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Campervaning in the USA.In the US they are "RV's" (Recreational Vehicles), to the rest of the world "Campervans".
© Copyright not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission of the author. E-mail All photographs ©
"Economy is half the battle of life; it is not so hard to earn money as to spend it well. - Charles Spurgeon [1834-1892]
3/7/2002 Wednesday, Vancouver, WA 
Saying
good-bye to our friends we headed to Salem Oregon, the state capital,
to collect our vehicle title and registration card from the DMV. It all went
as planned and was waiting for us at the reception desk.
Proceeding via OR22 and OR18 to Lincoln City to the coast we were at first concerned that the US coast had been ruined by over development in the same way that the coasts of Europe have been. There are many areas where the foreshore and dunes have been sold off and built on and where public access is severely restricted by this development, however the situation improves as you go south of Lincoln City on US101.
There are many "State Parks" shown on the maps along the coast. In reality most of them are only picnic areas and have no camping facilities. At several of these parks you are even expected to pay $5 for day use, just to have a picnic.
The
Oregon coast is distinctly campervan unfriendly with almost all the state parks
and possible roadside parking places signed "day use only', "closed
10PM-6AM", "No overnight parking", or similar unpleasentries.
Even the Wal-Mart carpark in Newport is prevented from allowing overnight parking
by a city ordinance according to signs posted there.
There some state parks with campgrounds but at this time of year all are full.
Too many regulations, signs are all over the US to tell you what you can and can't do. Land of the free, more like land of the FEE? These signs are at parking areas all along the Oregon Coast.
Why close a seaside park at night, what is the point?
The town of Depot Bay was having a fireworks show on the night of July
3 at Boiler Bay and we were able to get parking nearby and watch the
show which commenced at 10PM, as it does not get dark here until such a late
hour. We had previously noted that at the parking area at Cape Foulweather
there were no no camping or similar signs, also the car park is well hidden
from the main road, and there is also another car park on the highway adjacent
to the access road which also has no unfriendly signs. We planned to return
there for the night after the fireworks and it proved to be a good quiet SONP
and we were not disturbed.
Depot Bay, from Cape Foulweather, OR. ©
Cape Foulweather was named by Captain Cook in 1778 and his published reports led eventually to the Lewis and Clarke expedition and the development of Oregon.
At Newport there is a Wal-Mart but signs in the park indicate no overnight parking because of a city ordinance. It seems that in this part of Oregon the numerous RV park owners have prevailed upon local government to try and stop boondocking as much as possible.
4/7/2002
Thursday, Cape Foulweather OR.
Driving on through Newport to Waldport there are pleasant
views of the coast and many free small picnic areas and some State park and
National Forest campgrounds, but all the campgrounds are fee areas. In Waldport
there is a public RV dump station fee $3, to be deposited in a box under
threat of fines of $500 0r 30 days goal for those who don't pay! We proceeded
on towards Florence stopping for lunch at Bob Creek picnic area
and explored the rocky beach where there were surfers and rock hounds searching
for agate. The coastal scenery improves and the amount of sea front despoiled
by development on the dunes and cliffs decreases as you go further south.
Heceta Beach, North of Florence, Oregon Coast. ©
We
stopped at Florence to browse in one of the numerous antique shops, and
found there was to be another fireworks display in the evening over the river
in the Old Town, and were again lucky enough to find one of the few remaining
parking places at around 5PM, where we waited with a large crowd of other onlookers
for the pyrotechnics show at about 10PM. Sharon thought it was wonderful of
them to put on such a spectacle for her birthday! The Old Town is an attractively
restored section of the town with most buildings around the river front wharf
area well preserved examples of early 20th century wooden architecture.
Heceta Head Lighthouse, OR. ©
We had noticed a large Fred Myer store on US101 on the northern outskirts of
the town on the drive in, and inspected the car park for any signs indicating
that we could not park over night, but there were none, so after the fireworks
we returned to Fred's place and spent a quiet night in his car park. Thanks
Fred. Next morning Sharon checked out the shop for clothing sale items. Being
camper van friendly brings business. Just look at Wal-Mart. The Fred Myer
store also has a gas station with the best prices in the area $1.39. Three
cents extra discount included with a Fred Myer card. Like a Safeway card, a
way of checking up on your buying habits. It is against the law to pump your
own petrol in Oregon, to preserve the jobs of pump attendants. Weird, in the
land of economic rationalism you find a peculiarity like this.
We
called in at the Salvation Army thrift shop to browse and I bought a pair of
almost new secondhand jeans for $2.99, and Sharon a pair of shorts for $1.99.
I'll add them to the collection of clothing items I've bought at English charity
shops. Some poor fools probably spend more on cloths than we do on RV holidays.
The thrift shops of The Salvos and those of St.Vincent DePaul are the best value
by far in the USA. There are others such as Goodwill Industries (Commercial
charity outlet) and Deseret (Mormons) but we think you will agree that the first
mentioned are the best value.
There is an RV public dump near the wharf area in the old town area of Florence.
In the 'Old Town" of Florence. ©
5/7/2002 Friday, Florence, OR 
South of Florence is the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area,
an area of large sand dunes much flavored by the owners of 4 wheel drive "All
Terrain Vehicles" (quad cycles), known as ATVs, to roar around amongst
the dunes in areas set aside for them. It is all a FEE area, and for miles you
need to pay, even to park at the access points. A Northwest Forest Pass
$5.00 for a day to $30.00 for a year, is needed to stop at any of the parking
places.
Needless to say we didn't pay, but passed on through until we came to an access point just south of Reedsport, the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, where there is both a campground, which of course was full at this time of year, and a FREE day use area, open from 6AM to 9PM of course. From the light house we could see hundreds of RVs and ATVs in the sand dunes below. The views over the dunes are just as good if not better, and the parking is FREE, and so is the camping in some areas of the dunes.
Boondock and Picnic FREE, don't pay the FEE.
Boycott FEE areas, only use FREE areas!
Beyond the carpark near the Umpqua lighthouse the road continues down to
the beach area, and along the road many RV's camp off in the sand dunes,
with their ATVs. You should have 4WD to do this, and we didn't try it in Bounder.
Signs indicate that you must not camp within 200 feet of the road, but this
seems to be interpreted flexibly. The road continues to a National Forest
pay campsite and dunes ATV access area, but before then there is a road to the
right leading to a paved parking area behind the dunes on the beach front, which
is still in the State Park, and where there are no signs about being closed
at night or restricting parking hours.
"Really serious driftwood", on the beach near Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, OR.©
After exploring the beach, notable for the large amount of enormous driftwood logs washed up on the beach and into the dunes by storms, we boondocked in the carpark. Most people congregate on the beach opposite the carpark, but wander a few hundred meters along the beach and there is hardly anybody for miles. A secluded beach on which you can do whatever you like, and we did too!
RVs and ATVs camped in the dunes below the Umpqua Lighthouse, OR. Flags on tents and RVs are common. ©
Looking down from the lighthouse carpark to the camp of RVs and myriad ATVs and tents in the dunes below, one can see prominently American flags on display, at least four of them. I suppose it's just after the 4th of July and it's the national day and all that, but long before this time, all over the country, the myriad flag, and patriotic propaganda sign phenomenon, has been a notable one, on which I have previously commented. The problem, as I see it, is that for the majority of the populace, it represents an uncritical and blind patriotism, which views the U.S. and it's policies more as an instrument of divine will, rather than merely as a great imperialist power, following an elitist economic agenda, at the expense of both most of the common people of America, and, of all those countries in the world who are less powerful, in the same way that Great Britain did in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I believe that Americans generally do not sufficiently analyze and critically review what their country does in the world, hence the paradox of such generally individually nice people, either blindly supporting, or in the majority being totally ignorant of, such often abhorrent national foreign policy. Then wondering why they aren't liked universally throughout the world.
Some American academics such as Noam Chomsky of MIT clearly understand the phenomenon, but are of course derided by the mainstream media as unpatriotic, even branded ridiculously as communists. Whereas they are in reality the true patriots, with the interests of the American people in general at heart, not merely the conflicting interests of the ruling elite.
A television advertisement currently being shown in the USA reinforces my concerns. Obviously even the government is becoming concerned that their patriotism campaigns have been too successful in influencing the most ignorant sectors of the populace! "Stop the hate.", it says. "Since September 11th, hundreds of innocent (Arab and Islamic) Americans have been attacked." (By ignorant blind "patriots". ) "Remember what that flag you are waving really stands for.", says the advert.
I couldn't agree more, but I would emphasise to remember what that flag originally stood for, the ideals of the Founding Fathers, not what it has come to stand for in many other parts of the world, under the influence of corporate America and the military industrial complex, a hated symbol of imperialism, instead of a beacon of freedom as it originally was.
I noticed large red white and blue signs in Fred Myers department store in Florence this morning, for sale for $4.99. "Proud to be American", they say. Great guys, specifically what are you so proud of, and if you are, why do you need to buy a big sign to proclaim it, and to whom? Yourself? Are a few nagging doubts creeping in? Or is the very existence of all these signs and flags, and hype from network TV personalities, a clue to how you are, as usual, manipulated?
6/7/2002 Saturday, Umpqua Beach, OR
Another quiet night, interrupted only by the distant beeping of a whistle buoy
fog signal on the bar at the river mouth. Numerous camps are in the surrounding
dunes where people have 4WD utes and ATVs. The area is popular because the camping
is free, and the broad expanse of clean sandy beaches are not at all overcrowded.
If the climate were warmer this would be an even more popular beach destination
able to compete with the more tropical destinations, but the water is too cold
for swimming for most of the year.
We
followed US101 south via Coos Bay and Bandon both tourist and
timber towns with numerous private RV parks, apart from the state parks on the
beachfronts. The campervan unfriendly signs continued all along, the parks deemed
to be closed 9PM to 6AM, and as the State Park campsites all had full signs
out, there really wasn't anywhere we wanted to stop other than for lunch and
tea breaks. With most RV parks full at this time of year they just don't cater
for the touring RV owner who does not want to book ahead, and the restrictive
overnight parking policy is just driving business away from the area. So we
passed more quickly through the small towns, where we may have lingered longer
if they weren't so short sighted about overnight parking.
The coast at Bandon, OR. ©
Well
they may be fussy about no one staying in their parks at night in Oregon. Perhaps
all the bible thumpers are concerned at what their teenage kids get into in
the back seat of their big American cars, and wish to deprive them of secluded
screwing locations, but it seems they provide other strange facilities!
At first you could be forgiven for thinking this was just a public toilet placed at the Cape Sebastion State Park, but the sign indicates that it is intended as a place for the locals to engage in group sex. What other interpretation can be put on the name "Roto Rooter"? Unless of course there is a subtle linguistic difference between American and Australian usage of the terminology, and I've made an awful mistake?
A "Roto Rooter" ( small enclosed structure for the conduct of group sex orgies ) thoughtfully provided in Oregon State Parks, where you are not allowed at night.©
Now if they let people stay in the parks at night, no one would see what they got into, and the state could save money by not having to provide "Roto Rooters"!
Although the name "Roto", no doubt derived from the Latin root, Roto-rotus, (I turn), suggesting a rapid rotation of partners or positions I imagine, suggests the facilities are not officially intended for individual or private use, but more for group use. Members of the "Mile High Club" would no doubt also appreciate the consideration shown by the Oregon State Parks authorities.
Note for gullible individuals and Americans, the above is a joke. Do not believe everything you see on television or read on the Internet, it might also be propaganda. In Australian idiom "rooting" refers to an act of (usually heterosexual) sexual intercourse. The verb "to root", is akin to " to fuck" and also may mean to render or to be inoperative, damaged or non functional. E.g. The car is rooted. The meaning being determined by the context in which the word is used. e.g., "I'd like to give that sheila a good root mate"! In standard English, "I am desirous of having sexual intercourse with that (usually young) lady my friend".
Hence in my deviant and iconoclastic mind, and also out of a desire to poke fun at the ridiculous policy of "closing" the Sate Parks at night, I seized upon this heaven sent opportunity. Do you get it NOW? No, well never mind.
Finding nothing more suitable we eventually stopped for the night in a roadside
pull out area south of the Humbug Mountain State Park, north of Orford.
There are a number of pull outs along the road where you can boondock for a
night, where there are no restrictive signs. Not very appealing, just a place
to stop until you get to an more accommodating area. The road is very quiet
at night and we were undisturbed.
7//7/2002 Sunday, beside US101, north of Ophir, OR 
The heavy sea
fog was still present as we set off at 7.30AM along US101 south. Shortly we
came across a rest area (17 miles south of Port Orford and 9 miles north
of Gold Beach) with toilets, water, picnic tables and beach access, and
no nasty signs about being closed at night or no overnight parking. A good boondocking
spot. This is the ONLY rest area we have seen on US101 since Lincoln City.
Along US101 there are a number of roadside low grade SONPS, if you don't
want to disregard the absurd restrictions on remaining in the state parks after
9PM.
The sand in this area is much darker in colour than further north, brown, rather than the white sands further north around Florence.
With
persistent sea fog obscuring the views of the coast we proceeded slowly, stopping
first for morning tea at a view point and lingering an hour hoping it would
lift, and then proceeding on to Cape Sebastion State Park for lunch where
we decided to remain to catch up on our scrapbooks and work on this website.
There are excellent views along the coast, it there is no fog, and two secluded
car parks, both well off the highway, that would make excellent SONPS and where
you would not be observed from the road. The Southern park affords by far the
best views and there is a coastal walking track to explore. Better still it
also has a "Roto Rooter", just in case you are overcome by
multiple lustful desires!
All afternoon we watched the fog ebb and flow over the seascape below the high cape, but the sun didn't break through for long today. We are in no hurry, and this is the beauty of a campervan holiday, we can stay as long as we want, until the scenery is visible again. Nor much point in travelling on a scenic byway, if you can't see anything.
Sunset from Cape Sebastian, OR ©
8/7/2002
Sunday, Cape Sebastion, OR A
coastal trail leads down from the parking area to the sea at the tip of the
cape, through rain forest. About a two hour return trip as there is a descent
of some hundreds of feet. Seals and sea lions inhabit the rocky islands close
to the shore and we were able to spot seal pups with our binoculars. From the
lowest point of the trail you can scramble further down to rocks for sea for
fishing if you want.
View south from Cape Sebastian, OR. ©
Travelling south again on US101 there are numerous State Park scenic viewpoints
and picnic areas, complete with the usual plethora of regulatory signage, as
well as plenty of informal spots to pull off the road that are suitable SONPS
for boondocking, where there are no posted overnight parking prohibitions, just
in case they bother you.
At Brookings there is a rest area on the northern outskirts, on the east
side of US101, which has a FREE RV public dump, with non potable water only.
However directly oposite there is a State Park with a campsite, where you may
be able to get potable water.
There is no doubt that Oregon has a most attractive coastline, and considerable sections remain unspoiled, and accessible, there is no wonder it is a popular destination for American tourists, many of whom live far from the sea. Even on July 4, the American Independence Day holiday, traffic on highway 101 was not very heavy and there was ample parking room in many of the picnic areas. The coast is far less developed than that of most parts of the coasts of Europe or the UK (Cornwall, Wales and Scotland excepted), and the long expanses of sparsely peopled white sand beaches, particularly just north of Florence are surpassed only by those of Australia, and parts of South East Asia. As a beach destination the problems being that the water is much colder than Australian or Asian tropical beaches, and the swimming season much shorter.
So the appeal to the international tourist will vary greatly, depending on where you come from. For Australians it is nice, but not uniquely spectacular coastal scenery, but there are warmer beaches with better access all around our homeland, so I can't say it is something you would want to come a long way to see, or that it's a must in your itinerary. For those from the UK or Europe wanting to enjoy sun and sand on an international destination holiday, it hardly rates on the scale of world class beach areas either. So the Oregon Coast is mainly a domestic tourism destination for Americans.
Wildflowers of the Oregon Coast. ©
Oregon Coast - Great domestic tourist destination - but alone not of unique interest to the international tourist. If you want to include more of the west coast of the US, it is worthy of consideration in your US campervan itinerary, particularly if you combine it with Mt.Rainier and Mt.St.Helens in Washington and the Redwood forests of northern California.
Petrol is cheaper in Oregon than in California by up to about 20 cents a gallon!
"There is no gain so certain as that which arises from sparing what you have." - Pubilius Syrus [fl. B.C. 42]
Photos ©. Taken with a Minolta Dimage 7 digital camera. More route maps still to be added.
Next - Part 10. California.
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