(Andrew's photos are here.)
Day 1: Towards the Coast (75 miles) Andrew and i set off from Diana and Pat's place in Portland after fixing his flat from the night before. The day was hot, with a high of 40 C and not much of a breeze. Andrew got two more flats, which used up all of the spare tubes he'd picked up that morning. After the second flat, close inspection of the rim showed that the plastic band protecting the inner tube from the spokes was sliding out of place. A bit of electrical tape stopped the onslaught of flats. We pressed on towards the coast and stopped at a rest stop ("Overnight Camping Strictly Prohibited") as darkness engulfed us.
![]() Neat industrial buildings along the Columbia river. |
![]() Sand dunes in Southern Oregon. |
Day 2: Inadvertent Century (101 miles) We woke up at 6:00 AM, long before any park rangers had a chance to spy our illigal campsite. On the road, we quickly hit Lincoln City, on the coast, and were blessed with cool weather and tails wind for the remainder of the trip. We made the mistake of stopping for the night at a private campground, which cost us $17. We had sand dunes in our backyard, though.
Day 3: Lots of Pain, Little Gain (50 miles) Got off to a good start, including breakfast at a diner. We were blasted by some incredible cross-winds on the bridge into North Bend. Ignoring the senile tourist info lady in Charlston, we made camp at Sunset Bay Camp, which (for better or for worse) put us in phase with the "Bicyling the Pacific Coast"-toting hordes. My knees were starting to get pretty sore (a combination of not having toured for a year and the MilF not having a proper complement of gears) so we stopped pretty early in the day.
Day 4: Slow and Steady (57 miles) We started the day by climbing the Seven Devils, some very steep hills just outside Charlston. Chugging along in my granny gear, i managed to avoid undue pain to my knees. We got to Humbug State Park, where we coughed up the extra cash for a site of our own. We inadvertently slept with our legs higher than our heads, which had the pleasant consequence of reducing the swelling in our knees the next morning: highly recommended!
![]() Sunset on the beach. |
![]() Beach as seen from a bridge. |
Day 5: Unexpected Advice (56 miles) Although we had by now come to terms with the fact that we would not be cycling right down to Oakland, we were still unsure as to how we were going to get down to Frances & Fred's ranch, and from there to Stephanie's place in Oakland. Fortunately, we met some fellow cyclists, Mary and Jim, who let us know about the Hertz car rental in Crescent City. By the time we set camp outside of Brookings, we had a plan.
Day 6: Hertz 'till it Hurts (35 miles) We got to Crescent City in the afternoon, picked up our car and set off down the 101 to the Martin ranch. The Ortiz contingent of the family was there as well, on vacation from Chile.
![]() One of Fred's many pet projects. |
![]() Spanish moss on a swing. |