March 28th

To Clam Beach County park, 3:20, 34 miles

Today was much easier- mostly rolling hills with some small climbs. It was pretty misty and cloudy in the morning, but by about 11am the sun came out and the mist cleared away. We stopped off in the the tiny town of Orick to get some supplies. I had lost our floss/needle (floss is also great for sewing- super strong!) since my favorite gloves were getting yet another hole in the finger tips... oh and oranges and cookies, yum sugar. Across the street the diner advertised 'breakfast all day!' so we grabbed some hashbrowns. They were delicious- and the diner looked like its been there forever.

After a bit we turned off onto the Trinidad Scenic Route-which was beautiful but had some seriously rough roads-lots of signs advising no RVs or cars with trailers, some sections of one lane road and some sections of dirt/gravel. Would've been really nice with out the gear (hey, like lots of other stretches of road)...but I guess wasn't all that bad overall. California is much more different than Or, by looks and the roads. 101 turns into a freeway at parts, and there really aren't the same accomodations for cyclists.

Our campsite was really small-but quite nice. We were going to stay at an RV park a bit down the road, because our map said that this place didn't have any water. When we biked by we already saw a few people camping there, so we rode in and saw a sign for "water" - since it was right near the ocean it was a definite for us. It was also only 5 bucks perperson for bikers.

It was an interesting mix of campers- there was another guy who had came in by bike and was playing the same guitar riff all night, a guy with his young son/his friend who were constantly having to be yelled at, and a group that came in on a yellow school bus that had flames painted on it- luckily we were further away from them since they were up pretty late. It started to drizzle/kind of shower just before bedtime so we dove into the tent to stay dry...

Elk- we've seen signs for them for hundreds of miles-finally we get to see some!




Surly jumping up/over my leg for a game of fetch

March 27th

To Elk Prairie Campground
about 40 miles.

Today we had two big climbs to conquer....
The first started about 4 miles from the campground. It went up to about 1300 feet - 400 ft higher than we've climbed so far. It wasn't easy I tell ya-mostly because we were on 101 where there isn't much of a shoulder, and there is more truck traffic than before so we had to be extra cautious which is hard when your exhausted. It was really cool to start to see our first big Redwoods on this climb. They blocked out most all of the sun- but the spots where the sun shined through made it look like a post card or National Geographic photo.

The next climb started on 101, and finished after we turned off onto the Newton Dury Parkway -a smaller road through the redwoods that didn't allow commercial traffic :) It was great, esp when I got to the downhill- until I realized Cook wasn't behind me anymore. After waiting for a bit- I stopped a car and asked if htey had seen another cyclist. They said, yeah, he was fine but was walking. I figured he had gotten a flat so started riding back UP the hill to meet up (since I had the tool he needed to take off a wheel). Poor guy had flatted before the top of the climb and I unfortunately hadn't noticed in time (we also had no cell signal)...I ended up doing an extra 3 miles or so too. We rode the rest of the 5-6ish miles to the campground. It was beautiful, in the thick woods and down an easy descent. BUT the bad thing about going down hill after coming up hill is that you inevitably freeze. Climbing always makes you sweat, and this sweat, plus the wind, plus not moving, plus the shade - really makes it cold getting down to the bottom! Luckily our hiker/biker site was in the sun and we were able to get a fire started. Our campsite had convenient bear/raccoon proof boxes-but ours had a suspicious bent leg...

The new moon, and being far from any major city meant the sky was just FILLED with stars at night. Too bad our tent doesn't have a sky light...

March 26th-CALIFORNIA

Yay! Dry day today!

Leaving the motel, Cook forgot to hook on both pins of the Bob Trailer that attach it to the bike- so he ended up bending one of the drop outs slightly. This meant that when we got to the bike shop we were going to anyway less than 2 miles away we had to borrow a plastic mallet and big screwdriver to straighten everything out. Oh, and of course he got a flat just as we got to the bike shop.....

We crossed into California about 6 miles later- and most of the day was just easy, sunny miles. No major climbing and a nice trail wind.... I've heard that they put the OR/CA border where they did for a reason- and its true. There are suddenly palm trees, rolling farms, and the cliffs are much more subdued than they were in OR. Its still beautiful because its sunny and its the ocean, but it isn't quite the same. Hopefully though it means a bit less climbing. We dropped by the post office to pick up another box of food- then headed off to our campsite about a mile away. Across the street there was a Thai restaurant so we got some to go. It wasn't that good really, but helped a bit to satisfy our cravings for Pad Thai. The firewood at the campsite was free, which was really a nice addition...

Oh! and after we crossed into CA, there was a bridge with a sidewalk not big enough to ride on and no shoulder. So, much like the tunnels in OR, there was a sign saying "Caution Bikes" before the bridge, with a lowered speed limit. But, instead of pushing a button for it to flash, this one was set off just by out weight. We rode over and area on the shoulder and it started flashing for us- cool!

Feels good to finally be in CA-Just one more state to go! Even if this state is longer than we've gone so far....






Goodbye Oregon



Ymm Pnut butter




Being cute

March 25th

Well it wouldn't be Oregon with out rain!

Not much to say about today- we rode about 30 miles that seemed to take forever, over lots of hills with lots of rain and wind. We had decided early on that today would be a motel day- even with rain gear eventually our booties soak through and our shoes get wet, and the sweat under the rain gear gets us wet too...impossible to stay dry! Its too bad, since the scenery would've been beautiful if it wasn't so gray out. But nothing that a hot shower and turning the heat up all the way in the motel won't fix! Later in the evening we walked a few blocks to the last Fred Meyers of the coast to pick up some more JetBoil fuel canisters, more awesome Dave's Killer Bread, and a pint of ice cream.

March 24th

To Gold Beach 3:32, 37 miles

Woohoo- another day with out rain! Well it was raining when we first got up- but it cleared by the time we left camp.

We left the campsite very sore-but blue skies distracted me enough- Cook was still hurting though. The views much of the day were some of the most dramatic yet. Maybe it was just the beautiful weather... There were the typical evergreen covered mountains to the left, cliffs to the right, and big rocks in the ocean- some in chains stretching out to the horizon.

Riding through Humbug Mountain State Park took us away from the ocean, but it still made us feel small. The only bad part was the road got so narrow there was only a partial shoulder, and much of it had fallen rocks in it

Later, the route had us departing from 101 to do a decent size climb- but luckily the person had we met in Tillamook and gave us route advice had also advised us to stay on 101, which ended up having a nice, huge shoulder, along the ocean and for the most part was flat! Ideal riding, I have no idea why they'd take you away from such a nice stretch of the road...

When we were almost to Gold Beach and our campsite- a Bald Eagle flew over head in the same direction of us-- a few minutes later he came back by, even closer over head with a fish in his feet! This time we both got to see him :) but we didn't get a picture...those birds are really big in person by the way...

Our campground was pretty nice- small and seems like its mostly only used in the summer so only a few RVs were there. We got a sunny spot in the grass- showered, ate dinner, watched a movie Cook had downloaded onto the computer (luxury!), and went to bed early.







Almost looks like the Caribbean...




The infamous Trex

March 23rd

To Langlois 5:56, 55.3 mi

Today was one tough day...

We started by having to cross into North Bend- which included a mile long bridge which requires all cyclists to walk on the side walk (I hear they have even given hefty fines to cyclists for not walking)- there isn't a shoulder, and the sidewalk is too small to ride on anyway with the winds coming across so we weren't too upset about having to walk. It was slow and boring, until the end when we hit the construction and it was just slow- the sidewalk got just small enough so I had barely half an inch of either side of Surly's trailer to naviate with... urgh long mile.

Soon after passing through North Bend, we turned off of 101 onto Seven Devils Road- it even sounded ominous.... and it was. It had the steepest grades we've seen in Oregone- and after going up to about 600 ft, it continued to go up/down for the next 15ish miles. Really though riding, there were notes spray painted on the ground meant for other cyclists with saying things like "are we having fun yet?" and counting the 'devils' which I assume were the climbs. Luckily the rain heald off until nearly the end.

We stopped off in Bandon for lunch (we've been having our favorite 'Daves Killer Bread' with Tofurkey slices, mustard and spinach-sometimes tomato and once an avocado- on the days after going to Fred Meyers. Yum...) We stopped off at one of the many, many shops that also sells espresso and got a fancy coffee drink and some of their"Bandon Famous" kettle corn. Hot coffee really helped warm us up and keep us going for the next 20 miles to our campsite.

The rest of the miles were suposed to be 'rolling hills' - which they certianly were but as the rain cleared the wind picked up and really slowed our progress. The kind of wind that makes us have to pedal down hill! There was a little food store about 3 miles from our campsite that advertised homemade mustard. We loovvveee mustard, so decided to stop in and see. They were all made with eggs, so no luck there- but oddly the owners of the store drive all the way out to Trader Joes to buy food to resell, and don't mark up the prices! This is really funny because for a few days Cook and I hav been craving Pad Thai-so I jokingly said that I also wanted Pad Thai from the little store....and so Cook walked out with a package of 'ready in 2 minutes' Pad Thai from Trader Joes! Awesome.

Getting though the last few miles took forever because of the aforementioned wind...but we did finally arrive. We did some needed laundry, and ate a big dinner. We bought some firewood- but unfortunatly it was wet so we couldn't get it started. Always frustrating to pay for wet wood- kind of defeats the purpose of buying it in the first place... oh well-we were exhausted and sore. So sleep worked just as well...

March 22nd

To North Bend- 37 mi, 3:43 min

What a nice surprise- we expected rain all day, but it held off! We rode through the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Not much to say about the day really-just a lot of being amazed as the clouds would come by, but not actually rain at all...

One thing that has been really cool to watch are the flowers. A combination of it getting closer to summer and riding south makes it seem like an accelerated spring. Where a few days ago the side of the road was mostly brown sticks, with a lot of thick green trees and more green moss. The the green sticks started sprouting little green leaves, and now they are covered in leaves and starting to sprout flowers. I think they are rhododendrons? . Whole hills sides are now covered in little yellow flowers..

We stayed at a KOA campsite that had hiker/biker camping- but since they had so few tent campers they let us stay at a regular site with water/power for the same price. We stuck out like sore thumbs there. Since its near the dunes and its spring break, EVERYONE there had an ATV. It seemed to be the only reason to be out at that campsite- to stay in your massive RV with cable at night, and ride on your ATV during the day. There were kids on mini ATVs even...but it was great to have a warm fire and have everything throughly dry out before bed time. Can't complain about that!



one of the many waterfalls

March 21st

Yay-not raining!
Cook managed to get a whopping 3 flats- one not even a block from leaving the hotel inthe am-the other leaving the bike shop where we just swapped his tires front/back since the front is in better shape, in hopes to cut down on the number of flats he has been getting. At dinner we patched the old ones- getting too pricey to buy new ones.

We had some decent climbing-but hte lack of rain and strong winds made is SO much easier...really such a difference when the weather is nice.

At the top of one of the climbs we stopped for lunch at a scenic turn out. There were volunteers there helping people spot whales (for the week of spring break). We got to see a few spouts but they were so far off they were hard to see w/o binoculars. Down below there were seals popping in and out of the surf- really cool to watch them come out of no where...

We stayed at the Honeyman State Park-where we had time to make dinner just before the rain started up again. We dove into the tent, finshed our food and went to bed early.

"Devil's Chasm"-where the water rushes into a little channel...




















"Cook's Chasm"

March 20th

It way dry in the morning-but it developed into a misty rain that made it wet quick. It seemed like a cold front coming through, because it felt much colder than even when we started out in the am. Not much for nice views unfortunately- just rough roads along the beach...there is some construction going on along 101 where they are repaving parts, and there is patchy parts of new pavement on top of old that make it not so smooth to bike on. When we stopped for lunch the cold/wet got to us, and we opted for a motel to dry out in/warm up after just 22 miles, but with the headwinds it took us nearly 2 and a half hours-just inching along!

March 19th

From Lincoln City to just past Newport- at South Beach State park

Today it didn't seem to rain- just mist. But the mist with the winds-- drove it into everything and soaked us just the same.

We took a side road off of 101 for about 3 miles- and this must be the most amazing 3 miles of the whole trip. Even though it was mostly all climbing - the views and road were jaw dropping. After about a mile the road turned into a one way road- so there would be enough room for the one lane and then one huge bike lane (most of which wasn''t covered in piles of rocks/pine needles). There was a look out point at the beginning over an area where the water had eroded away a channel into the rock, and the waves would come rushing up into it. Further on, a big bald eagle flew over me (Cook was a bit back and missed it)- right over me, super close! Made the climbng and rain worth it- for a little at least.

We stopped by a really cool bike shop in Newport- called Bike Newport. They are fully set up for tourists- which is good because they had over 500 stop in last year. We picked up some tubes and break pads- and did laundry! Upstairs they have laundry, a shower, a lounge and internet. It felt SO good to put on warm dry clothes, and to get everything clean, and well, again- dry.

We stopped by the Rouge brewery and picked up 2 beers to take to our campsite just a mile away. We got directions along a bike path---too bad the directions weren't the best. They had us ride along a dirt/sand section, which we just couldn't do with our bikes. urgh. Soaked and cold, we got back on 101 and rode another mile or two in the dark (with every blinky light on we had) to the campsite.

Cook though- my hero- managed to get us a yurt! They are usually all booked up, and we tried to make reservations for this one anywuay since its susposed to be apart of the pilot program to allow dogs-but we couldn't get it to work in time. After asking nicely- the camp hosts said that there weren't any yurts available. So we made our way to the hiker/biker camp...not long after though, the host came over and let us know that there was a cancelled yurt he'd let us have! It evn meant he had to break into the building where the keys were and set off the alarm. :) The pilot program to allow dogs didn't technically start until May we found out- so we had to sneak inthe dog by leaving her in the trailer and carring it up the stairs...she was quiet and clean, so no harm no foul!The yurt was awesome- they have power, heat, lights- and just 30 bucks. If I could I'd stay in one evey night- just the damn dog means we can't usually pull it off.....
Yurts- http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/rustic.shtml#RUSTIC_YURTS



Devil's Punchbowl- we were here at low tide unfortunatly,but at high tide the waves rush in and crash against the rocks. Allthese formations are really cool to watch.

March 18th Camp Lookout to Lincoln City

Today was the hardest day yet.

I (Cook) woke up with the head cold again...but woke to sunshine. I can't remember the last time I woke to sunshine. It was great! We laid things out to dry while we ate breakfast. Things started out nice.

As soon as we left the campsite we started our climb. This was no normal climb. This was a little hellish, going up to about 850 ft. It wouldn't be so bad on a road bike, but fully loaded touring-it hurts. Heather was very tempted- but did the whole thing with the dog in the trailer, it was a small road through the forest, but still not much of a shoulder because of all the gravel. We passed another touring cyclist on the hill. He was the only other cyclist we've seen since we started this. It's weird but now I feel like we have to stay ahead of him- haha. Coming down the climb we entered into some of the Oregon dunes- its weird to come out of a thick forest into what seems like a desert.

That hill took a lot out of me and my legs were feeling it all day.

Worst part, though- we left the camera battery charger at the campsite (we had eaten at a gazebo picnic area that had power)...and the batteries were almost gone. Since we couldn't find anywhere that sold the same charger- we ended up having to buy a new camera in the next town. We got thesame camera, just an updated version, so we can still use the same memory card and all...the other one wasn't working so great anyway, and we'll put it up on ebay or something when were done riding.

After some rolling hills, we turned off of 101 to take Old Scenic 101 that went by some houses, but mostly in a national park. It was beautiful, with lots of green, big trees, some flowers and a stream-ut the road surface was horrible. They didn't seem to ever fix anything, just put up signs like 'caution rough road'. This had us slowly climb to 650 ft, with some steep switch backs toward the end.

We stopped at a pizza place in town and stuffed ourselves- but still had some for lunch the next day. After dinner- we started getting really cold, Cook was feeling sick, and Heather's stomach hurting-so we chicked out of a cold night of camping and found a decent priced hotel a few blocks away to stay in.

Look!!! Sunshine! No rain jackets!


Dunes


More cool rocks in the water- these are all volcanic and left over from eroded away mountains


Windey roads