Thoughts on Oregon...

Tahkenitch Landing Campground

Gardiner, OR

When you travel, do you look at the places you visit and think about what it would be like to live there?  Having lots of time this summer to move around the coastal area of Oregon, I think about the places I visit and say to myself, this place is great…I wonder what the prices of homes are, the cost of living or what the people are like that live around here?  So, I took advantage of an opportunity so close to where I am staying.  Directly across the highway (79810 U.S. Hwy 101, Gardiner, OR 97441), there is a home for sale. 

It is a beautiful house, on almost ¾ of an acre, three bedrooms, three full baths, finished basement, never ending water from the well, surrounded on three sides by U.S. Forest Service land, across from Tahkenitch Lake with easy access to the Tahkenitch Landing boat ramp, a two car garage with a studio apartment above the garage and a path which can access the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area behind the house.  There are two bedrooms/two full baths upstairs with a deck overlooking the lake.  The main level has one bedroom/one full bath, a large kitchen, a living/dining room area, a fireplace and patio doors to the main level porch, which is large enough to allow about a half dozen chairs or rocking chairs for watching the world go by.  There are two thousand plus square feet livable between the upstairs and main level and another thousand square feet in the finished basement.  Looking at the house and property, I can almost see the possibilities of a bed and breakfast.  The garage is even wired so that you could park a motor home next to the garage and plug the RV into the electrical system of the house (50 amp service).  All these wonderful features in this home and the asking price is only $339K.  Go take a look.  http://www.cvoogd.pru-nw.com/RTR13644025

Each morning, after I have performed my early morning Camp Host task of walking around the campground to determine if any campers had arrived after my last evening walkabout, I walk two miles.  The campground driveway sits about halfway between mileposts 203 and 204 on U.S. Hwy 101.  I walk, always facing traffic, from the campground driveway, south to milepost 204, cross the road and walk north to milepost 203, cross the road and walk south to the starting point.  Allowing for the road crossings, the distance is just a touch over two miles.  At 7:00 – 7:15 in the morning, traffic is not bumper to bumper, but there are usually a total of 50 to 100 vehicles traveling north or south.  I began these walks about three weeks ago, and have walked every morning, even the morning that it was raining.  I don’t wear a portable music device (IPod, smartphone, etc) because I want to be able to hear the traffic coming.  This offers me lots of time to think about things.  On Father’s Day, I began counting the north and south bound traffic passing me.  Each morning since the 16^th, I have counted the north and south bound traffic.  Do you ever wonder where all these people are going?  I have begun to notice familiar vehicles each morning.  As I am walking each day, at about the same time each day, I recognize that each morning, a blue Saturn passes me heading south.  It has gotten to the point that a couple of the logging trucks, carrying their large loads of logs, are waving to me before I can lift my arm to wave at them.  So l would guess that some of the traffic is commuter traffic, folks heading into work or heading home from whatever night shift they have completed.  As a sidebar, in all the mornings I have walked, I have only seen one police car on the highway.  But the whole point of this discussion is: Who are all these people driving their vehicles north or south?  Where are they going?  They all seem to be in a hurry.  And the tally for north and south bound traffic after eight days of counts: 

Northbound – 337     Southbound – 373

I just knew you were hanging on every word just to learn the statistics of north and south bound traffic.

This last weekend was a banner weekend at the Tahkenitch Landing Campground.  There are 25 campsites available for use in the campground.  On the weekend there were 16 sites in use.  It was a banner weekend and the sun and warm (68 – 70 degrees) temperatures were fabulous.  There was  lots of boating, fishing, swimming, playing and evening bonfires.  And a grand time was had by all.  As of 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 23, 2013, there was now only one campsite in use.  Alas, almost alone again.

Until next time…