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A nice, cloudy but sun break
picture of the Florence Sand Dunes behind our campsite at Honeyman State Park,
Oregon. (The Tomaso Collection)
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And if Y'all haven't fallen asleep from
over-indulging in Turkey, Pumpkin Pie or switched on the Telie' to watch a 'lil
Pigskin bein' tossed around... Then by A-L-L means, you'll wanna continue reading
the second portion 'O this epic travel story, right?
Or Y'all can simply revert back to the Rods 'N
Rhodies Car Show recap if Yuhs haven't already red it by scrolling thru the No
Fenders Archives. Otherwise, please come back soon when No Fenders returns to
some racing related fodder shortly...
Gratzi,
Tomaso
More Florence Travel Notes
Having met our original objective of
attending the annual Rods 'N Rhodies Car Show, we spent the next few Dazes trying to secure a campsite for the
remainder of "Our Troops" who wished for us to secure them a spot
upon "F-loop" at Honeyman State Park, not to be 'Cornfuzed with "F-Troop;" Hya!
Thus on one of our visits there, we ran into
a wonderful young author whom Tacoma Bureau Chief Mary Ellen had first met at
the local library, to which I made some mockery outta when I heard her trying
to describe his traveling companion, which she said was a miniature Pinscher...
To which I made my funny-bone hurt as I burst
out laughing after conge ring up visions of being attacked by a miniature
pincher, i.e.; a Dungeness Crabs claw; R! R-R-R, R Matey's! 'Whale at least I
thought it was funny and hence Y'all now know
part of my coming up with these
travel story's Oh, so clever title's; Hooah!
But back to
our chance meeting with the most affable
author Robert Grey who'd bicycled all the way from LaLa Land, aka Los
Angeles, with his trusty miniature Doberman Pinscher ridin' Shotgun in his
bicycle's front basket - where his day job was Computer Programmer, who enamored us mightily about his forthcoming
"short story" (novel) which I believe he told us was called: The Young Boy Genius Detective
Agency, a fictional work of 40,000-words was expected to go "live" on
Amazon Sept 29th, available in eBook Kimble format. As the book I believe is
intended for youth audiences, so check it out.
But "Our Gang" wasn't here yet, as
it'd take another two days 'O waiting, not to mention an aggravatingly LONG
sitting for nearly 5hrs, at a Pick-uh-Nick' table listening to the squabblin'
Squirrels on tree branches above us attempting to secure their territory; in
order to reserve the last remaining 'F-Troup campsite! Hey, Yuhs gots to have
electrical power for a teenager these days, right?
And speaking 'O teenagers, one fine morning
as we sat around the campfire, the relative tranquility, now that the FUCKING
diesel powered campers 'N pickup trucks had turned off their offending lumps or
idled away; URGH! I mean try listening to a
"CD Audiobook" over the GRR-ROWWWWLLLLLLLL
of an idling diesel; SHUSH! Hey, I'm trying to listen to the Maltese
Falcon, like who's got I-T? So do Yuhs mind keeping
I-T down! Uhm; but I digress!
As back to the morning in Questione, when the
tranquility was SHATTERED by a hysterical teenage girl having an absolute
MELTDOWN! SCREAMING her silly head off 'bout how her Mum' had poured Almond
milk on her cereal and she didn't want any FREAKIN' Almond milk, with her
tantrum lasting a good, solid 7-8 minutes; Aye Karumba! The kids these days,
eh? Hya!
Simply cannot remember A-L-L we did, having really NOT expected to stay in Florence
for 10-plus Days time! Other than attending a Car Show, walking on the various
beaches, even being passed by Horsie-riders once, trail walking, Sunsets, getting a starter replaced, grocery
shopping, Dog-sitting, watching the Super
Moon; Yada-yada-yada!
Oh, did somebody say SUPER MOON? As Thanxs
solely to Mary Ellen's persistence, who spent time calc-Q-lating' when the
revered SUPER ta-tuh 'Duh-duh, its Super Moon time, Baby! Would majestically
make its way over the faraway mountain and rise above Sutton Lake; Aye Karumba!
I can S-E-E I-T; Hya!
As we'd parked alongside Highway 101 and
ambled down to a park bench in the middle of NO-wheres' patiently awaiting the
moon's arrival; Uhm? As I kept joking 'bout I-T being late, since its supposed
7:53PM viewing time turned out being way
past 8:20.
Or was that supposed to be the Moon on the Wabash; Hooah!
As it became brighter 'N brighter, it began
casting its upwards trajectory glow upon the lake, which I finally was able to
discern, marveling over its illumination atop the water; hey! It looks like a pen light! A
what? Otay, it looks like a No. 2 pencil; it what? Otay-Otay, I've got I-T! It
looks like the light saber that Luke Skywalker
used in Star Wars; Yeah, that's the Ticket!
As the moon was so FRIGGIN" BRIGHT for
several nights, that I could SEE IT blazing away from our secluded campsite
during thy middle 'O night, which was virtually ours - as I was quite chagrined
to muse how I hadn't seen a SUPER MOON in 13yrs time, on our way home from my debutant
Indianapolis outing for the Formula 1 race; Aye Karumba!
And speaking 'O our secluded campsite, we'd
elected to stay in 'Der Horseylander vs. Honeyman; as our chosen campground had
just approximately five campsites vs. the enormity 'O Honeyman's 200 sites; as
I personally enjoyed the silence and seclusion, which Mary Ellen also said was
way better for the Doggies!
Thus upon our final day's stay here, as I
lazed about with Mad Molly & thy Pixolator on my comfy King-size Cot, while
the other camper's dog barked non-stop outside our tent, a disturbing thing occurred. And NO! It wasn't
the fact that they decided to down a few cold "Rain-e-eih's" (Rainier
beer) at 8:30AM!
Nope, the really disturbing part was that
these two local-yokel's whom Mary Ellen
said were pretending to be "Hippie's," in their designer tie-dye
T-Shirts, etc, was the fact that they'd simply left A-L-L of their garbage
strewn (littered) about their campsite, as Mary Ellen said; guess they think
they're doing a good job since a lot of it was inside the empty dog food bag!
As C'mon people! Where's your manners, eh?
Like didn't your 'Mum teach you to pick up after yourself and throw away ALL of
your garbage! Like how 'bout leaving the campground's the way you found them! I mean, like how are
we ever gonna tackle Climate Change if people are too FUCKING LAZY to even haul
out their own trash from the forest; Oh Never Mind! (But obviously
this struck a chord inside of Mwah...)
John F. Kennedy
"One
(must see) the necessity for us to protect what we have, what nature gave to
us, and use it well, not to waste water or land, to set aside land and water,
recreation, wilderness and all the rest now so that it will be available to
those who come in the future."(Source: Joel Connelly; seattlepi.com)
And then, sadly, it was time to go home,
albeit taking the scenic route once again... Departing Florence reluctantly,
although it rained for the first time in earnest the day we left! We drove
north via Highway 101 passing thru Waldport, etc.
Arriving in Newport, Mary Ellen said, there's
South Jetty where we stopped on the way down to walk upon its Boardwalk...
Where they'd made a nice wheelchair accessible boardwalk in order to see the
nearby ocean, along with various markers proclaiming where the water had been during previous periods 'O time, i.e.;
over 100yrs ago, as the year 1861 sticks in my mind!
Continuing thru Newport, Mary Ellen called
out the NOAA ships to Mwah; as it was a B-I-G DEALIO! Political Scrum-wise over
the nation's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency leaving Seattle's Lake
Union for rival FREAKIN' Portland!
Whilst I was totally unawares' that the
Newport Municipal Airport she'd earlier called out along with the Oregon Coast
Aquarium had been home to Keiko, as Mary Ellen said; there's where they brought
Free Willy as we cruised thru town -
Driving thru Depot Bay, which proclaims it's
the home of the world's smallest harbor, and also is supposedly famous for its
ice cream, salt water taffy and fudge... To which Mary Ellen said: EVERY
(STINKIN') small "Tourist-Trap" town along the Pacific Coast is
famous for that!
And then totally outta NOWHERE! We came upon
a sight to behold, as the Kernville Steakhaus was completely Char-broiled! Like
Uh Dude, its BURNED to the ground!
As this was somewheres' on the outskirts of
Lincoln City I believe? And it's one of the few times I wish I owned a small
portable digital camera, as the picture of the Steak 'N Shake; Uhm, I do
believe somebody's SHAKEN the SHIT outta your Martini Mister Bond; Hooah! Err
Steak & Seafood Restaurant standing
gutted, charred 'N abandoned on the side of the road would have been priceless!
Originally, having swapped rides, with Panda
and Alex; Nope, Not Lifeson; Hya! The pair having absconded with the C-Team van
upon their casual arrival at Honeyman's; we were in the Honda Civic with some
400,000-plus K's (kilometers) on its odometer; Aye Karumba! We'd planned to
spend the night at Cape Lookout in one of their 13 Yurt's, having never stayed
in a Yurt before, but alas, they were
already all Booked by the time we arrived.
Thus, the Park Host suggested we try down the
road at the nearby town, which turned out to be called Netarts, of which I'd
never heard of or stayed in before. As
Mary Ellen found us shelter in a funky 'lil One-off cabin at the
Terimore Inn, which suited our purposes just fine 'N dandy!
As Netarts has a very nice sheltered bay and
is off the beaten path, i.e.; Oregon Coast's established haunts like Cannon
Beach, etc. As its obviously a sea-faring town, having driven upon Crab Avenue
in 'N out of Netarts...
For
Dessert; Uhm, did somebody say Pumpkin Pie? Err thy final portion of this
Deluxe Travel story, see; The Tomaso Files: Doggies,Dunes, Dungeness 'N the "Other" Florence - Where a Good Time was hadby All - Honest, Campers!