In the morning of 9-22 Josh proclaimed that the tent was a "crazy dream tent". Both he and Sim had strangely vivid dreams that night. Sim dreamed that he was in a large city and left his bike locked up for 12hrs. Then when he returned it had been stripped down by thieves leaving only the frame. The dream played out like a movie as Sim searched the city looking for his bike parts. He even dreamed of stepping in shit along the way. Josh had dreamed that he was a vampire- a leader of a coven in fact. Like Dracula himself he commanded that several of his followers should grab their bikes and fly. He flew through the sky on his bike after spending quality time at a misplaced Lakefront Brewery. After sharing dream stories, we started breaking camp. Just after removing the rain flies a storm blew in and dumped on us soaking everything. It only lasted about 10 minutes and the sun came out. So.. we spread out our stuff all over the hiker biker site to dry and decided to walk back to the restaurant for breakfast.
When we got back everything was mostly dry so we got all packed up and headed out. Brian packed quickly and got a head start, leaving at about noon or one. Josh and Sim took quite awhile longer and didn't get on the road until 3 or 4pm. They ended up catching up to Brian because he waited along the road. We all made our way to Cape Disappointment state park, which was about a 38mi ride. There was supposed to be a lighthouse there but we didn't find it and joked that that was the disappointment. We made camp at dusk/dark again.
The stars there were amazing. You could even see the milky way. We haven't seen a sky like that in years living in the city.
During dinner we were visited by the bandit raccoons again, but we were ready this time. One big one kept sneaking around the edge of the fire and peering thru the long grass at us. All of a sudden we heard the unmistakable sound of coons fighting. The big one was chasing away the competition and beat up on a whimpering, smaller raccoon for quite a while. After we ate we put the food in a locker and bedded down without too much more excitement. Tomorrow we would cross into Oregon.
9-23 we biked to Astoria OR. about 25mi. There were a couple climbs and a 4 1/2mi bridge waiting for us. The bridge was a monster. As we crossed, towards the end, there was a rather steep long hill to climb that probably went for at least a half mile. Simeon led the way across. When they approached the hill he turned to yell "Here comes our welcome hill into Oregon." Just after finishing his sentence his pedal scraped the curb almost sending him down into the road. Luckily his balance saved him and he didn't fall but Sim didn't say another word until we got off the bridge. We looked back at the bridge in awe, took some pics of the welcome to Oregon sign and the bridge then head to a coffee shop to relax and figure out where to camp. We heard about a bike trail that led out of town that might yield a spot to bed down. We heard rain was coming too. Along the path we were having a hard time finding a suitable spot and eventually we saw a house where a younger guy was grilling out on his porch. Josh asked him if he knew of a spot we could use for the night. To which he replied.. the grass right behind the deck is public property and offered up the space for us. His name was Matt and his Mom Connie came out to offer us their shower, bathroom, and garage. They were amazingly accommodating. We had a good nights sleep with the sound of sea lions barking by the docks. Connie even came out in the morning and offered us coffee before wishing us well on our journey. Turns out we camped at the city manager's house that night.
*Useless trivia point about Astoria- This is the city that Goonies was filmed in
9-24 we only made it 13mi before reaching a K.O.A just across the highway from Fort Stevens state park. The wind was really picking up and we could feel a cold rain coming. They tried to give us a tent site right out in the open, but we decided to camp off the spot by some trees that would offer some cover from the wind and rain. Josh rigged up a way we could stretch a tarp over the doors of the tents giving us a sort of vestibule that we could all cook in away from the rain. The K.O.A was pretty stacked with amenities- it had a jacuzzi, sauna, indoor pool, and a gazebo cooking station with electric stoves. It was supposed to rain for two days so we decided just to bunker down and wait it out.
9-25- we just bummed around the campsite's coffee shop and worked on the blog a little. Brian cooked us an omelet improvising ingredients with what was available. We ended up having a hot dog and beef jerky omelet with some apple cider spiced french toast. After eating so many packaged noodle dishes, it all tasted great.
After the rain finished we would head on to a town called Nehalem about a 40mi ride with two monster climbs just before town. The hills where about 1200ft climbing about 4mi. each.
9-26-The first hill featured a long slow incline with a tunnel towards the summit. The tunnel had a cyclist button to light up a sign alerting drivers that there were bicyclists on the road. We pushed the button and went on through. Each car that passed sounded like a freight train because of the acoustics in there but no one had any problems. When we finally reached the top of the second climb there was a beautiful view of the city awaiting us.
At the park we found that camping in OR was much more accommodating than WA. Only 4 bucks a person and free showers! That night we were serenaded by coyotes yelping in the distance as we chopped wood.
Brian was freezing so he retired to his tent to warm up. Josh brought Brian's ramen noodles to his tent and we cooked over the fire.
After dinner, a couple other tourers came back to their campsite and came over to introduce themselves. They were a couple of Brits who were on their way to Mexico as well. Josh and Sim offered up their Jagermeister and whiskey and the Brits offered up a few spliffs mixed with tobacco (the Euro way to smoke). After all the liquor was gone we retired to our tents for the night. Sometime before dawn we awoke to hear Brian yelling at coons.. "Hey you- get out of here you!!". Josh and Sim couldn't be bothered in their half drunken stupor and stayed in the tents. The next morning Sim noticed his socks were drug about 20ft from the tent and the coons played with some bungees as well, but no food other than dirty pans were left out.
9-27- we rode about 28mi into Tillamook; where Brian's sister had offered to take us to her place for dinner. Along the way on the 101 we encountered a car that pulled off into the shoulder a little ways ahead of us. A guy got out and started walking towards us. Josh and Simeon both wondered what was about to happen and stopped for a sec. As he got closer Josh realized it was his good friend John from Portland. He had driven out and was driving along the highway looking for us. We told them to go ahead into town and we would meet them just inside town. Meanwhile, Brian called and said he reached the Fred Meyer store just inside town and his sis was 15min away.
Just about a mile from the Fred Meyer is the Tilamook cheese factory. Josh just had to stop to compare their cheese to that made in WI. Sim felt the pressure of two groups waiting for us and griped that Josh was stopping, but it only took a few minutes to get the cheese.
When we left the last site, Josh noticed his pedal was breaking. So John and his wife Twyla drove him down to the bike shop for a new one as Sim and Brian waited for Brian's sister. Josh had hoped to spend some time with his friend but John wasn't feeling well and decided to go back after the bike shop.
We parked the bikes at a RV park that had some tent space and got into the car for the trip to dinner. The car ride felt really strange. It felt like traveling at light speed being in a vehicle. And ironically enough we almost got hit by a truck that was rounding a corner in the wrong lane. Sim remarked how crazy it would've been to get injured in a car wreck while on a bike tour. But, after the near scare both Sim and Josh fell asleep for the remainder of the trip. Brian's sister's husband cooked us an amazing dinner with penne pasta and sausage in tomato sauce with some great garlic bread. A home cooked meal was soo good at that point. After dinner we were carted back to the campsite for the night.
9-28 - in the morning Brian decided to get a head start and took off early. Josh and Sim were late getting out of camp again but at least it was before 2pm. We rode into town to look for a cafe to get some coffee and a place to charge electronics but found our best option to be the local Safeway grocery store where we met Bernard. He introduced himself as Bernard Shultz and repeated that he has lived in Tilamook 9 years. He likes is there by the coast. And "not only that, sir.." was interjected in his stories at interesting points. He told us he liked riding his bicycle, not only that, sir but its good exercise. Bernard was funny in a way I don't think he meant to be.
We rode about 37mi that day into Neskowin, but Brian had gone into Pacific City and was eating dinner waiting for Josh and Sim. Looking at the map though they decided they would have a better chance of finding a campsite in Neskowin. They stopped at Neskowin beach recreation site and caught an amazing sunset on the beach while they waited for Brian to catch up to the new plan.
Xtracycle at Cannon beach
This ones for you Paul, Someone thinks you would be good in office!
At dusk they regrouped and together had a tough time finding a campsite. Eventually they found a large section of grass just off the highway and made camp. Sim was nervous and annoyed because it wasn't well hidden and definitely not planned out to camp there, but shortly he realized that one of the biggest lessons for him to learn on this journey is that not everything is planned and that doesn't mean disaster; it just means improvising and going with the flow. Other than a 6am horn blow from a semi it was an uneventful night sleeping by the road. The next morning we cut off the new 101 and headed up a gradual incline up the old hwy 101 on a beautiful scenic ride. At the bottom of the hill we stumbled on the Otis cafe. It's been written up in the New York Times. About six tables and one waitress but some of the best food. Sim ate a chicken fried steak about as big as his head. With full bellies we got back on the road.
Cool coaster at a cofee house in Lincoln city. Quite fitting!9-29- We rode roughly 36mi to Beverly beach park, but we didn't sleep on the beach there. The campsite was a rather small area set up like a group site. Only one fire pit. Not too much happened.
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