Illinois Valley was an interesting place. After enjoying the benefits of a 35k tailwind southbound along the Oregon Coast, I tried setting up an approach to Gold Beach, and was sufficiently frightened off by all the rotors and turbulence. Onward to Illinois Valley, which my GPS database said "avgas". I was too busy to consult the chart, which would have told me otherwise. 4800' runway and proper headwind down the centerline greeted me. I taxied to the ramp, and felt a bit despondent at the field devoid of any human activity. I was eventually greeted by the resident manager, who put a few gallons of mogas into my tank from his tractor supply, and ran me into town to fetch dinner supplies. He gave me the history on the airport which was quite interesting. It was an original US fire service smoke jumper base, complete with rigging loft and operations center. They flew DC3s and DC4s there, and only closed it a few years ago. Monuments to smoke jumpers still stood, and the old smoke jumpers came by everyday to water the grass and put up the flag. A little stream flows through the campground, and a well provides fresh drinking water through a fountain setup in yet another "memorial" area dedicated to an aviator who loved the airport. I found myself helping out before I left, moving sprinklers and watering the grass. Camping is under some nice pine trees, right in front of the two bath/shower rooms for men and women. There's an A&P on the far end of the field, and the husband/wife operation is well known in small circles, and people come from far away to have their planes serviced there. In the former rigging loft, a genius inventor who has created hanglider and paraglider designs, and flying props for movies, is working on a 100mpg sports car. So it was a perfect accident to have landed there, surrounded by beautiful mountains, and weather. Town is just a few miles away, and apparently, this is the entrance to the Oregon Caves. Excellent camping weather, away from the fog and wind of the coast.