Running on Fumes to Seaside, Oregon

After the aerial tram we hopped on a streetcar at Tilikum Crossing. We wanted to visit House of Vintage in the Hawthorne District. I didn't realize it was a 40 block hike after we got off the streetcar! My wife and I just laughed about how it would make us better hikers this summer.

We walked and talked and stopped for coffee, but we made it. We spent about an hour looking around the large vintage thrift store and the surrounding neighborhood. We made sure to take a bus back downtown afterward. We lucked out and the bus took us downtown with no transfers. It had been a busy day but we were glad we took a little time to visit a few parts of Portland before heading to Seaside.

We left Portland via the Sunset Highway around seven with the Mustang’s gas tank half full. By this time we were ready to leave the city and skipped the last few filling stations. Before we knew it we were speeding through the countryside with no stations in sight. We passed one but it was closed and kept going. It's on a quarter tank and we hadn't even started to climb the pass over the Oregon Coast Range. Surrounded on all sides by the darkening forest the poor Mustang limped up the hills in third. My wife started imagining a scary movie would unfold soon. Assuring her there was no movie cameras we reached the top with the tank on empty.

The gas bell dinged twenty miles from the coast. Ten more miles went by and I was pretty sure we were going to run out of gas. Just in the nick of time Hamlet Quick Stop caught the corner of my left eye. I slammed on the brakes just in time to slow up for the sharp left turn. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a gas station.
The owner comes out as I pull up to the pump. He says he usually closes at eight o'clock but he stayed open tonight. I glance at my watch and I realize it's a quarter til nine. Talk about good timing! We fill up and hit the coast at Seaside in no time.

Our stomachs rumbling and our eyes weary we find a place to park on Broadway St. We walk down to the Seaside Promenade and put our feet in the sand and listen to the ocean. There is just enough light to see the white caps on the waves. Our appetites beg us to find a restaurant. Sam's Seaside Cafe was perfect. It was open late and there was hardly any wait. My wife and I both ordered grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was terrific; a real throwback to eating from the kid's menu. The Oregon coast sure likes its soups and clam chowder.

We headed back to the Mustang. It held all of our things we would need. Our camping supplies, groceries, clothes. It's surprising how much you can fit in the back of a Mustang. It was our mobile base and we didn't need a hotel. Not tonight anyway, we were going to rough it at Fort Stevens State Park. We couldn't camp at Camp Rilea because evidently it's a US National Guard base. Thanks Google!

I turned us around before the armed gate and continued heading north to the state park. We quietly rolled by the RV's in search of a tent site. The whole campground was asleep already. We let the car run and used the headlights to set up our tent on a patch of asphalt since the grass was muddy. My wife expertly laid out the tent and we quickly added the poles. Dead tired we laid our sleeping bags and foam mattresses out and quickly fell asleep listening to the frogs.