Oregon to Aberdeen Washington
We will Ride lots of Coast line today and see lots of Beach,
rocky steep and beautiful.
Coos Bay is a quaint little town….no wait change that this
is the largest city on the Oregon Coast! Well it just seems small and quaint; I
can see that my perception needs to change as I ride north;
I am now reminded of a trip I took in 1989 I was on a KLR
650 and my friend also Chris was on an XT500 we were on our first real bike
adventure and we thought no better way to ride up the cost than to ride the
sand dunes of the Oregon coast, we started just north of here in Lakeside, and
we spent the next 2hrs riding about 100 yards of sand and heading back to the
pavement! Needless to say they sank like a rock on water, well at least the KLR
did, Chris had a bit better luck with the XT but we learned quick you need to
ride the hard pack near the water to get anywhere fast.
Next up is Florence: This is a great stop for any traveler, turn Right after the bridge
and head down to the wharf, great food and shops on Bay Street.
How did Florence get its name, I know you did not ask, but
there is a story hear and if you find an old-timer you can have one long debate
of how the mane was derived, Here is what I know:
A sailing vessel named
Florence wrecked along the Oregon Coast near Florence on November 18, 1875. In
the wreckage the wooden Name Plate from the boat was found and a man named
Thomas Safly nailed this wooden board (the ship’s nameplate) over the door of
the hotel in downtown Florence that also served as the post office. “With that,
Florence became the name of the town.” The better stories are told of the
native people of the land and how they came up with the name, just ask someone
to explain!
We will also Pass Newport, Lincoln City and of course Tillamook,
if you have time and are in the mood for a real tourist trap/stop you can take
the Tillamook tour, Tillamook does have good cheese and as you might expect are
really in the dairy business to make all that cheese.
Now we move on, past Rockaway Beach?
Wait! This is not Long Island in New
York? Well that where they got the name in 1911 (it was named “Rockaway” and
was connected by train to Portland in 1912, and in 1987 they changed the name
to Rockaway Beach just like New York, well not really! But hay they did invent
the Pronto Pup?! A brand of corn Dog in the late 1930’s..ok moving on! And we
really need to make some ground!
Seaside is next and on to Astoria where The Lewis and Clark Expedition spent the
winter of 1805–1806 at Fort
Clatsop, a small log structure south and west of
modern-day Astoria. The expedition had hoped a ship would come by to take them
back east, but instead endured a torturous winter of rain and cold, then
returned east the way they came. Today the fort has been recreated and is now a historical park.
We move on cross another State Line and are in Aberdeen
Washington.
Aberdeen was named for a
local salmon cannery to reflect its Scottish fishing port namesake of
Aberdeen and because it
too is also situated at the mouth of two rivers just like its namesake in
Scotland which is located between the rivers 'Don' at the north and the river
'Dee' to the south side of the Scottish city.
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