Again we were presented with vistas of beautiful forested valleys one after another as we drove toward Eugene. We made a stop in Canyonville to refuel. From there we drove on to Eugene, where we left I-5 and we found our way through the maze of roads. Before leaving the area, we stopped in a shopping center parking lot to have a quick lunch.

In a very short time, we were headed for the ocean along highway 126. This highway eventually runs along the Siuslaw River, which runs through a beautiful forested mountain valley. As we drove along the river, Tom struck up a conversation, on the CB radio, with a fisherman in a boat out on the river. There were several boats on the river being used to fish for salmon.

Waiting in line for wreck to clear

Ahead is the reason for the traffic jam

Along the way the traffic came to a complete stop. There had been an accident ahead of us and a wrecker was pulling a car out of the weeds. This only caused a short delay and we were soon on our way to the coast.

As with last year’s trip, we could see the coastal fog at Florence before we arrived at the coast. The fog peeks over the mountains as we are driving along the river. Upon reaching Highway 101 at Florence, we turned north for the final leg of our trip to Waldport.

On the coastal highway to Waldport

Along the way I saw fog shooting up the cliffs next to the highway which is cut into the side of the cliffs with the Pacific Ocean below. Many familiar locations appeared as we followed the winding road along the coast. We arrived at Waldport at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Our campsites were waiting for us at McKinley's Marina and RV Park. This would give us a chance to get some crab fishing in on the afternoon tide.

This picture speaks for itself

One of the entrances to the campground

Cathie, Wally, Harry, and Shirley were already in camp and it was good to see them waiting for us with their motorhomes parked in the same positions as last year. This allowed us to set up camp like last year with our motorhomes circled to protect us from the night wind blowing from the bay.

Our circle of motorhomes

After saying "Hi" to everybody, Tom quickly set up the boat to get out on the bay to take advantage of the afternoon tide. Harry and Wally with Harry’s friend Dick had already been crab fishing in the morning using Dick’s boat. Dick had to go home, but he left his boat for Harry and Wally to use for the remainder of the week.

Tom and I went out on the Alsea Bay with me driving the boat, for the first time, to go crab fishing. As I was driving to the crab fishing waters, Tom was giving me instructions on how to control the boat to get over the traps. At the same time, Tom was putting bait in our crab traps.

Preparing bait for crab traps

I drove the boat under the bridge to a place not far from the bridge to fish for crabs. Harry and Wally also showed up in the area.

Comparing notes on crabs caught

Last year I set and pulled the traps, but this year we switched roles with Tom doing the honors of actually catching the crabs. Tom and I caught one crab short of our limit in about three hours. So, we start the week with a nice load of crabs, which was a sign of good things to come.

Tom getting ready to retrieve a trap

We went back in to camp and put our catch of critters in live storage. The crabs that were caught earlier in the day had already been cooked and put on ice for our evening meal.

Selecting crabs for evening meal

Crab cleaning crew at work

The guys went down to the cleaning station to prepare some of the crabs for us to eat. Our meal consisted mainly of fresh crab and French bread; we ate our fill of both.

Eating crabs by the fire

A campfire was started and bags of marshmallows appeared as if by magic. The marshmallows were toasted using my homemade skewers that I carry around, in our motorhome, for just such occasions. It turns out that Harry does a world class job of toasting marshmallows. Nora turned her melted marshmallows into "Smores." Our time around the campfire was a nice way to end a very busy day.

Toasting marshmallows