Homeport Port Orford

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Port Orford, OR

Well it has been just a few days over 1 year ago that Joan and I first moved into our motorhome "full time".  Those of you who have followed this blog know that we have thrived on the closeness, and the exciting life that RVing allows.

All that not withstanding, we still want to have a physical house as our Oregon homeport.  Not because we want to hang up the keys yet- but for these reasons:

• We really like this small community of Port Orford.  It has a great small town feeling, the people all seem very friendly, It has TWO hardware stores and two building centers- how cool is that?
• I t has a great big lake right in town- and who doesn't want to live on a lake?
• It's on the OCEAN!!  Walks on the beach, agate hunting (and finding), waves crashing on rocks
• The weather is great- I hear you laughing- but it's true the temperature is mild and Port Orford has an average of 197 sunny days-and no snow!
• The real estate is reasonably priced because it hasn't been "discovered" yet.  The Big Sur of the Oregon coast.  (Now that you know- It's okay if you let the secret out.)

There are lots more intangibles but if I had to list them, you wouldn't understand- suffice to say when we do finally hang up the keys, this is where we'll want to be.

We had money from the sale of our home in Medford that we have saved for this investment.  If we wait until we want to quit the road, the real estate prices will have inflated to where we could not get back into the market.  We sold our house at the bottom of the market- we needed to buy one at the bottom to make it work.

We will still be taking extended trips in our home on wheels, heading south in the the very inclement months of the winter- circling around this grand country of ours, seeing the sights, learning the history, meeting the people.

Today we stayed close to town to be on hand for some of the last paperwork details on the offer- acceptance of the home sale.  That meant we had several hours to head to the beach- and we did.

The weather has been rainy over all of southern Oregon and we have been out of the motorhome for walks and shopping during the breaks in the rain- but today (Wed the 26th) the rain was gone and although the sun did not quite break through the clouds, the temperature was very pleasant and the normal coast winds had  calmed to a slight breeze.

We drove west down 9th street in town, which turns into Agate Beach Road and ends at Tseriadun State Park on the beach, where we parked and walked a very short trail through the dunes and onto the beach.

We grinned at each other, as we realized that there were no parking meters to feed here- none for more than  50 miles in any direction!  We paid the princely sum of $6 to park and go to the beach in Fort Myers, Florida.  Gotta love Oregon!

They call this agate beach because- well- it has lots of agates!  We picked through the gravel for over an hour, and came away with our pockets filled with agates and shiny rocks of all sorts- it was addictive!

 We had to keep one eye on the surf at all times, as the recent storms had kicked up the swells to epic proportions, and the waves were hitting the beach with a thunderous roar.  It looked like a winter beach, with a very steep slope into the water.  Later this summer the beach will have a very gradual incline and the ocean will be depositing a lot of sand- only to haul it all away again next winter.

We left the beach at about 3PM and decided to try out a new coffee house in town called "One Lump or Two"  The little shop made an excellent peanutbutter mocha and we browsed the books, curios, and art while we chatted with the owner.  Jeff's eye landed on a used copy of "Fly Fishing for Dummies", and Joan bought it.  My dad was an avid fly fisherman, and when he died he left us boys his fly rods.  I  never made time to go out fly fishing with him while he was alive, and I still don't know the first thing about it.  So now I get to teach myself from a book.  Choices we make.

We closed out the day with dinner at home, and a LONG walk around the back roads and streets near us.  TV, blogging, and popcorn- I tell you, our lives are so busy!

Tomorrow we meet the home inspector at our prospective new residence.  Karl from Absolute Home Inspection in Coos Bay did the inspection on the home we almost bought last Fall, and we were impressed enough to call him again on this one.  (the last home was okay- the fatal flaw was that the lot was too small for a motorhome garage becuse the road right-of-way was a lot wider than anyone could have guessed.)

I'll fill you in on the new digs tomorrow.  Until then we remain--

Your Traveling Friends

Joan and Jeff