Tuesday August 20th 2019

In the more than two weeks I’ve been in this area the weather pattern has been pretty consistent. The clouds come in overnight then give way to sunshine and a northwest wind sometime before noon. Today the pattern changed. The overnight clouds started to give way to sunshine early but never really let go. The clouds allowed some hazy sunshine, but the day was mostly cloudy. The normal northwest wind direction was replaced by a southwest wind. The high temperature for the day was a few degrees lower in the high sixties. Tomorrow rain is in the forecast.

I was touring in the Winchester Bay area at the mouth of the Umpqua River today. There is a large marina with many pleasure boats, and a few fishing boats. It’s the most concentrated group of boats I’ve seen on the Oregon coast, but there still weren’t many boats moving. It’s my impression that on a similar summer day on the Atlantic coast there would be a steady parade of boats in and out of the harbor.

Along this area of the coast there is a great concern with tsunamis. As you drive along the coast there are signs telling you when you are entering Tsunami zones and other signs directing the flow of traffic away from the tsunami zones. In the Winchester Bay area I saw warning sirens high up on poles and I drove over a blue line painted on the road that indicated the end of the tsunami zone. They take off shore earthquakes producing tsunamis very seriously around here.

Another observation in the Winchester Bay area was a lot of RV campgrounds that I didn’t know were existed. I have found many campgrounds and RV parks along the Oregon coast that weren’t listed in the various references I typically use to find parks. Some parks were listed but didn’t sound as attractive as they looked when I drive by. The lesson I’m taking from these observations is that I need to change my campground search pattern. I have to find additional reference sources and be less influenced by negative online reviews.