The Home Stretch

Experiencing the Total Solar Eclipse was an amazing end to an incredible trip. We altered out itinerary so that we could be in Northern Oregon for this momentous event so we were a little stressed for time to get back home and prepare for the upcoming USC football season. As most of you know we are avid fans and don’t miss any home games so a September 2 start date was looming large. We still didn’t want to drive more than 6 hours in a day and didn’t want to miss anything along the way so we headed for our stop in Southern Oregon at Bullards Beach State Park outside of Bandon, Oregon. We had a 2 night stop over but really expected it to be just that…a quick stop on our way home. We were not prepared for the serene beauty of the coastline in this area of Oregon and really enjoyed our walks on the beach, especially Face Rock State Park. The low fog and sea stacks were beautiful and we were treated to an interesting and amazingly beautiful ritual. We didn’t get to ask anyone about the history but I researched it later to find out that it is called “Circles in the Sand” a labyrinth experience at the beach. Their members come out with rakes and other implements and draw these intricate designs that form an elaborate maze of sorts. Then they walk the resulting path as a form of meditation, healing and renewal. It was incredible to see and was really captivating. Truly breathtaking. Pictures just don’t do it justice. We spent a long time watching the activity and even longer walking along the beach watching the waves and the birds. Even though we didn’t participate we felt renewed and relaxed. We spent so long in the area that the tide started to come in and erase the designs in the sand.

After our time on the beach we headed into Bandon and were surprised to find a quirky little beach town. There were cool shops, great seafood, a creamery and even a distillery. We of course discovered that we like good rum. Because we were having seafood for dinner we stopped at the creamery for lunch and shared a “to die for” cheese panini with a side of smoked cheddar mac and cheese. On the way back we stopped at an old lighthouse and took in more of the beautiful view. Back at camp we sat outside and enjoyed what we expected to be our last day of cool weather on the trip. We had not used the air conditioner in the 5th wheel for more than 2 months but all of the weather forecasts told us we were returning to California in the midst of a heat wave.
On Thursday we took the longest drive of the trip to the Benbow KOA outside of Garberville. We were officially back in California after 9 ½ weeks….and yes it was hot.

We pulled into our pull though and were able to set up without unhitching, a nice bonus because we wanted to hit the road again fairly early the next morning. We did a little laundry and some chores. I also caught up on my blog because we spent the last 2 days without internet and I knew that people wanted to know how the eclipse experience was. Friday we headed for Napa…one step closer to home. We spent our 2 days in Napa visiting a couple of our favorite wineries, cleaning and doing some prep work for the final leg of our trip. We had acquired a few souvenirs and several cases of wine that would need to be unloaded along with removing the remaining food. We actually did a little grocery shopping so that we would have food at the house and wouldn’t have to go shopping for a few days. We anticipated needing at least of couple of days to get the house back in order and go through the copious amounts of mail that we were sure had accumulated. We also touched bases with a friend that we know from the WWII bomb group reunions that we attended with Uncle Mort for a number of years. Since Morton passed away in May, 2 weeks after his 100th Birthday, we just felt that we couldn’t literally drive by Leonard’s house without stopping to see him.

On Sunday we packed up the trailer for the last time on this adventure and headed for Mariposa. We had a great visit with Leonard in Rio Vista. We were really glad we stopped. We are becoming more and more aware that there are not many of the “Greatest Generation” left. We need to treasure the memories and continue to honor their contribution to this great country. A country that has afforded us the ability to live our dream, travel, enjoy life and each other. No plans yet for our next big adventure….Love to all….Until next time!!!!