A full day’s driving to Salem lay ahead so we made an early start but not before a good American breakfast and a walk on the beach. The sand is grey here; a bit like BBQ ash when it’s cold and there are no shells of any kind; just an unusual assortment of pebbles dotted about. Here’s a better photo of driftwood, piled up against the back of the beach.
Highway 101 continues north along the coast and, today, there was no mist so the views were wonderful. We stopped for a rest at Coos Bay, which looked quite enticing on the way in but was instantly forgettable on the way out except for the road bridges stretching out across the bay which provided unencumbered views of the surrounding area.
A little north of Coos Bay we arrived at Spinreal Sand where we hired a dune buggy and took our lives into our own hands for an hour or so. We had to sign away our lives when we arrived – the ‘contract’ would have taken a good half an hour to read so we just signed like everybody else. We knew what it said – ‘if you kill yourself it’s your own fault and nothing to do with us!’ What could be more reasonable? We had to sit through a safety video and talk: what NOT to do if you want to remain in one piece. By the end of the video our legs were a bit wobbly. The guy giving the safety talk said that they had called 2 ambulances in the last week – that really helped us feel better and we ran for the crash helmet cupboard.
After a crash course in gear management (how to go forward and backwards) and peddle management (how to start and stop) we realised it wasn’t rocket science. Kids do it for goodness sake – how difficult could it be? And so we headed out onto the dunes. We expected a few small hills but it was like being lost in the Sahara Desert. The sun was very high in the sky making it difficult to see the changing sand levels; it was quite possible to encounter a ‘drop-off’ (an unexpected sheer drop over the edge of a dune) and end up lying upside down in the sand, hanging from your seat belt. The dunes had a high end and a low end and getting lost was easy to do as the area was vast and every dune looked alike although they did show us how to navigate using a distant antenna tower and a ridge of trees. For an extra fee we could have headed for the beach but that would have meant a 15 minute ride across the dunes to get there, which indicates just how big the area was. To get up a dune safely you had to take a run-up, gathering enough speed to see you to the top without stopping short and rolling back down and possible disaster. It took a bit of getting used to but we managed it. The hardest bit was getting down. The rule was to always gauge your ascent so that you stopped on top of the dune (don’t just keep going over the edge) as you don’t know who are what’s on the other side. A number of times we got to the top and were feet away from what looked like a precipice on the other side. All very scary but exciting at the same time. To get down a reasonable slope you had to basically roll over the edge without applying the gas and without braking. There were penalty fees for everything – rolling over, crashing into something or someone else, scratching the buggy, going through water, mechanical failure (yes, they blame you for that too – it’s in the contract) and finally having your coffin returned to the UK (I made that bit up). Needless to say, we made it out safely but the flashbacks are still troubling! A couple of photos of the experience:
At Reedsport we turned inland and headed for Eugene and hit rush hour traffic in the city. It was the most traffic we had seen in our trip so far-everywhere else has been so very quiet. Once through the city we were on our way to the Willamette Valley and Oregon’s famous wine region. Eugene is basically the start of the Willamette Valley in the south and is flanked on the west by the distant Oregon Coast Range and on the east by the equally distant Cascade Mountains. We had no idea just how big the Willamette Valley was; it really is a vast plain growing countless crops of fruit and vegetables. Ironically, the only thing you don’t see on route 99 west is a single vineyard. All the wineries seem to be a few miles either side of the highway. Finding your way around the wineries takes some planning and organisation, something we’ll think about tomorrow. For now we just enjoyed looking at the vast fields of corn, hazelnuts, pears, apples – the list could go on and on as nearly every fruit and veg you can think of is grown here. But the most interesting to me is the Willamette’s famous Pinot Noir grape and I hope to sample its delights tomorrow – Rachel’s driving!
We arrived in Salem, Oregon’s capital, by early evening and just had time to visit downtown and have dinner. It was a long, exciting and rewarding day. Tomorrow we visit the wineries, breweries and, hopefully, cideries of the Willamette Valley.
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