So I left Ashford this morning a little on the late side.  Acting again on a tip from my barista friends, I woke up and walked to Morning Glory, a little breakfast place less than half a mile from my motel.  Great coffee (from Uncommon Grounds for you Berkeley lovers)and superb hash browns with eggs benedict were my breakfast.  Everything was really yummy, if not so cheap.  $15.00 with coffee and tip... it was take-out and fast food for lunch and dinner ;-)  If you're in Ashford and stay the night, go there for breakfast - you won't be disappointed.

So I slept pretty terribly last night - I just couldn't get to sleep and I woke up like 6 times during the night.  I ended up getting up at about 4:00 am and spending time on my computer (btw - wireless here again tonight - that's 3 for 3) messing around with some webpages. The shower at the Timbers motel was the absolute worst I had ever been in - the spray was hard and painful and the curtain was having none of it - it fell open like 7 times and succeeded in covering damn near the whole bathroom (my clean underwear, local newspaper and used shirt included) in bath water as well as providing a lovely puddle that I had to avoid as I stepped out of the shower.  It sucked.  I laughed though - I figured there was nothing I could do about it.

The day was rainy.  Almost the whole day.  It slowed down my trip, made it so I had to be hyper careful while driving on twisty mountain roads, and prevented me from getting out and enjoying all the beautiful views today's trip was supposed to provide.  At times it was a downpour that could only be described as torrential.  I did certainly learn some useful tricks about rain driving though - follow in the tracks of the car in front of you - slightly less water on the road means slightly better traction.  I did get a few pictures during one lapse in the rain and managed a few serendipity shots while driving.  In order to make up for the lost time and to avoid dragging out an already long drive for the day, I shaved off about 30 minutes on my route south of Coos Bay - the 42 was plenty picturesque, so I didn't feel like I was really giving anything up.  The coast south of Newport was absolutely stunning.  I could definitely see taking a weekend trip down to that area in the future - it's absolutely amazing - sheer cliffs and magnificent waves and tall piney trees.  I counted 5 places where the weather and subsequent slides had completely destroyed the roads and work crews were scrambling to build new bridges, repair old ones, and clear debris.  Let's just say it has likely been a busy rainy season.

I drove through a huge timber mill on Rt. 42 outside of Myrtle Creek (where I left the 5) and saw several river-logging sites where the logs were being corralled for drying and presumably milling.  I will repeat - rt 42 was stunning and I could only imagine how wonderful it would have been had it been clear out.  Rivers flowing right along the road, twisty-turnies, and thick forest going on in every direction for days - it was a perfect driving road (time for some all-season tires!).  Much of the rest was forgettable due to the weather... but I did notice an incredible amount of flooding, again presumably from an overly active rainy season.

Hillsboro is very uninteresting and makes me think I should have sprung for the extra few bucks and stayed in Portland. Oh well - something do next time. 

It feels real today.  I've known I was going to be moving - but today I really feel it.  I'm here and I'm going somewhere and I'm going to make it great, even if it's hard.
One funny thing - I saw a big airplane in a hanger at an Aviation museum as I was driving on Rt. 18 north of Salem.  Guess I found the Spruce Goose, 'cause  it looked just like the hanger in the picture

.Early morning tomorrow as I'm hoping to finalize my drive and my trip up along the Washington Coast and into Olympia by 1 PM (and I've got 5 hours to drive - you do the math).   So, even though it's only 8:40, I'm gonna go brush my teeth, wash my face, do a little reading, and head to bed.

Oh, the last word - avoid "Rice Box".. lousy take-out Chinese, my Quiznos lunch was far better (if you can believe that)