The Last Night Was Just What I Wanted

STATS: Pacific City, Oregon to Nehalem Bay State Park, Oregon

Distance: 65 miles

Elevation: +3,450 ft / -3,297 ft

Even though I was sleeping on an incredibly comfortable couch with the view of the ocean outside the window, I just couldn’t sleep past 6 AM. I journaled away about the previous day’s adventure, and eventually got ready to head to breakfast with Lynne and Mary. We chose The Grateful Bread cafe and enjoyed an egg scramble with housemade biscuits and sourdough. After this filling meal and more than enough coffee, I hit the road probably the latest I ever have on the trip. Not to worry though, I had zero plans of rushing today, and wherever I ended up would be fine with me. Only 100 miles stood between Astoria and I.

When I hit the road, the fog had began to clear up, however, there was a minor drizzle for a 10 minute span. I mention this because it’s the first time I’ve been rained on for probably over a month. I’ve gotten so incredibly fortunate with zero rain while on the bike since eastern Colorado, so I’m due for even the slightest drizzle. Riding Highway 101 during this portion was beautiful. Not because of the coast, but because of the lush forests and mossy tree limbs. I had a large climb right off the bat, but the shade kept me cool as a cucumber. Eventually, I flew down the hill without a care in the world, just enjoying the moment and living as free as I’ve ever felt. What a beautiful moment this was for me. I eventually rolled into my first town of Netarts, where I stopped for a coffee. As I’m sipping, a chicken literally comes out of no where, pecks at bugs right in front of me, drops a large turd, and walks away with her head held high. Tousche chicken, tousche. I struck up a conversation with a couple for a bit, and realized the ocean breeze was whispering my name to come back.

The lovely part of the Oregon coast is every 10 miles or so is another beach town. The difficult part about this is the traffic. Highway 101 has sections that are definitely not biker friendly. Nonetheless, they have many signs notifying vehicles to share the road. I had an option to take a route 10 miles out of the way with spectacular views, or a stretch of busy highway. Hmmmmm. Yeah, easy choice. As I approached the top, the road had a barrier indicating the road was closed from a landslide. You’re out of your mind if you think I’m turning around! I went right on through, and honestly the road looked like it had been abandoned for years, but it was perfectly fine for a biker. I seriously felt like I was in a world where no one else existed, and I loved every moment of it.

After navigating around the landslide sections, and cruising along a flat road along a bay, I eventually reached Tillamook. Some may know the Tillamook dairy factory of cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and other products resides here. I went right on in and sampled free cubes of cheese, and received some delicious ice cream. I continued to enjoy my own lunch in the comfort of the cafe area, and chillaxed around figuring out my plans for the night.

The northwest winds began to pick up a bit at this point, and the roads were pretty busy. This all lead me to decide I wouldn’t be pushing much further, so I chose a state park about 25 miles away and set my sites for there. Leaving town was miserable because of all the traffic, but eventually I made my way to Nehalem Bay State Park. My legs were beginning to fatigue, and after a quick convincing from Liz, I was pulling into the state park with plans on staying there. As I pulled into the hiker/biker campsites, I noticed several other bikers. Yay, more friends! I introduced myself to all of them, and prepared dinner while getting to know Tim and Kaitie. Both solo cyclists heading south on 101. I had such a wonderful time getting to know them, and we laughed most of the night away. We strolled through the crowded RV section of the park to the beach. I laid down on the dunes and watched the colors of the sky change ever so slightly. I actually ended up passing out. Fortunately, I woke up just as the sun was settling beyond the horizon. This was a beautiful moment. I laid there until the very last portion of the sun had vanished. On my stroll back, I struck up a conversation with a couple from British Columbia. We shared our life stories a bit and warmed up by their fire. We wished each other well, and welcomed each other to our homes if ever traveling in the other’s area. I hope I can make it to Victoria to see them one day, they were such a pleasure to have met.

I made my way through some shrubbery back to the picnic table and chatted with Tim and Kaitie one last time. I’m so incredibly happy I’m camping one last time in the tent.I must have fallen asleep faster than a bowl of ice cream lasts in front of my face. I love life man.

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