Elko, Nevada
October 26th- 28th
Elko was a neat little town. Like a little Vegas. Lots of casinos, but on a significantly smaller scale. We slumbered at Iron Horse Campground for two nights and dined at a place called Stray Dog Bar and Cafe.
On Tuesday morning, we ate our pancakes in a cup (Side note: If you’ve never tried Kodiak Cakes, Flapjacks, you should). They’re delicious, they only require one minute in the microwave and are packed with protein. We purchased our Nevada fishing licenses and bought a small tackle box to fill, because Michael only brought fly fishing tackle, and nothing for my spinning rod… We spent the day in the Humboldt forest, hiking the Lamoille Canyon up to Lamoille Lake, where we planned to fish. The first two lakes we passed were iced over, but luckily Lamoille lake was not. We could fish and Berk could swim and chase all the ducks. Neither of us got a bite. The water was so clear and the terrain around us was a rainbow of colors, so spending our afternoon there was still quite enjoyable.
As the sun began to set we decided it was time to head back down the mountain, given the temperature was dropping quickly. We put on all the layers we had packed, and shivered our way down, in silence. It’s kind of been our thing lately. We talk the whole way up the mountain (While trying to breathe at altitude) and the way down is quieter. We ate some gourmet chicken patties and chicken noodle soup before crashing for the night.
Before leaving Elko, we got McDonalds. Which I immediately regretted because I thought I was going to barf. It was nice not to have to make sandwiches for the first time in three weeks though. Does anyone have lunch ideas for traveling nomads like us? Let us know. I try to mix it up, but it inevitably gets monotonous. We also treated the Dutchmen to a set of four brand new trailer tires.
Virgin Valley, Nevada
October 28th-29th
We broke in the new tires driving through the middle of nowhere Nevada. Surrounded by desert dirt, roads lined in Sagebrush and the occasional antelope off in the distance, we suddenly lost service. Virgin Valley Campground sits at the end of a two mile long, dirt road, lined with ponds and raised buttes, similar to what we saw in the Badlands. I found the location on Boondocking, which I always get super excited about because they’re FREE. The campground had a little free library that gifted us with a throwback Martina McBride CD. Score. We have an old CD player in the Dutchmen, which is super clutch. I brought my whole CD case from high school, so we’ve had quite a few throwback jam sessions.
In the library, someone had written in thin, black sharpie right above the ceiling, “It’s a great, big broad land, way out yonder. It’s the outback where silence has lease. It’s the beauty that fills me with wonder. It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.” Come to find out the quote comes from Jon Kraukauer’s book “Into the Wild.” How fitting. Apparently Mike hasn’t seen the movie or read the book, so we need to do that immediately.
We found a secluded spot along a line of bushes where we could set up camp for the night. I biked while Berk ran alongside me, in an attempt to expel his energy after several hours of driving. We made pasta and laughed harder than we should have at the MadLibs stories we made up from the book my mother-in-law, Amy gave us.
We woke up to a hot sun which felt heavenly. Mike and I biked while Berk sprinted alongside us, once again to expel his energy before a four hour drive. Our bike ride quickly turned into a hike when we entered into thick gravel up a 90 degree slope. When we left Virgin Valley, we realized we didn’t know exactly where we were going and we couldn’t download directions due to our lack of cell service. Lucky for us, when we reached the end of the dirt road we could only go left or right. We clearly came in from the East, so we made an obvious decision to continue West. We drove for about two hours before getting any kind of cell signal, then arrived in a small town called Adel, Oregon. Actually, I don’t know if you could even consider it a town. There was one gas station, in a dirt parking lot. The gas was $3.70 compared to the $2.10 we’d been used to spending. It cost us over $70.00 to fill up, which was painful, but we needed gas. The pumps looked like they were out of an old movie and Mike said all the men inside were actual cowboys.
La Pine, Oregon
October 29th-30th
Our drive to La Pine was gorgeous. The roads were surrounded by huge, lush pine trees that stood 100 feet tall. Ken and NancyLee welcomed us through an open gate and directed us to park along a wired fence. This was our third Harvest Host stay and first time at an alpaca farm. We jumped out of the truck and were greeted immediately by “The girls” as NancyLee called them. Female alpacas, similar to their human counterparts, are extremely social, so they travel in packs. “The boys” grunted and screamed in the distance, as Berk ran toward their section of the fence, trying to chase them away, as he does with the deer at home. NancyLee gave me the run down of Oregon. She told me about the landscape, the smoke from the wildfires, how Oregonians typically come from Washington and California, but move away after the first snowfall. Meanwhile, a few steps away, Ken was filling Mike in on his career as a truck driver, working in the asphalt business and eventually switching companies to deliver produce.
NancyLee showed us into what looked like their detached garage, which used to be a movie room and now her alpaca store. Mike ended up buying a pair of socks, after Ken explained that he wouldn’t wear anything but them. Ken went into the house for the night and NancyLee gave us a full tour of the alpaca farm. All of the boys were named after celebrities, some of them included: Clint, Walter and Kevin. Apparently we were giving the boys too much attention, because as soon as I approached the girls to feed them, Aurora spit directly in my eye.
The next morning was warm and sunny, so I enjoyed a run along a curvy back road. Being in Steve Prefontaine’s home state, I was inspired to run, no matter how far. I returned to the farm to discover our first flat tire. A screw was wedged into our rear left tire and it was completely flat. Thankfully Mike is very skilled when it comes to any kind of car maintenance. He took the flat off and replaced it with the spare, then drove into town to get the tire patched. We went grocery shopping, picked up the newly repaired tire, at no charge and headed back to the alpaca farm. It was later than planned, but we were determined to get to the Pacific Coast, so we packed up, said goodbye to Ken and NancyLee and were on our way.
October 30th-31st
Elkton, Oregon
Apparently we weren’t met to make it to Coos Bay that day. When we were about an hour away, one of our brand new trailer tires blew out completely. Mike quickly pulled off into the closest parking lot we could find. Our tire was shredded and Mike replaced it with our spare. After the spare tire was installed, as we went to check the tire pressure, the valve stem blew off, releasing all of the air in our spare. I called AAA and was told we couldn’t be helped until the morning. We got over our frustration and decided to be grateful because we just so happened to have our tire blow out in a parking lot with a Mexican food truck. The owners gracefully allowed us to stay the night, so we decided to order taco salads and make the best of it. If only our sleep that night was as good as the taco salad. After what felt like a few minutes of rest, we woke up before the sun and headed 25 miles South to the closest town that had a tire shop. We bought two brand new tires.. again. Eventually we made it to Coos Bay, Oregon and it was so worth the frustration along the way.
October 31st- November 2nd
Sunset Bay, Oregon
Any beach town is automatically my favorite place ever. Especially in November. We parked the Dutchmen in our campsite, which was tucked in between a small creek and a line of thick trees. The area felt like we were in a jungle, almost like a mix between the Florida coast and the trees in the Adirondack mountains. We both agreed it was a place of it’s own. It wasn’t comparable to anywhere else. I think that’s what made it so special.
We immediately headed for the beach. It was Berks first time, and he loved it. If we had to drive across our entire country to see Berk’s excitement at the beach, it would have been worth it. He’s been so good without his leash. He even heels to me now and walks so close without bothering anyone else. We hiked a short trail to see a better view of the rugged coastline before heading into Coos Bay.
We parked in Downtown Coos Bay and when I saw the murals of Steve Prefontaine, I flipped. We visited 7 Devils Brewing, where we enjoyed live music, along with my Apple Pie cider and Mike’s Chinnok Redd and giant pretzel. It was Halloween, so there were adorable kids and half dressed college students, everywhere. We headed back to the campsite and had our first bon-fire because there were fire bans in every other state. I hoped we’d have at least, just one trick-or-treater. I bought a big bag of all sour candy and a bucket with little purple and black bats on it, but we had zero trick-or-treaters. I don’t even know if we saw one kid in the campground, but Michael has certainly been making a dent in the candy bucket.
“To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.” This was one of Steve Prefontaine’s famous quotes, that could be found on the back of the shirts we would get handed after crossing the finish line and placing in a High School Cross Country race. When I found out we’d be staying near Coos Bay, I knew I wanted to learn more about the aspiring life Pre lived, in his short 24 years. He died in a car accident in Eugene, Oregon at just 24 years old. If you don’t know much about Pre, you should take the time to do some research. He was a phenomenal runner who set endless records, but many people say he gained his fame because of the type of person he was, not just the runner.
I figured there was no better way to learn about Pre, than to run his training course. Every September they do a memorial run in Coos Bay, on the same course Pre trained on. So I downloaded the map and Mike agreed to bike alongside me. We woke up early Saturday morning because we caught wind of the fact that the showers would open at 8am. At this point, we hadn’t showered it 3-4 days, so a shower sounded amazing. Our hot water heater still isn’t working, so we’ve resorted to “Dude Wipes” in between RV parks with showers. The floor was rocks and there was no curtain. I felt like I was in the movie elf, as the faucet was level with my chest. I was shivering non-stop, but at least the water was hot. I walked back in my soaking wet sneakers and wished Mike luck. He came back with a similar reaction, except he was extra unimpressed about the fact that his shower was scalding hot.
We started out at Marshfield High School, in Coos Bay. The track was locked, so I started right outside the gate and headed uphill. Mike followed closely on his bike and made sure to give me a heads when we needed to turn. I felt so connected and enjoyed every second of those six and a half miles.
Sushi sounded good, as a way to reward ourselves after our productive morning. We ate in Downtown Coos Bay at a little Japanese/Korean restaurant called Sumins. The staff was friendly and the food was delicious. I even ate the second half of mine for dinner that night. We took Berk to the beach again before heading for Cape Arago. Mike and I drove along the coastline, stopping to see the sea lions barking at each other off in the distance. The coastline was so rugged and beautiful. We sat at Cape Arago and watched the sunset and soaked in the last bit of it before dusk.
Before packing up, Berkley, Michael and I hiked the beginning of the pack trail up to a World War II bunker. The bunker was covered in spray painted messages such as “Vote” and “Love one another.” (I left the inappropriate one’s out) It was neat to see and to imagine what it was like to be part of the military during that time. We could hear the sea lions off in the distance and wondered if they could back then too. Berkley loved the hike and would lead us down little trails of his own. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Oregon, but promised to each other that we’d come back one day. After all, we did only spend three days there.
C A L I F O R N I A B O U N D.
Travel the Fernweh 