Day Two Hundred Forty-nine, 091104 - Arcata, CA

Day Two Hundred Forty-nine, Date Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Time in Saddle: 4:20
Distance for the Day: 36.57 miles From Orick To Arcata, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,295 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 24’/376’, Highest: ?? Accumulated: ??
Speeds: Avg: 8.4 mph, Max: 36.09 mph
Weather: 43°
Expenditures: $11

I woke up at 5:50am, and got up at 6:04am. I did manage to get some sleep despite the traffic, ocean, and horse noises that filtered through my earplugs. Oh, yeah: I didn’t notice them last night, but I could hear ocean waves breaking this morning, though I couldn’t see the ocean – it must have been just over a small rise to the west. I broke down and packed away my gear, except for my tarp, which had gotten a bit of mud on it from the ground. This is actually quite rare, as I’m careful to not put it down on actual dirt – always trying for gravel, pavement, grass, or straw. I set it out to dry, some, and went into the mini mart for breakfast. I got a hot cocoa, Danish, blueberry muffin, and some food and drink items for the road ($8). After eating, I took my hand towel and wiped the bits of mud on my tarp off, then folded it up, and stowed it away. At 7:18am, I took off to continue south on coastal Hwy 101. Almost immediately, and no big surprise after hearing the pounding surf, I came to the ocean, and followed alongside it for quite a while. Then something strange happened: at 10:24am/12,276 miles: my front left tire got a flat (#14, I believe) – it’s not supposed to do that! I stopped to fix it, and found that it wasn’t due to a puncture from some sharp object off the road, but a flaw in the manufacture of the tube, itself. It was a Slime brand tube, and a short fissure on the *inside* surface of the tube wall (the side that goes against the rim, as opposed to the side that faces the road) decided to fail this morning, and leak air. The fissure was too much for the Slime sealant to deal with, so the tire went flat. Just for the record: once a self-healing innertube develops a leak, patching it won’t work – period. I’ve tried this before, but thought I’d try one more time, just to make sure, and sure enough, the liquid self-sealant worked past the patch before I could even pump the tire back up to full pressure, so the tire couldn’t be filled. I once again took the tire off, pulled out the Slime tube, and installed my one spare (regular) innertube. I then rode a few miles to the gas station in Trinidad at 11:25am to set all three of my trike’s tire pressures right, and got the two front tire beads correctly set, too. That was a bit of a job in and of itself. I put a couple of good dollops of shampoo in a water bottle to make a soapy solution. I then deflated my tires, and poured the solution over the tires, making sure it got between the tire and rim by rubbing it in with my hand. It still took three tries on the right-side tire before the bead set correctly – whew! Those Schwalbe tires are great, but *man* they’re a pain to mount. After that, I picked up some supplies in the mini mart ($12) and ate the other half of my Subway sandwich, a ruby red grapefruit drink, and some trailmix for lunch, while charging my notebook. I then took off at 12:45pm to go the 14 or so more miles to Arcata, home of the Three Peas (my cousin Pat, her husband Pete, and their son, Parker).

The weather changed from sunny and cool in about a half-hour to cloudy and cold, but by the time I made Arcata around 2:30pm, it became mostly clear, again. Following signs pointing the way, I left Hwy 101 to follow the Pacific Coast bicycle trail to a rails-to-trails route, which was very scenic. It went across a narrow bridge over a channel of water, and through farm and ranch land, where I encountered several other cyclists, including a recumbent bicycle – cool! When I got into town, I found a mini mart for a bathroom break and got an ice cream ($3). I asked the fellow there if there was a bicycle shop nearby, and he pointed out the window kitty-corner across the street, and there it was! Not too surprising, since it was on the Pacific Coast cycling route. I went over and got a new spare innertube, plus a bottle of do-it-yourself tire sealant goop ($14), which had enough to do two tires, which was perfect. I immediately put the goop into the new spare innertube I’d just bought, and I also put it in the innertube that I installed to replace my recent flat. The bike shop had an air compressor, free for use, so I used it to reinflate my two just-gooped tires, and I was all set. I called Pat at 3:22pm to let her know I was now in town and asked if she knew a good bookstore (where I could replace the one I’d just finished). She told me where two were, and they were only a few blocks from where I was, so I headed over to the used book store, and traded my old book in for store credit, and went looking for a new book. As I was perusing the store, looking at book titles on their spines, I noticed a familiar face off to the side – it was Pete! He was driving by, knew I was close, and saw my trike outside. He just stopped in to say ‘hi,’ and find out what my immediate plans were. We chatted a bit, and then he left me to continue my peruse. Then, a few minutes later, Pat and her son Parker showed up, too! She decided she didn’t want to wait for me to get to their house, so she and Parker came to the bookstore, first. Pete came back to the bookstore, too, so we all chatted a bit, and they gave me access to their account at this bookstore for when I eventually made my pick – how nice! They all took off back home, I finally made my pick (Robin Cook: Mutation, a medical thriller) and purchased it with my trade-in book credit and their account, and took off for their house in the hills above Arcata.

Wow. As I slowly ground my way up the steep streets approaching their house, it occurred to me that out of the five relatives I have stayed with during this trip, three of them lived atop these hellacious hills – and this one took the cake. It was even worse than Auntie Elsie’s home in Los Angeles, for sheer steepness and length. As I approached the last stretch of road that led to their house, a couple of dogs started barking at me, getting louder and more urgent as I continued to approach, ignoring their warnings. They belonged to the 3Ps, and were so freaked out by my slow approach in the face of their protestations, they stayed scared of me until I was let into the house, and interacted with the family for a while. Roady and Amoeba (or just “Amy”) were their names, and by evening’s end, we were finally friends. We chatted all evening, and Pat fixed a wonderful meal of ravioli, broccoli, and rice. We chatted the night away, and retired for the evening at about 10pm. It’s always so nice to be with family.

Day Two Hundred Forty-eight, 091103 - Orick, CA

Day Two Hundred Forty-eight, Date Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:14
Distance for the Day: 66.36 miles From Brookings, OR To Orick, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,259 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 148’/24’, Highest: 1252’ Accumulated: 3235’
Speeds: Avg: 9.1 mph, Max: 35.2 mph
Weather: 45° thin high overcast to the north, but otherwise totally clear
Expenditures: $24

I woke up at 5:30am, and got up at 5:40am. It was perfectly clear, the Moon and stars were shining bright with the light of day starting to show in the east. I broke down camp as quietly as possible to keep from disturbing the dogs, and was ready to roll at 6:35am. I noticed a few daddy long leg spiders around, but didn’t see any on my trike like I sometimes do after being parked in spider territory. I got back to the highway, and started heading south out of Brookings. I didn’t need to go too far before getting to a mini mart, where I had a breakfast of hot cocoa, banana nut muffin, berry croissant + other food and drink supplies ($10). After finishing breakfast, I continued on at 7:10am, heading for the California border. I entered California at 7:42am, and passed through the agricultural check station, but didn’t see the ‘welcome to California’ sign. I went a bit further up the road, but still didn’t see any sign. Hmmm. I turned around and went back to the ag station and asked where the sign was, and they said it had been destroyed by some vehicle that ran into it, and hadn’t been replaced, yet. Great! So, I went back to the ‘Oregon thanks you – come back soon’ sign, and took a picture by that, instead. I stopped in Klamath at 1:10pm – 2:25pm to get a Subway meal deal ($7), and food supplies ($7) and continued south toward Arcata. By 4:11pm, I got up, over and through a section of the Redwood National Forest between Klamath and Orick, and it was amazing. Giant trees with trunks wider than my trike is long, towering up and blocking most of the light from the sky, making it quiet, dark and moist down at the forest floor. It was a bit of an uphill push at first, but then it became a long, gradual downhill run through the forest, which was great, but it was a bit cool. The warmth I’d generated on the uphill part kept me from getting too cold from windchill on the downhill, though, and at 4:11pm I got back out into a small, sparsely populated valley that was lit up by the late afternoon sunlight. Riding along, I saw a single moose grazing on somebody’s lawn and stopped to take a few pictures of it, and continued on into the little town of Orick. I stopped in a mini mart at the far edge of town, and noticed a big pile of gravel between a horse corral and the store, and asked the lady in the mini mart if she thought anyone would mind my overnighting by the gravel pile. She said she was the owner of the lot, and it would be okay – cool! I found a mostly dry, level spot over by a large bucket loader (N41 17.105’ W124 4.438’), and set up there. This wasn’t a very good site, as the traffic noise was pretty loud, but I figured it would quiet down after sunset, which it did, somewhat. I set up my tent and got in to munch, drink soda, and read my book, which I finished. Dan Brown’s “Digital Fortress” was a real page turner, as evidenced by the fact that it took me only 8 days to read it. I listened to my iPod for another hour or so, until 10:30pm, before going to sleep. The mini mart was open until 11pm, so there was some traffic going on all evening; crunching gravel, car headlights, voices, etc., but after they closed, things quieted down enough to get to sleep.

Day Two Hundred Forty-seven, 091102 - Brookings, OR

Day Two Hundred Forty-seven, Date Monday, November 2, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:28
Distance for the Day: 47.84 miles From Port Orford To Brookings, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,192 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 408’/148’, Highest: 708’ Accumulated: 2940’
Speeds: Avg: 8.7 mph, Max: mph
Weather: 39° mostly clear and cool, warming to the mid 50s during the day
Expenditures: $25

To see the full Moon set on the ocean, I woke up at 5am and got up at 5:39am. The sky was clear, so I broke down and packed away my gear, and was ready to roll by 6:25am. It was still dark enough to see the beautiful stars and the Spring constellation, Leo, while the Winter constellation Orion was heading into the west, soon to be hidden in the Sun’s glare. It was cold but dry, as I made my way less than a hundred yards up the road to a spot where I could pull off to see the Pacific Ocean’s western horizon. I watched the Moon set on the Pacific, but before it reached the actual ocean edge, it disappeared a thin layer of mist above the ocean’s surface at 6:57am – the same mist that prevented last night’s green flash. I saw some workers in a couple of trucks drive up the road above the gravel pile site where I was sleeping, so I missed getting caught or disturbed this time around. I knew I wouldn’t be hitting any towns or services for a while this morning, so I had a quickie breakfast of meat stick, breakfast bar and Pay Day bar, before continuing south along Oregon coast heading for California;

I stopped in at a café in Gold Beach from 10:20am to 11:45am to get a mini mart breakfast of hot cocoa, blackberry tart, and bagel with cream cheese ($5), whilst charging my iPod, notebook, camera, and cell phone batteries. They had wi-fi, so I went online to handle email, and also bought a couple of Judy Collins’ first albums from Apple’s iPod Store (Maid of Constant Sorrow, and Golden Apples of the Sun - $9 for both), and loaded them onto my iPod. Riding down the Oregon coast today was nice – great weather, and gorgeous views of the coastline; I stopped fairly often to take lots of pictures.

I hit Brookings at 4:20pm and stopped at a mini mart to get a quickie hot dog dinner and food supplies ($7). This was the last town before getting to the California border, and my last chance for finding a Joby tripod, which I didn’t. But, I did find a small tripod with slightly bendable metal legs ($4) at a Fred Meyer store (kind of like Wal Mart – sells everything from groceries and clothing to food and electronics – I’ve been seeing them through several of the mid-to-northwestern states). It wasn’t a Joby, but would have to do, as I definitely needed to do a self-portrait at the “welcome to California” sign. The Sun set at 5:09pm, and I set out to go look for some stealth camping.

Just at the outskirts of town, I found a short, somewhat steep road that went up to a dirt road about a hundred yards behind some houses. I was able to pass under a chain across the way, and found a spot behind a length of bushes that hid me from the backs of the row of houses (N42 3.195’ W124 15.968’). It was around 5:40pm, well after sunset, and getting darker, but I hung out for a bit to check the site’s suitability. I could hear kids running around and playing over by the houses, and there were dogs, too. I’d have to be extra quiet to keep from disturbing the dogs. I started setting up my tent around 6pm, and by 6:36pm I got inside, and was ready to eat, drink soda, and read, which I did until about 9pm. It got windy during the night, and that woke up several times, but other than that, I got plenty of rest to recharge the batteries.

Day Two Hundred Forty-six, 091101 - Port Orford, OR

Day Two Hundred Forty-six, Date Sunday, November 1, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:11
Distance for the Day: 58.27 miles From Coos Bay To Port Orford, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,144 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 56’/408’, Highest: 599’ Accumulated: 2743’
Speeds: Avg: 9.4 mph, Max: 38.7 mph
Weather: 40° clear
Expenditures: $20

I woke up at 6:41am and got up at 6:53am while it was still mostly dark, clear, cold, and a bit dewy. I saw Venus for the first time in a while – it had started to move towards the Sun, more, so was closer to the horizon. I stopped at a mini mart for breakfast of hot cocoa and muffin + restocking drink supplies ($5), and continued on at 8:21am south on Hwy 101. I stopped in Bandon at around 11am to look for a Joby tripod (no luck) and got lunch at a small restaurant –mushroom burger, fries, and soda ($11). It was now mostly cloudy and cool, with a high cumulo-stratus layer, but not much chance of rain. I had to go over some mountains – went up and down a few hundred feet here, a few more hundred feet there, and got to as high as 600’ ASL, but after getting to Bandon, things leveled out, again. There were more hills coming up, but on the coastline, this is to be expected. Daylight Squandering Time ended, the previous night, so the time was now 12:20pm, and I stopped in Langlois to get food items from a mini mart ($4) before continuing on. Oh, yes: I saw ants for the first time in a long time – I was kind of amazed, seeing them, because I didn’t notice when I stopped seeing them. Isn’t that funny.

I stopped to watch the sun set on the Pacific at 5:11pm, and saw a faint hint of the green flash with my binoculars, but there was a bit too much mist over the surface of the ocean to allow the necessary “clear to the horizon” condition for a really great green flash. The disk of the Sun did warp and warble wonderfully, though. After sunset, I continued on, looking for a stealth camp, and almost immediately found a nice one in the form of a big gravel pile in a medium-small lot, elevated a bit above and right off the highway (N42 38.587’ W124 24.368’). Some traffic noise would still get to me, but on this stretch of the highway, the traffic really dies down after dark, so I should be good. There was a bit of space around behind it, with enough room to hide, and nice level spots to pitch my tent. The weather was perfectly clear, but not too cold at 58°, so I set up and got inside by 5:40pm – boy, it was early. I would have to read and listen to music for a few hours before going to sleep. The nice thing about a site like this, being hidden behind a big pile of gravel: I could use my headlamp to read without the worry of being sighted. How nice! So I read, munched, drank soda, and listened to music until 10:30pm, before I went to sleep. I heard a small band of coyotes yipping and yowling twice during the night – the first time pretty far away – the second time, a lot closer; probably within 100-200 yards away. They don’t bother humans, so I wasn’t too worried. A couple of fine points when setting up or breaking down a tent: it’s good to be aware of any slight tilt to the spot you set up on, as it’s a bit more comfortable if one’s head is on the “uphill” side, rather than the “downhill” side. Also, when breaking down, it’s easier to pull the tent pole segments apart if you pull from the end the tube segment that is furthest from the connected joint, rather than closer to the joint. Also, wearing gloves will keep the metal tent poles from sucking the heat out of your hands, thereby preventing them from turning into blocks of ice.

It being Daylight Standard Time, again, I would have to wake up around 5:30 - 6am so I could be ready by around sunup at 7am to make maximum use of daylight during this time of the year when the days were getting shorter.

Day Two Hundred Forty-five, 091031 - Coos Bay, OR

Day Two Hundred Forty-five, Date Saturday, October 31, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:26
Distance for the Day: 52.08 miles From Florence To Coos Bay, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,086 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 107’/56’, Highest: 382’ Accumulated: 1975’
Speeds: Avg: 9.5 mph, Max: 36.0 mph
Weather: 53° light overcast in the morning
Expenditures: $21

I woke and got up at 7:17am – a bit late for me, and not too surprising since I hadn’t slept but 15 minutes since the night-before-last. It began to rain really hard just after midnight for a while, with gusts pushing my tent around. At around 12:30am, I put my earplugs in and went back to sleep. The river rock did have good drainage, so I was able to brake down and pack away my gear without being too soggy, and was ready to enter Florence to look for breakfast by 8:41am. I stopped at a mini mart, and got a breakfast of hot cocoa, and a blueberry Danish + some food and drink items ($6). I got into Reedsport at 12:40pm, and stopped at a café to get a bowl of chili and soda ($9) to eat with the other half of my Subway sandwich. I also charged up the notebook and phone, and read my book. I took off again at 2pm to continue south along the Oregon coast. I have to say, I’m very impressed with the coastal bicycle route Oregon created. It’s not perfect; there were times when the shoulder disappeared, usually when the mountainous roads become curvy, and then there’s the sometimes rough road surfaces, or those thorny creeper vines. All in all, though, it’s been excellent. Kudos to Oregon! Not much happened today – I just plugged away, getting in the miles. There were some pretty areas along the way, and I’d stop every now and then to take some pictures.

Stopped in at a combo café/bookstore in Coos Bay, OR to get a hot cocoa and scone ($6). As the evening began to darken at about 6:45pm, I found a spot in front of an elementary school at the southern end of town which was above Hwy 101 on a small hillside (N43 21.242’ W124 12.023’). It was still pretty noisy, but I managed to sleep without earplugs – I don’t like to put them in if there’s a chance that passer-bys could notice my trike and maybe mess around with it. There was a house nearby with a couple of people, who could have seen me but apparently didn’t. I set up my tent and got in with food, drink and book which I ate, drank, and read until 9pm. There were a few dog walkers that passed by, but they didn’t bother me, and I slept mostly well except for the occasional wake up from traffic noise. For a Halloween night with a beautiful almost-full Moon, it passed pretty quietly.

Dau Two Hundred Forty-four, 091030 - Florence, OR

Day Two Hundred Forty-four, Date Friday, October 30, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:05
Distance for the Day: 43.36 miles From Newport To Florence, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,034 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 58’/107’, Highest: 449’ Accumulated: 2290’
Speeds: Avg: 8.5 mph, Max: 32.8 mph
Weather: 55° overcast, becoming clear in the evening
Expenditures: $14

After blogging the entire night, I left the Newport Café at 7:15am and began heading south, out of town. I stopped at a Hilton hotel to see if I could use their wi-fi to upload my blogs/pictures, but they don’t let non-guests into their system, the meanies. I continued out of town, and plugged away, but I wasn’t getting away with no sleep, this time. I was starting to wander a bit on the shoulder, so stopped at a state beach parking lot to hit the head and take a short 15-minute power (trucker’s) nap. It helped, and I continued on to the town of Waldport, where I found a Subway at 10:40am. It was a bit early in the day for lunch, so I determined that if they had, or if I could access, wi-fi there, I’d have lunch and upload my blogs. They did, and so I did ($10). I successfully uploaded the twelve (12!) blogs and their pictures that I slaved through the wee hours last night to satisfy your lust for vicarious thrills. I hope you’re satisfied! ;-) And, I did it in a bit less than two hours – amazing how fast it goes once all the ducks are lined up, ready to go. I left the restaurant at 12:45pm to continue on south, but was for sure, now, not going to make my next big target town, Reedsport. The weather was still overcast, but it was beginning to break up some, and the Sun came out after a while. I stopped along the highway to investigate what sounded like a LOT of sea lions, and it was exactly that – several hundred of them, in fact. From where I was, I could look down on them a few hundred feet below through some trees on the steep mountainside, just beyond the highway. They were barking up a constant roar, going, “or or or or!” I took pictures, went a bit further up the road and found a view pullout where you could see them better (but further away), and took more pictures. There was also a gorgeous view of a lighthouse on the rugged headlands with a bank of fog coming in off the ocean – just beautiful! A little further up the road, I stopped in at the tourist attraction called Sea Lions Caves, not to visit the caves (which are accessed via an elevator), but to just get something to satisfy a craving for chocolate. They didn’t have any candy bars, but they did sell fudge, so I got a quarter-pound chunk of rocky road ($4), and ate it right then and there, while looking around at the nifty stuff in the gift shop.

At about 5pm, as the light of day began to noticeably dim, I checked in at a park campsite north of the town of Florence to see what the rate was for a cyclist to camp. It was $20 a night – half-off if you had a National Parks annual pass (which I do), but I still didn’t feel like shelling out $10 just to set up my tent, so I moved on into northern Florence, and immediately found a possible stealth camp site: a real estate development with a brand new street, one non-activated streetlight, and no houses built on it, yet (N44 1.565’ W124 6.101’). It was a bit lower in elevation from the main road, and there was a low ridge of dirt that hid me from the closest passage of cars. I stopped there, unclipped my feet from the pedals and stuck my legs straight out onto the pavement, and rested a bit from the extra-double-long day’s efforts. I wasn’t just doing nothing, though: I was checking this site for potential problems in the way of security patrols, pedestrian traffic, or whatever, and indeed – a police car came down the dead-end road, went to the far end, turned around, came back, and stopped to chat with me. I wasn’t too worried, because a) I knew my body English said that I was too tired to be any kind of threat; and b) I figured my trike and gear further enhanced my image as a harmless traveler, unlikely to have any reason or motive to cause any kind of trouble. The cop asked if I was just resting, to which I replied in the affirmative, and I added that I was thinking of overnighting there. I asked him if he thought anyone would mind, but he couldn’t say, as it was private property. I then told him I would set up there for just overnight, and if anyone objected, I would move. He thought that was a good idea, or at least didn’t object, and left me to my business. I love cops that have that kind of attitude. Yes, I was technically trespassing on private property, but he didn’t get all totalitarianistic about it because no one lived there, yet, and I obviously wouldn’t be bothering anyone or damaging anything. He had more important things to do than harass an obviously clean, forthright, and honest fellow such as myself, so he let me be. He was a professional with judgment, and I always appreciate that. I waited until it began to get a bit darker before setting up my tent just off the roadway, on some smooth, medium-sized decorative rounded river rock (good drainage, should it rain, even though the day had cleared up). I was inside and reading, munching, and drinking soda by 7:17pm. I changed my socks and underwear, as they were getting a little stinky (I hadn’t changed or even taken any sponge baths since Seattle – you probably didn’t want to know that – sorry). Not too surprisingly, I find I don’t feel like washing down when I’m already cold and/or cold and wet. Plus, I can get away with it, as I can go a pretty long time without personal hygiene before getting overtly stinky when I’m cold. I guess, like meat or fish, I ‘keep’ longer when refrigerated. I went to sleep at 9pm with the bright Moon shining on my tent, though I rigged all my gear for the rain that I’d heard was coming.

Day Two Hundred Forty-three, 091029 - Newport, OR

Day Two Hundred Forty-three, Date Thursday, October 29, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:55
Distance for the Day: 72.49 miles From Tillamook To Newport, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,991 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 60’/58’, Highest: 780’ Accumulated: 3750’
Speeds: Avg: 9.1 mph, Max: 33.6 mph
Weather: 43° textured overcast in the AM turning to light rain for most of the day, and becoming steady rain the last 1/3rd of the day, until evening, when it diminished and stopped
Expenditures: $22

I woke up at 6:15am, and got up at 6:40am. I found that if I get up too early, it’s still too dark by the time I’m ready to roll to safely travel, so I’ve adjusted my get-up time to about 6:45am. It wasn’t raining or drizzling when I broke down, so I spent a little extra time using and wringing out my hand towel to dry off my mattress and tent so they wouldn’t be wringing wet as I folded them up. I was ready to roll by 7:40am with the day just getting light enough to ride safely (good timing). For a while, I tried using the one extra Subway bag I had on one of my gloved hands to see if it would keep it drier – it did, but it made the twist grip gear-change extra-hard to operate, so I abandoned the idea. The first half of the day was a constant heavy drizzle and/or light rain. After a few hours of that, I began to get wet under my rain gear. By the time the day was two-thirds done, I had to stop a couple of times to towel off the excess moisture from my shirt, and I couldn’t stop moving for long, or I’d get hypothermic. I stopped in Beaver at 10am for a quickie brunch of hot dog and candy bar ($3). I made Neskowin by 12pm, Lincoln City by 3pm and Depoe Bay by 4:30pm. At one point north of Beaver, the official Oregon Coastline Bicycle Route diverged from Hwy 101, and went west to the coast on Sand Lake Rd. I checked it on Street Atlast, and thought it looked like a longer route (going out to the coast), and thought there might be more wind and rain out there, so opted to stay on 101. I suspect that was a mistake, because the mostly wonderful shoulders on the official route disappeared, and when there was any shoulder at all, it was at most a foot or so wide. This put me into the traffic lane of Hwy 101 with plenty of cars, monster mobile homes, log haulers, double-long tractor trailer rigs, and ‘oversized load’ transports – all on this skinny-ass two-lane highway. Fortunately, no major conjunctions occurred, everyone behaved (though I did get a non-descript yell from a young male in a truck), and I was able to get back to where the official route rejoined Hwy 101, where the good shoulders returned (whew!)

Just south of Depoe Bay, I stopped at The Lookout Observatory and Gift Shop at the aptly named Cape Foulweather (http://www.lookoutgiftshop.com/) and got some local intel from the guy there. I needed a 24-hour Denny’s to dry off while eating and working on my blog for the evening – there wasn’t one, but there was the Newport Café, which was 24-hour – I could go there. They didn’t have wi-fi, but I don’t need wi-fi when I’m writing and prepping pictures. From the gift shop, the official cycle route again diverged from Hwy 101, and this time, I took it. It worked out very well, going along a nice road that didn’t’ rise as high as the highway, and I only saw one other car on it. It all-too-soon re-joined Hwy 101, and I took that the rest of the way in to my goal for the day, the town of Newport – it was 6pm. Early on in entering the town, I found a Walmart, so went inside to see if *they* carried Joby tripods – no luck. I then spent a little time locating the 24-hour café (N44° 38.207' W124° 3.200'), and went in at 6:45pm, ordered up a mushroom burger, fries, and soda, and stayed there all night blogging until 7am. During my time there, I also got a slice of cheesecake, and pancakes (total of $26). The price I pay for all night blogging. But, I also got totally dry.