Boat Races, Fire Evacuations Changes Our Plans

Huntley Park, Gold Beach Oregon

Unbeknown to us, we had the #1 Huntley RV Park view of the “Gold Beach Lower Rogue Challenge Hydroplane Boat Race” today.  The Cal-Ore River Racers (CORRA) series made its yearly stop in Gold Beach for the Whitewater Hydroplane race on the Rogue River, a 4-1/2 laps event starting from the Old Mill site (the Boondocking site I had alluded to in an earlier post) to Lobster Creek (where we visited the National Forest campground and reported on in that earlier post), and finishing at Huntley Park which also serves as the pit area for the race.  Oh boy, sounds like a nice, quiet, peaceful Sunday…what could top that?  Well, perhaps the company picnic party on Saturday with a live band playing for about six hours between 11 am and 7 pm…

But this boat race…well, that’s a big event!  Must draw what, 2 to 3 thousand people…considering there is no “cover charge” to watch the event outside of the $5 day use fee per car “if” they decide to pay it to use Huntley Park.  Well…think again…

This panoramic shot tells it all…maybe, just maybe…50 cars and trucks…maybe, just maybe, 100 people lining the shores…maybe, just maybe others along the route watching at the Lobster Creek Bridge, or at the boondocking site…but I doubt it.

This guy in the picture above apparently won the race…did not catch his name, nor his number, nor where he was from.  It wasn’t even close…

I got this shot of the winner (headed to the left) as he starts his victory lap around the Huntley Park Area while the third place boat has just finished the race.

The third place boat happened to pull up in the site next to us…and our neighbors hooked it up to their red truck and drove it away as they all left.  Not sure the connection, but they were from Oregon, and a few days ago one of the sons blew the motor/drive shaft in the boat he brought that was also a fast boat, but not a Hydroplane boat.

Of course, PICTURES say a thousand words…but only VIDEO will give you the BUZZ of these little contraptions as they buzz up and down the river!  The above video is 25 seconds long, and you can hear the BUZZ and the barking in the background is none other than Skruffy, voicing her opinion on all that BUZZZZZZZ.

Our plans have changes…there is a fire right where we were headed back to, Loeb State Park.  This fire was small and miles away when we left Loeb State Park three weeks ago.  Well, a few days ago it “jumped” the Chetco River, something the fire officials thought would not happen.  Now the fire is out of control because the winds these past few days have been high, swirling, and well, just what the fire ordered.

Found this picture on twitter from the Fred Meyer where we have done our shopping in Brookings, and as recently as this past Wednesday.  The smoke, the ash, so thick it blocks out the sun!  Loeb State Park was evacuated on Friday, and now the evacuations are starting just at the city limits of eastern Brookings.  Currently, as of 6 pm Sunday night, highway 101 is still open, BUT they are asking everyone to stay away due to traffic, smoke, ash, etc.  They may shut it down from time to time over the next few days.  Emergency crews are pouring in from all over the place.

So off to Coos Bay we head tomorrow.  Called Indian Creek RV park where we planned to stay for two day starting tomorrow, and asked if they were getting calls from people due to the fire…yes they were.  So we gave up our reservation, and we will drive up to Coos Bay tomorrow and stay in the boondocking area of the Mill Casino as we have done in the past (picture above is from 2015), or head over to I-5 and stay in the Myrtle Creek area, we should be back in the Sacramento area sometime Thursday…a few weeks ahead of schedule.

Remember that picture of a Osprey carrying a fish I had been trying to get?  Well, yesterday I got one..not as clear as I wanted, but I still got one.  Tomorrow the Eclipse will be around 95% in this area, we should see it if the wind continues and the fog does not come in, and we should be on the road by 11:00.  My ears are still buzzing from the boats, but the park is back to its pre-weekend quietness.