Waldport to Crescent City, 9/28 to 9/30

9/28

Up later than expected at 8:00. Thanks to Amy we enjoyed a delicious egg and toast breakfast before saying goodbye and getting on our way. We went to the Wednesday market where we picked up some fresh food and Ken worked on his Saudi Arabia visa application process. By noon we were on our way. The weather was great with temps in the 70s, few clouds, and a tailwind. We saw some seals, a blowhole, and some more beautiful ocean views.








Towards the end of the day we stopped in a grocery store to pick up the ingredients for chili. We camped at Eel's Lake and enjoyed a delicious chili meal consisting of 4 cans of beans, 3 cans of tomatoes and sauce, and 1.2 pounds of meat for the four of us. A solid day with about 70 miles behind us.

9/29

The day began with a pretty cold morning, a light breakfast, and Ken again on the phone about the Saudi Arabia visa. We were biking by 9:30 as the day slowly warmed up.


After some coastal views we traveled more inland where we biked the seven devils, which was a road consisting of seven rather steep uphills spaced over a fifteen mile stretch. (Arne dog attack). With the morning consisting of talk of dairy queen we were glad to see in Bandon. We stopped there for lunch and blizzards before continuing on to Humbug mountain campground. Unfortunately the ride in required about the last 5-10 miles to be ridden after the sun went down. Although not ideal, the ocean was beautiful with the thumbnail moon, small waves, and large seastacks.


As with the other Oregon campgrounds humbug campground was really nice and well maintained. A 78 mile day.

9/30
We woke up to cloudy skies and made our way toward crescent city. We hit some nice view points on the way and took some nice pictures.


Just before we hit our next town we ran into one of the cyclists named Grady we met from the campground and he rode with us to a grocery store. After our grocery store second breakfast we headed to the public library to research car rentals etc. As usual we spent way too much time there and got out late preventing us from getting to our foreseen destination.
So we plodded along and stopped at a nice lunch spot overlooking the water with a plethora of sea-stacks. Heading out of luck our plan was to go just past Brookings, Oregon to set up camp. However, leaving the center of Brookings an incredibly nice man, Mark Silver in an awesomely hippy flower power van pulled up alongside us and offered for us to stay at his house on the beach.



Arriving at his house we were instantly amazed. He introduced himself as a physician in town and showed us his property. We were greeted by 15+ adorable miniature horses with a small building behind them that we were offered to stay in.



Inside the first building housed a homemade saltwater aquarium which was jaw droopingly awesome.


The large tank had beautifully colorful fish, small crustaceans, and hard and soft coral. We we were all amazed at the genius behind the tutorial of the tank with its construction, LED lights, maintanance devices etc.. Leaving the barn we heard the distinctive sound of parrots and were amazed at the tour that proceeded. The parrot breeding compound was filled with about 50 beautiful macaws, cocatoos, eclectuses, and a few other species. Just awesome!



We soon caught a glimpse of the incredible cliffside ocean view from the property and met Marks amazing wife Lorna. She welcomed us into their home and made us feel right at home. We met their 2 dogs, pet parrots, and even their poison dart frogs. We were already so appreciative to have a warm place to stay, but the Silvers really went above and beyond. They picked up delicious pizza and beer entertained us all evening with fun stories of their life in Oregon.


Having such a neat family open up their home to us was such a great reminder of how blessed we all are and a reminder of how every person you pass along the way has a great story to tell.
JS & KSG

10/1

Redwoods today! We woke up well rested thanks to our gracious hosts. As if that wasn't enough, the Silvers treated us to a delicious and massive breakfast of eggs, bacon, blueberry pancakes, bagels and cream cheese, cantaloupes, grapes , and apple juice - talk about starting the day off in grand fashion. We gathered our things and got on the road about 10 a.m., sad to leave the fantastic coastal house (and zoo) but in a great mood.

We biked an easy 20 miles into Crescent City, which included crossing into California!


We briefly watched the surfing tournament in town for the weekend. Immediately after that we climbed a hefty hill for about 6 miles, while taxing it was the entryway into a section of redwoods so we really enjoyed the ride.


After lots of downhill for the next 10-20 miles we rolled out of one section of redwoods and into another, even more majestic than the first. Big 'ol trees.









We had a late lunch, took some pictures, and really enjoyed the forest. After some consideration we decided to cut our day a little bit short, 60ish miles in total, and stay at a campground in the forest. It was great to get in early and enjoy a few hours of light off of the bikes, and we talked to a variety of other bikers there.

Tomorrow we split with John, so we had our last group meal, including grains that were amazingly still left from Whitehorse.

-AN

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Location:Waldport, OR and Crescent City, CA

Waldport and Portland, 9/25 to 9/27

9/25

Last night's weather was a doozy. A storm rolled in a with very high winds, so much so that our tents were struggling to stay grounded. Luckily heavy rain didn't come with the storm so we stayed dry. We headed out at 8am and warmed up on a big 2.5 mile hill. Coming down the hill was rather interesting to say the least. With the wind howling in our faces combined with rain our faces were stinging coming down the hill. I for one was laughing the whole way down at the situation.





The objective of the day was to get to Lincoln City and take a combination of buses to get to Waldport. In Waldport lives some of our family from my Dad's side, more specifically my Dad's mom's sister's son Stede and his wife Amy. We've never met them but have heard about them over the years from our Gramma Betty.
Anyway our ride today was incredible today. We went through a winding country road with old growth forest and also saw some great coastline on 101.










When arriving in Lincoln city we ate lunch at a safeway As we waited for the bus. Luckily we got a bus schedule in the safeway to make sure on the times of the bus because the bus doesn't run on Sundays, so we didn't waste time on waiting and got right on the road. We ended up riding in the night for an hour to get to Stede and Amy's house which was not desirable but we arrived safely.
We got to their house at 8:45pm and were greeted by Amy who was very energetic and welcoming into their home. Stede was at work at the hospital until 12am so we did not meet him until the following morning. About 11pm Hutton their son came in and we enjoyed meeting and talking to him.
After a long night of conversation we hit the sack and set our alarms for 9am for the next morning.
-JS

9/26

Today was a very eventful day as we embarked on our trip to Portland. In the morning we gathered in the kitchen and were able to meet Stede and talk to him for a good hour. Stede left for Portland where they have a second house which they rent. They offered us their Portland house to stay in for the night since their is not currently a tenant their.
After planning our day Amy drove us to Newport to pick up our rental car from Enterprise.


We rented a little compact car and drove 2.5 hours to portland and started our day at a bar called Mint to try their avocado daiquiri.



Logan, Stede and Amy's daughter, met us there. We were very fortunate to be able to meet the whole family! And having Logan as our tour guide for the night was a real plus! We hopped around a handful of different spots in the city with Logan's help, including Amnesia Brewing, Liberty Bell, Barbar, and the McMenamins Kennedy School.


-AN

9/27

The day started at Amy and Stede's Portland house as we all woke up, talked with Stede for a bit, and headed to the stepping stone for breakfast. The breakfast was awesome with huge larger-than-the-plate pancakes and good food and atmosphere all around. The drive home was quick as we rushed to get the car back by 1:00 to avoid late charges. After we got back enterprise dropped us off at the Rogue brewery in Newport. The food was good and we sampled a wide range of their beers. The sampling inspired us to buy some of the chocolate stout to take back to Amy's for use in beer floats that night.


Amy picked us up from the brewery at 3 pm, and we decided to just spend another night there relaxing and enjoying the scenery and company. A walk down to the beach brought us through hidden lake and onto a much larger beach than expected.










We cooked a dinner for us and Amy which included Chicken Parmesan and beer floats for desert. We all really enjoyed the relaxing day. Thank you Amy and Stede!


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Aberdeen to Cape Lookout, 9/22 to 9/24

9/22
Woke up to a rainy morning. With all the good weather we had all but forgot the difficulties of waking up and packing up camp in the rain. With Aberdeen 2 bus rides away and, the rain showing no signs of letting up, and already behind on mileage we decided to hop on some busses to Aberdeen. We made the first bus by only a minute or two, which took us from Kalaloch to Amanda Park, where we caught another bus to Aberdeen. We arrived in Aberdeen around 10 am, got a late breakfast and again did some trip planning. With the rain lightening to a mist we started on our scenic route to Raymond, OR at 12:30. The ride was nice, with lots of forest and coastal views, though the fog and clouds hid the distant views.








After 50 miles we arrived in Raymond and checked into the Golden lion, where we hung all our wet gear throughout our large hotel room. The day ended with a nice dinner at McDonalds followed by a stop at the grocery store. Nice to sleep inside after a rainy night last night.

9/23
A much nicer day, with some light clouds in the morning which cleared towards the afternoon. The road was fairly flat in the morning with small rolling hills.


As we crossed into Oregon we rode on a four mile bridge, intimidating at time with the traffic, and surprisingly high in one section.





The ride in Oregon was sunny at first, but as we approached the coast the sea mist formed a layer of cool fog for us to ride through. We cut through one beachside neighborhood, and to our surprise we spotted a few elk just off the road.





We arrived in Seaside at 6 pm, where we met Neil (who we had contacted via warm showers) at the high school. He was running a cross country meet that weekend so he treated us to the school spaghetti dinner that the runners also ate. Needless to say it was pretty interesting eating dinner in a high school cafeteria with a ton of cross country runners. Although Neil was staying with the runners that night, he was extremely nice and trusting and allowed us to stay at his house. Seaside was a pretty cool Beachside town, and we definitely appreciated having a house to stay in. Thanks Neil!

9/24
Woke up, ate a light breakfast at Neils, and were riding by 9. The day started with a light headwind and a surprising amount of hills. The coastal scenery was beautiful as we rode through cannon beach (first pic) on down to Tillamook and up to Cape Mears.








Although the headwind was ridiculously strong (30 mph) at times the sun was out and it was a very pretty day. The strong headwind did allow for us to dry the tents easily and quickly though.


After a dinner rich in grains we went to bed around 10, with the wind picking up and a light rain starting. A 67 mile day.

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Location:Aberdeen, WA to Cape Lookout, OR

Olympic peninsula, 9/19 to 9/21

9/19

With Katherine and I getting only a few hours of sleep the night before and John, Arne, Kelsey, and Wes getting in late the night before we ended up sleeping in til 8:30 or so. To our surprise Wes and Kelsey made a big breakfast of pancakes, oatmeal, and eggs, a great way to start the day. It wasn't until 11:40 that we left Wes and Kelsey's place, so we had to rush down to the ferry. We literally arrived at the ferry 2 minutes before it left, after biking a 7.6 miles in 38 minutes through the stop and go streets of Seattle. The ferry ride was short, but beautiful as we arrived at Bainbridge island around 1:00 pm.



The day was nice as the sun came out and we enjoyed a more relaxed pace with decent scenery. For lunch we stopped by the ocean at a spot with tons of blackberries.


After 10 minutes of eating blackberries we ate our packed lunches and continued onto the Olympic peninsula. A nice ride brought us to Sequim state park where we made some dinner and camped for the night. A 61 mile day with a late start and a ferry ride.


9/20

Not surprisingly, we all overslept a bit until 8:30, ate our peanut butter rich breakfast and were on our way. Four miles in we stopped at a bike shop followed by a grocery store. We got sucked into the grocery store and ended up eating a second breakfast of donuts, bananas, and chocolate milk. Finally we were on our way down a nice winding bike trail around noon. The pines, mountains, streams, and even some agriculture made for great scenery through the morning.





Wes' back tire was out of true so we stopped at another bike shop in Port Angeles. With the bike shop needing an hour we got some Chinese food for lunch and continued on. Unfortunately, we continued on in the wrong direction, and after some confusing directions which contained no road names from the locals we continued to get turned around for the next hour before finally getting back on the correct road. The road took us through lake crescent.








We all enjoyed the 10 mile ride alongside the lake. We also met up with another touring cyclist, Jordan from St. Petersburg, FL, who continued with us to our campground. With the delays of the day and stopping to enjoy the sites we stopped to camp at the end of Lake Crescent as the sun disappeared with only 58 miles behind us, 6 to 8 of which weren't even in the right direction. Dinner was nice as Wes brought out some smoked salmon and we all shared some laughs.

9/22
An interesting day to say the least. Since we were short on our mileage the previous two days and Wes needed to get within striking distance of Seattle for Kelsey to pick him up, we decided to launch early. We were on our bikes and moving by 7 a.m., our best start of the whole trip. About 15 miles in we stopped at the Hungry Bear Cafe for coffee and delicious breakfast sandwiches. By 10 a.m. we had made it 30 miles to Forks, the setting for the Twilight series - there were a number of stores wholly dedicated to memorabilia and local tours. After a long, difficult deliberation we decided against the Twilight tours.

In Forks Wes hopped a bus to get him a little bit closer to Aberdeen, his pickup destination. It was sad to say goodbye-it was awesome getting to spend some time with he and Kelsey.

After parting with Wes we posted up in the library and did some overall trip planning which ended up taking a few hours. After advice from a ranger and consideration of our mileage to get to San Fran, we hopped a bus ourselves and headed 20 miles to the coastline. We pedaled along the coast for just a few miles and had a late lunch at Kalaloch beach.









When it started to pour, we decided to set up shop in Kalaloch for the night at a really cool campground. As the rain pooled on or site we frantically moved our tents around to avoid sleeping in standing water. Our night consisted of standing and having a light dinner under the slight overhang at the bathrooms. Needless to say, we were all happy to get into our sleeping bags and call it a night by 9:45.

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Location:Olympic peninsula, WA