September 3, 2017
Dawned bright and sunny in Portland, warm, hooked up the Fit and away we went a little north and then west on Hwy 26 toward the Oregon coast. Arrived Tillamook and bought lots of cheese, butter, summer sausage, ice cream bars and a big ice cream cone each. Leaving the creamery we stopped at Fred Meyer for groceries and fuel. Then the fun began, the traffic along 101 being the coast highway on Labor Day weekend was really crowded. Our destination was Mo’s Chowder House at Newport but the traffic and lack of anywhere to park caused us to get on Hwy 20 going west so we could get over to IH5 and then head south faster. The temperatures dropped from 69 on the coast to 95 by the time we reached IH5. About half way to IH5 the smoke began to be in earnest and by the time we reached the freeway it had reduced visibility to where we turned on the full lights to avoid someone hitting us from behind. We worried a lot about what conditions would be when we reached our campground for the night near Oakland OR. The campground was full when we arrived but the smoke was really bad. We had a well deserved happy hour, some snacks of cheese and salami, watched the weather reports on TV and then to bed hoping to not be awakened to evacuation orders.
What the sky looked like on the coast
What it looked like on IH5
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