Well, I sorta wish I was still out there, maybe somewhere with gentle rolling hills. I've been back to my regular life for a couple of weeks now and that ride is beginning to feel like a dream. I told a few people that I would go back and write about the stuff I didn't have time to write about while I was riding so I'd better do some of that before I lose the fine detail.
Day One
Day one started out good. I woke up early and got my panniers packed up. I took a box of stuff (booze and boots!) to ship home down to the ups store place and got back in plenty of time to make my bus to Astoria. Then I decided to pick up a few things at the Whole Paycheck next door. Big mistake. I threw everything together and dragged it out and slammed it on the bike. I ran into Booker and Ivy coming out of the elevator and they looked very concerned. I ended up getting to the station about 5 mins after the bus left. Argh. Luckily I had spent some time figuring out different ways to get to the coast, so I was able to find a plan B. Go Tillamook bus! It lopped about 40 miles off of my trip, but that turned out to be a good thing.
While I was waiting for the bus I met two people who were taking the bus to the coast and then riding back to Portland over the weekend. Here is where I admit to being a total jerk and forgetting both of their names. I hate that I do that, but I do. I wrote them down, but lost the notebook somewhere between Garberville and MacKerricher, along with a bunch of other notes and email addresses. Anyway, the woman, I'll call her M, remarked that my gear looked very clean. "First day?" I've had the rear Ortliebs for a few years, but the front ones were brand spankin' new. My bike still looked pretty clean too. I have to say that my stuff still looks pretty clean. the Ortliebs clean up pretty good. I was worried because the bus only has two bike racks but they told me that the bus is used to lots of cyclists and they will put the bikes inside or in back with the luggage. Sure enough, they stuck a bike and some of our panniers inside behind the bus driver. The ride was beautiful. It ended in Tillamook, but I decided to take another bus a little further North so I could get a good ride in. So, my ride actually officially started in Manhattan Beach, Or. at about 2:30pm.
The sun was out, the sky was blue and I was ready to ride! That was such a beautiful day. Riding through Garibaldi I saw a Commander driving by. It was a little older than mine but in pretty good shape. I stopped at a little shack across the street from the Tillamook cheese factory and had fish and chips. Heading out of Tillamook the wind really picked up and was blowing either across me or up my nose. The route went up to Cape Meares and then south, but there was a detour. I debated just going the route and finding a way through, but it was late and the wind was blowing pretty hard, so I didn't want to have to backtrack if I was wrong. I took the 131 over the hills to Netarts and then down to Cape Lookout, my first campground.
I rolled up to the Ranger Station. The Ranger said, "You look like you want a hiker-biker site." I was joking around and I said, "Nope, I want a YURT!" The other Ranger said, "OK, we just had a cancellation. I just got done mopping it out." I just stood there for a sec with my mouth hanging open. Did I mention that it was Friday night? People reserve these yurts months in advance. I had to say yes. So my first camping night was in a YURT!
The one Ranger told me this would be the nicest camping I would have my whole trip. Seemed like kind of a waste to have it on my first night instead of a couple days in when I would really appreciate it.
