite for the Night

Del Norte (Mill Creek) Campground,  just south of Crescent City, was the most beautiful site we’ve stayed at so far- very lush and peaceful.  We overshot the entrance by 7 miles using the address from their website, and had to turn around. We drove through the entrance just before dark, settled into our spot and made a yummy dinner.

From our walks around, it looks like there are no bad sites. Some tent-only sites were really cool with a lower level for picnic table and bear box and stairs up to a flat spot on the hillside for your tent.  Large ferns and giant tree stumps, with gnarled roots covered with moss, were on the forest floor. The peace was interrupted by our neighbor “Montana” (a gigantic 5th wheel with pop outs all over the place) running his generator. We decided he had better be on dialysis to warrant such a a disruption.

We arrived to a foggy and damp drizzle but woke up in the morning to sun streaming through the trees and blue sky.

Morning coffee

Downtown Arcata

We stopped for coffee and Wi-Fi in the cute hippie college town of Arcata. Made me (Shannon) think of old times when Beth Hawbaker lived up here and we all went to Willow Creek. We made a real impression upon our arrival by turning down a one way street – not easy to make a u turn with the 29 foot long contraption. Luckily a man jumped out of his car and guided us (airport runway style) to safety. The cafe called “Luke’s Joint” served amazing apricot rooibos iced tea – even  had free refills. The last part of the drive up to Del Norte State Park had a fun Paul Bunyan roadside attraction and Scamp just had to pose for a picture. The Delicious dinner and local wine made up for the fight we had on the road after going 7 miles out of our way due to using the wrong address for the campground.

Scamp meets Paul and his very blue ox.

Enjoying dinner...

Thursday we had a long and beautiful drive from Berkeley through Mendicino along 101 & arrived at dusk. Roads were mostly very smooth and towing was easy. Scamp was tucked away in the driveway at the base of a very tall Redwood in Richardson Grove. Audrey, Jeff, Joel and Suzan had already set up camp and had dinner and a fire waiting.

Yesterday we headed down to the south fork of the Eel river and floated in tubes and relaxed. There weren’t any eels, however. Our ranger says the name comes from the lampreys that are hook -shaped and used to be plentiful in the river. Had a delicious pasta dinner Friday night, then got up and said our goodbyes before heading north towards Crescent City this morning.

The whole camp site...

L to R: Jeff, Audrey, Shannon, Karen, Suzan, Joel

Shannon figures out how to work the porta loo!

This is my last day at school until August 16. Tomorrow I start final preparations for our 101 trip up the coast. I’m wondering if it’s really necessary to repack & grease the wheel bearings before we leave. Opinions vary among the experts out there. With only a day left to prepare, I’m inclined to locate a couple RV service centers along our route and keep that info handy in case we encounter any difficulties.