10/16
We arrived at the shop around 9 A.M., after getting Dutch Brothers coffee. Not recommended. We got the pressure sensor and I sat in the sun reading my book waiting for it to be done. Kind of a tranquil way to spend a morning. Baby spiders creeped across my pages and flies landed on occasion. Cars passed on the highway and tools clanged on the stubborn old van. We got running again and Dan gave us our bill. (He was very good to us.) Highway 34 Towing is amazing. They treated us very, very well and did a good job. Even Gail at dispatch made me feel safer the night in the rest stop.

We got back on the highway and headed to the coast. We entered into Newport in the afternoon and found a spot to park down by the bay. It is a very touristy little town. Lots of people walking up and down the sidewalks enjoying the days sun. They were popping in and out of all the little shops along the way. We did this later. The nostalgia of it all wears off fast though. Every shop has kind of the same things. Just like any other touristy town.

The smell of fresh seafood lingered up and down the streets and the barking of sea lions echoed.  We had some time to walk around before the underwater sea show thing. We went down and laughed at the sea lion fights going on below the docks. We went back and watched the underwater show, it was about ten minutes of a diver picking up sea life and some kid narrating what it all was. Not that great.

We ping ponged around, coming in and out of some little shops. Then continued driving.

There were lots of people on the beaches as we passed, sure looked beautiful. The trees on the highway coming out of Newport looked like they were picked straight from a Salvador Dali painting. The ocean front houses are magnificent. Some are painted calm soothing colors and others can't be missed with all their bold colors. The aroma of great smelling wood in campfires fill our noses.

We decided to stop in Yachats at the mushroom festival, I had just read about it in a newspaper. It was a lot of little local vendors and a room filled with more varieties then I knew existed. We bought some apples, a cucumber, of course Rico got some baked goods and some lotion. It was cool to see all the little local artists and their arts. It said it was for all fun-guys and fun-gals. :)

We were walking back to the van and saw a place called Cheese and Crackers. When we walked in you couldn't miss that delicious bakery smell. Some nice man there gave us samples of four different cheeses. One of which tasted like and old attic but actually had a lot of flavor after the old taste went away. We took a few for the road. I heart cheese!!

We just picked up two little hitchhiker kids, Sprocket and Captain. They were on their way to New Orleans for Halloween. Sprocket had a little kitten traveling with him, wearing tie-dye and sporting some dreads. Captain was quieter of the two. They offered to get us stoned, we declined. They then told us a kind of pointless story about hot boxing in a tent on Newport Beach the night before. We let them out when we got to the sea lion caves. I gave them some granola bars that they seemed quite elated about and headed back towards the road.

We went to the sea lion caves, which contained not one sea lion. We did get to go in a cave 200ft underground though. Still not as exciting as I thought it would be. We did have an excellent view of the most photographed lighthouse in the U.S. apparently.

We found a campground outside of Dunes City and set up for the night. It was quiet and had pressure washer showers.

Got up around 8 A.M. and thought we would be in California sometime today. Thought is the key word here. We were leaving the campground and he said that it wouldn't shift. We drove to Reedsport and found a Napa. I thought it would be a good idea to stop at least in a place that had a shop and Napa. He went into Napa and the guys suggested a shop but it is Sunday and no one is open. We drove the van to the shop that they suggested and no longer then 10 minutes had passed and the sheriff pulled up. I told her that we were having car troubles to which she said someone had called us in. So small town.

So here we are holed up all day in a hotel. It's alright. We have cable, a heated pool, that I took a dip in earlier and we don't have to walk through any kind of woods to get to the bathroom or pee in mother nature! I still wish we were in the van somewhere. I am keeping a good attitude and hope that it's not anything too big. Keepin' the faith. Peace.