59.7km out of 1217km so far

I woke up, looked outside the window and saw no rain or storm that the forecast was talking about. Maybe sleeping in a campsite wouldn’t have been as bad after all. I had a bit of breakfast in the room, packed my stuff and run down to the reception to take advantage of their breakfast to pack as much calories as possible. The lovely lady at the front desk started chatting with me, asking about the trip. It didn’t take long for the conversation to turn into a religious preach and that I will find god on my trip. I am not religious at all, but I didn’t mind the conversation, neither I told her I wasn’t into that. And of course, I definitely didn’t mind all the fruit and muffins she started giving me for the road. God bless her.

I briefly went to the nearby beach to check the scenery and then continued south. The priority of the day was a bike shop as my rear break was not working any more. Lincton City doesn’t have a bike shop, but Newport 40km down the road does, so I was just hoping that the front break will last long enough. The road run next to the coast for most of the day and I ended up stopping on every other turn to take photos of the amazing scenery. The ODOT (Oregon Department of Transportation) map and the cycling signs on the side of the road took me off highway 101 to some quieter and more scenic detours. The day was full of vast sandy beaches, forests, rocky cliffs and crashing oceanic waves.

By the time I got to Newport, the weather was just perfect. Sunny, warm and I was wondering what happened with that storm everyone was talking about in the last couple of days. I wasn’t complaining, as I was happy to look for a nice campground to spend the night. I got into town and located the bike shop. I thought I needed new disk brake pads, but after the mechanic had a closer look, he managed to re-adjust them and the breaks worked like new again. Newport-Bike is the only shop within 50 miles both sides and they know how to look after touring cyclists. As long as you spend some money in there, you are free to use their lounge with wifi, laundry and showers. I didn’t need any of them at the time, so I headed out to look for a place to have lunch and access the internet. During the  break I had a short chat with another cyclist who was coming from the south and he gave me some information for spots to check out in California. Being on the coast, I meet cyclists all the time. In fact that guy had already heard of me, from a Canadian couple I met in Astoria last week. Small world on two wheels.

The beach in Newport was just amazing, especially in such a gorgeous weather. Looking at all these people enjoying themselves in the sun, I started thinking that maybe I should cut the day short and do the same, rather than trying to reach Waldport 20km further south. I’ve been on the road for all these days and yet I haven’t stayed in one place for long enough to enjoy the scenery. The campground in Newport is at the South Beach, just across the bridge and it has hikers-bikers spots for $6. It’s right by the beach, but well protected within pine trees.

I headed to the hikers-bikers section where I met a drifter as Frank called him self. He has been traveling for 14 years all around the continent, with just a small backpack and a daily budget of $10. He doesn’t have a place called home. He said that after you get into this way of living, you can’t go back to a normal lifestyle and you just have to keep moving wherever the wind takes you.

A little bit later a cyclist came to set a tent next to mine. I had met him before in the bike shop and we ended up spending the evening together. Garry is from Ireland, he has been on the road for 4 months and has come all the way from New York. He is a photographer and he is using this trip for a personal project. You can see his work here http://www.garryloughlin.com/

I put my tent up, had a shower and headed to the beach on my own. I had to cycle about a kilometer on a paved trail and walk over long sand dunes to see the water. The beach was as long as the eye could see and it made people looking like ants. Even though the campground has about 300 spots, all full for the weekend, it seemed almost empty and I was happy to spend some time by my self there. At the horizon I could see huge dark clouds approaching as the sun was setting. The wind was coming from that direction and I could see the storm was eventually coming in, but at that point I didn’t care and I was ready to embrace it. No text or photos can describe what it is like to be in such a place with these conditions.

Just as it was getting dark, I headed off to my tent to make something for dinner. I then woke up Garry from his afternoon nap and we both headed to the nearby brewery for a couple of pints. The barman welcomed us with a sampler of ORgasmic (OR as in Oregon). After that I asked for a another 4 samplers so I could try out a range of the beers they were making there. One of them was called Bear Beer as the yeast they use, initially came from someone’s beard. It was tasty! After our drinks and conversation with some locals, we headed back to our to sleep and welcome the coming storm.

112km out of 1157km so far

I woke up at 7am, the murderer had already left the campsite and I was still alive. I was now completely by my self and I didn’t see any passing car up until I got to the bottom of that hill 3 hours later. It was a rather cold morning at 6c within the forest and next to the river, so I made my self a hefty portion of warm tea to drink, together with instant oats, while packing my stuff. I was still trying to absorb the beauty of the place I had just woken at.

Two hours later I was on the road cruising down the hill, at a relatively slow pace due to the 5km of unpaved road I went through right after the campsite. The route was still very scenic, but it was still very cold. Every now and then the sun beams would penetrated the dense forest, hoping that they would warm me up a bit.

Two hours later, I was back in civilization, with farms and barns all around me. Quite roads, family houses, horse stables and farms with any kind of animals and produce. A couple of times vicious dogs went mental on me and started chasing me while barking. One almost grabbed my pannier’s strap, just to realize I was a little faster to keep up with its jaws.

I got to the very end of that section at the intersection with 101 just before noon. I decided to go a few kilometers north, to catch the scenic route via the coast, even if it was a little longer than sticking on 101 south. Some locals mentioned that there aren’t any shops down that road, so I thought I should have something to eat for early lunch/second breakfast in the nearby grocery store.

Over my two and a half weeks I am on the road, I’ve met many cyclists, either couples of guys on their own like my self. Today I was set to meet two different solo girls. As I finished my sandwich and I was ready to depart, Carol came in to the store to take a cover from the rain that had just started. I extended my break and sat down for a bit, to exchange stories and information. Carol is on the road for more than 100 days and she has many more to go before reaching Mexico, or somewhere equally warm. She was heading to Portland though to pick up some gear, via the scenic route I had just finished. I gave her my printed map which I no longer needed, along with a few other information. She writes on a blog as well, which I will check shortly after I finish this post.

The rain paused for a minute and I took the opportunity to depart, even though I was certain I would get wet at some point from the coming storm that everyone was talking about. Apparently it will keep raining on and off for the next five days and some people even mentioned hail and lightnings. Oh dear…

After a few kilometers north on 101, I turned west and finally headed to the coast. As usual for the most of the coastal route, the road is running behind private properties hiding the ocean. I really didn’t have a clue what to expect, up until the point a public access beach appeared right in front of me. I had to take a break to admire the scenery. Even if I wish it wasn’t as wet, the fine mist and rain created a very mystical atmosphere, together with the crushing waves of the ocean. Further down the road at Pacific City, there was a surfing competition, so I had a quick stop there as well to observe the dudes.

Pacific city is a nice little surf town. As I was heading out though I had yet another douche-moment. I stopped for a second on the side of the road to put my mp3 player on and this monster-truck honked at me right as it was passing me. I flipped my hand wondering what was that about and second later the mean machine stopped and reversed. The guy obviously didn’t have enough bacon this morning, so he started yelling at me for stopping 20cm on the road, even if the road was big enough for his douche-wagon and threatening me not to flip my hand on him again. I need to clarify that this is a rare behavior between the drivers I’ve shared the road with on this trip. But somehow the world is not a perfect place.

I moved on further south, heading to Lincton city. The cycling map recommended to take a detour to the old 101 which was more scenic, quieter and had a more gradual climb over the 250 meters hill. Again a really nice route via old growth forest. I didn’t take many photos as it was raining for most of the time. That’s when I met the second solo girl of the day. In a cool way, she was a weird, hippie looking ragged girl. Rather than any fancy gear, she was riding a just about functioning bike, without a helmet, wearing a vintage coat and some army boots. Her minimal bags were covered with a military raincoat. She didn’t seem to mind that she was soaked and at some point she even mentioned that she is thinking of getting a wet suit, so at least she could keep warm. Hardcore! She seemed very connected to the forest and I wouldn’t be surprised if she told me she was high on mushrooms.

I moved on to the city, as I wanted to call it a day after 100km in the rain. Even if Lincton city has a campground, I was willing to pay the extra cash and stay in a motel or something, so I don’t have to face the wet ground under my tent. I went through a few different motels and I chose the most economical one. After having a shower, I went to the near by restaurant, for a massive stake and veggies, which happened to be on $10 special offer. A full stomach at night, makes the next day much easier.