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Picture taken from top of Sand Dunes
at one of Florence, Oregon's countless Beaches where we sat in the sand for the
afternoon at the ocean. (The Tomaso Collection)
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And if Y'all still haven't fallen asleep from over-indulging
in Turkey, Pumpkin Pie or TOO MUCH DAMN FOOTBALL on thy Telie! Then by A-L-L
means, you'll wanna read the riveting conclusion of this epic travel story,
right?
Otherwise, Y'all either feel free to peruse the
cavernous No Fenders Archives for the recently posted Rods 'N Rhodies Car Show
recap earlier this November, or please come back soon when No Fenders returns
to some racing related fodder shortly, Yuhs Hear...
Tomaso
A Few More Florence Travel Notes to GO!
Having driven thru Tillamook the next day,
once again it was Mary Ellen's favourite time, when your humble No Fenders
scribe Tomaso chimes out "Feed Me!"
To which Mary Ellen made a wonderful choice in Rockaway Beach, (Oregon)
where she spied a lone "Taco Wagon" (truck) strategically positioned
nearby the State Park entrance, where she rustled Mwah up some Burritos Linda's
Ci-ci? From the Tacos Providencia food vendor, Who's Beautiful Burrito was
quite tasty; as naturally, I had the chicken
since the sauce wasn't blue; Hooah!
As I ate my Mondo' lunch on a picnic table at Manhattan Beach
State Park, the very same place we'd met the super nice Park Host lady on our
way south, who'd offered us camping recommendations...
Mary Ellen spied them again and went off for
a Chin-wag' (chat) telling the woman's husband; you said she's a liar; but! I
know one thingy she's not lying about, having promised to love 'N cherish you
through thick 'N thin!
To which the husband dryly shot back: NO! To
Honour & Obey! And she hasn't been doing much of that for a long time now... As they turned out to be
somewheres' in their 80's? Having told
Mary Ellen they'd been married for 62yrs; Aye Karumba!
Oh? And how can Yuhs forget 'bout Oswald West
Mary Ellen exclaimed when taking notes for this
riveting racing story of mine's; Hya! As this was our featured destination of the day, which came after
lunch.
This is by far one of my favourite
haunts along the Pacific Coast, which
this time only featured 'bout 12-15
Surfers opposed to the record 40 Mary
Ellen had spotted on a previous visit.
After a very enjoyable time on the beach,
where Mary Ellen said RUN! RUN TOMASO RUN! Hur-hur-hur... As the tide was
coming in, but not that far Matey; Hya!
And whilst waiting for my return from the
Loo, which I suppose was somewhat Karmic as Panda, who's a girl was waiting
outside the Men's bathroom and cheekily told some of the guys exiting she
wasn't trying to "Cop-a-Peak," just waiting to SEE that her blind friend made I-T outta the
restroom...
Meanwhile, Mary Ellen was BUSY chatting up an 'Aussie on Holiday with a custom
motorcycle-sidecar, with the sidecar being to his own vision - designed to
carry his surf board! As Mary Ellen said he was simply A-L-L SMILES and loving our coast and its surfing locales!
(Even if our waters are cold and require wet suits...) As
the side-car was apparently fashioned out of some sort of diamond plating? And
was about six-feet long with the surfboard sliding underneath the side-car's
FLAT bottom...
Thus, as the sun's rays began dipping I was
offered the choice of the Astoria
bridge, nee "Astoria Triangle" or our 'lil Putt-Putt Ferry! Which
naturally I chose the latter.
Wishing to confirm we were indeed headed in
the correct direction, we pulled into a gas station, where it's still bizarre
that somebody else's gots to pump our gas! Which is an Oregon state law.
And as this was taking place, Mary Ellen
became enraptured in a conversation with a Good 'Ol Boy who claimed his Dodge
Ram DIESEL PickemUp truck had 800,000+ miles on it! Which he'd racked-up from
ten years of pulling Arctic Fox trailers up 'N down the I-5 corridor between BC
and Oregon, whilst lamenting how BAD the traffic SUCKS in Seattle!
Driving straight down the on-ramp as
dusk enveloped us, onto the 'lil
9-vehicle Wahkiakum
County Ferryboat, our most affable fare taker said
we were fine, thinking we'd cut it too close, instead, he'd just closed the
gates a few minutes early for the once-an-hour sailing...
Then as we departed moments later, he asked
if it was ok to give our FURR-rocious lap Hoonds' a Doggie treat? Uh Duh! As
Mad Molly didn't even bark, growl or glare at him - whilst thy Pixolator said
hurry up Dude! Having never experienced
a ferry worker giving out Doggie treats before! As we awaited our
pleasant 15min crossing of the Mighty Columbia! Which unfortunately is one of
the most polluted rivers in the world...
Exiting onto
Puget Island once again, Chief Wahkiakum and his Chinook
Indians were nowheres' to be found, as it was nightfall after all and they were
probably busy picking nuts 'N berries whilst awaiting Lewis and Clark bringing
them the turkeys Sacagawea
had shown them where to be found...
And having arrived on Puget Island along with
stopping at our favourite Cathlamet grocery store; Home-Sweet-Home, we pulled into
our "Top Secret" campground once again, this time to sleep in a Yurt,
which I'd never done before! Although these Yurt's are customized, complete
with an actual honest-to-goodness regular door, heater, single light-bulb,
couch, chair & table and bunk-bed!
'Whale, on a trivial note; how many of Y'all
know about the Sacagawea ("Golden")
dollar coin? Since
whenever I think 'bout Sacagawea,
I immediately Flashback to Portland International Raceway's Oh, so fitting
tribute 'Wayback in 'Twenty-oh-Five when celebrating the Lewis & Clark
expedition's Bicentennial, when they played a stirring Indian national anthem
song in honour of Sacagawea!
Naturally, this sparked my curiosity for what
was then an out-of-circulation "Golden" Sacagawea dollar
coin, which I picked up at my local bank, while I learned then there were some
three million languishing in the nation's vaults due to the public's total
disdain for the coin intended to replace the almighty George Washington paper
dollar... A la 'KanaDuh's "looney 'N tooney," which I wished the
Government had done!
Thus, when searching for more info on these forlorn
"Golden" dollars, albeit primarily made of copper I've learned; I was
surprised to discover that a second edition had been cast along with multiple
rear versions of these coins, which
makes me ponder what year mine is, as guess I'd better dig I-T out of the
memento jar, eh?
And lastly, upon our return to Tacoma,
unbeknownst to Mwah, I'd be ridin' Shotgun in 'Claudio's trusty Dodge Caravan,
same one we'd driven to Sonoma for the IndyCar race - which I laboriously
chronicled in;
Hurrah! It's almost over, as I've previously scribbled
'bout the wackiness to the end of this magnificent Holiday down the Pacific
Coast 'N back to the Border, where I was accused of being a PERVERT in;
As that concludes
thee "I've Been Everywhere Man!" Deluxe Travel Notes edition of this Non Racing affair! As I
just felt like scribblin' some more
'bout a very small corner 'O my world when I actually get away from Zed
Confuzer 'N Smell some fresh air, or better yet, Salt Air! As the drone of the
ocean along with the fog horn's almost gone...
As what more
appropriate way to end this Gynormous rant then with a song by those Scottish
lads, the Bay City Rollers, eh? While thanxs for letting me scribble profusely
'bout Somme-than' other than motor racing here on thy 'lil No Fenders 'BLOB...
Gratzi,
Tomaso
VIDEO: Bye Bye Baby!
Kudos
to Mary Ellen, Panda & Alex for ALL of their invaluable assistance on thy
Oregonian Trail!
All Florence Travel Story Photographs courtesy of
Panda...
