DAY-21 From the High Country to the Oregon Coast

Day-21: Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Starting Location: Prospect Historic B&B, Prospect, OR

Interim Location: En-route to the Oregon Coast

Ending Location: Best Western, Coos Bay, OR

We awoke around 7 this morning and were scheduled for breakfast at 8:30. I met Greg in the parlor for coffee and while there we planned our get-away for the day. Breakfast was, by now, somewhat routine, Sheila brought down her “real maple syrup” and we all again consumed what for us is clearly larger than normal breakfast meals.

By 9:30 or more realistically 10 AM we were all packed. Sheila and I were outside to see the Maxwells off on their continuing journey, this time toward Lassen National Park, the Monterey Peninsula and then finally home.

A few minutes later Sheila and I were also underway, today westward bound for the Oregon coast at Coos Bay.

The ride from Prospect to Coos Bay is interesting with narrow winding roads crossing the coastal mountains of Oregon interspersed with about five minutes of I-5 driving before resuming the two-lane style highway.

Just after leaving Prospect we had our first wildlife experience noticing a rafter (aka flock) of wild turkeys roaming through a farm field.

We pressed on to Coos Bay arriving around 6 PM. The last time we had been here was a dark and rainy night in 2013. Today the weather was good and we were able to see what Coos Bay has to offer. It's an industrial city heavily tied to the logging and timber industry. The town is basically surrounded by water some of which accommodates ocean going ship traffic.

Check-in at the Best Western was uneventful though we only barely got a room, only three left, one of which was the highly undesirable roadside "last to rent out" rooms. Ours was good, on the second floor and as Sheila would say, one of the old styles where every room exits to the outside, no atrium or central lobby here.

For dinner we found the #1 restaurant in Coos Bay or so TripAdvisor suggested. Tonight's choice was Little Italy an Italian place in the downtown section of Coos Bay. The restaurant service and food matched up to its ranking. We had salads and "senior size" entrees, spaghetti and meat balls for me and Chicken Parm for Sheila. There was enough food to take home so our next stop was, where else, but Walmart for a travel cooler and a few other essentials, well maybe not so essential.

So with the conclusion of our Walmart night out, we were back in the hotel with good Internet and time to catch up on any variety of home and Helium affairs.