Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Garibaldi to Pacific City (via Three Capes Route)

47 miles, 2500 feet of climbing, road kill (2 unknowns, 3 snakes, 5 mice - appeared to be part of a suicide cult as they were all found close together, 1 porcupine)

Today's planned easier day turned out to be a little harder than expected. Partly it was road surface; party our longer day yesterday; but mostly the cumulative effect of 6 days of riding on our wimpy butts! Though perhaps it was not eating enough breakfast.
Yesterday - eggs, sausage, biscuit, cinnamon roll, cereal, juice, coffee.
Today - waffle, banana, juice, coffee.

The weather went from 80 and too warm yesterday to high 50s/low 60s today. Lots of fog and some wind as well. We drove right past the Tillamook plant today. We toured the factory 16 years ago on our very first vacation together. Perhaps the conversation went like this:
Arn: Do you want to go on our very first vacation and see how cheese is made?
Deborah: Okay.

Actually, it is a cool tour but we decided instead to stop at the Blue Heron cheese company (they specialize in Brie) and we managed to secure some cheese and bread for our lunch today.

After about 10 miles on 101, we left the road and did the "Three Capes Scenic Drive" or bike ride in our case. Scenery was fantastic though the road surface was really rough at times.
After riding in Oregon a few days, we've developed a "secret decoder ring" for road signs.
Passing Lane Ahead = road shoulder is getting narrower, hill eminent.
Passing Lane Ends = watch out - crazy drivers trying to do last minute passes. The summit you see is not a false summit - it is the real deal. Shoulder is returning.
Bikes on Highway = road shoulder is disappearing.
Abrupt Edge = new pavement, baby, let go of those brakes!
Congestion = viewpoint.

In the middle of our "Three Capes" ride, we were descending a big hill and came upon a huge sand dune area with people riding dune buggies! Deborah looked on longingly for some motorized transportation!

Tonight we are staying at a lovely Bed and Breakfast in Pacific City - The Craftsman B&B. Tomorrow it is 52.5 miles to Newport on a route that I will post tomorrow - mostly 101 though we leave the highway a couple of times for some scenic sidetrips!

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