July 19

It wasn’t a great nights sleep.  I had crazy dreams, some of them involved various ways intruders where entering my tent.  It’s a strange thing to dream about a scary scenario while you are actually in that place.  I also heard an animal sniffing around during the night, but a few sleeping bag movements scared it away.  The sun came up eventually, and daylight brings relief. 

I took a little walk around my camp area and found a patch of wild orchids.  I brought a few along to freshen up my traveling flower arrangement and also admired the morning fog.

I packed up and got back on the road.  I passed by a sign that said the Drive-Thru Tree was up the road a little.  I figured, why not?  I drove up at 8:30am, and it was closed.  No Trespassing.  Seeing a one-way road that was most likely the exit to the tourist destination, I thought to just see how it would be to drive down.  I definitely trespassed.  I drove up to the tree, but didn’t have the balls to drive through.  The area was so cheesy with wood carvings of bears and animals and the tree looked plastic and a gift shop was directly behind it.  I snapped a picture and got out of there.

These long winding roads can be tiring and slow or quick with sharp turns, and it’s hard not to want to pull over every 10 minutes to marvel at each view that comes about.  I also felt really grumpy and deflated on most of these days.  I thought this roadtrip would clear my head and give me good time to feel a certain way about a place or what my next step is, and I just wasn’t feeling that way, not yet. 

I crossed the Oregon state line and encountered more beauty and rode past an old thrift store I thought I would stop at.  The guy behind the counter was the owner and he had no front teeth and claimed he had an apartment above the store and had not left the space in 3 months.  He said he would like to go the beach or something, but he would have to go alone, and what’s the point of that?  Well, I bought a utility knife and wished him well. 

I found a campground north of Coos Bay, OR along the Oregon Dunes National Park, and I found a place I felt comfortable with and set up.  Flower vase on the picnic table.

I went for a sunset hike to see these dunes, and I was struck.  I never knew this landscape existed anywhere besides a sandy desert.  It was the most beautiful sight.

That night I had a knife added to my bedside set-up, and it began raining in the middle of the night, which has the ablitity to sound very much like footsteps.  But it was a better nights sleep.  And daylight brought relief.