Cannon Beach to Tillamook, Oregon

December 14, 2012

Although we certainly view any place with a roof and a heater as a super refuge, we are not beyond feeling crabby when the dollars spent at a motel do not produce the expected luxuries. So it was last night at the McBee Cottages in Cannon Beach. The super small room had nothing like a microwave or kettle, and though very clean was also very old. What earned it this special reference in the blog, though, was faulty wifi. Or make that faulty wifi and the staff unwilling to look into the problem. This morning after walking down the street to get to wifi, we left McBee, with little regret (heater notwithstanding).

There are two big hills just south of Cannon Beach. The first one slowed us down a bit, while the second one slowed us down a lot. It made us feel better to read at the top that not only was the road difficult to build on the side of this mountain, but that the highways department still has trouble maintaining it.

This section of road did reward us with views first of the "haystacks" out in the water south of Cannon Beach, and then of sunlight on the water, from the top of the second hill (Arch Cape).

The twin peaks and a sidelong look at where were cycling.

We "swooped" down this hill, but with very much less abandon than we would have done yesterday. In fact, it's more like we crawled down. The roads are wet and slippery, and the bikes feel unsteady. Gravel scattered on the shoulder seems to shove the wheels around, and there is often green slime growing there as well. We are thinking of lowering our tire pressures to get more grip, but have no idea if this will have any effect.

It was pretty much noon when we rolled into the small town of Manzanita. Here we found a grocery store and more than one coffee shop. In the grocery Dodie found some great gifts for the twins, so we not only sat in a coffee shop for a while, but went off in search of the post office to mail away the new gifts.

The sun was bright, the temperature warm at about 10 Celcius, and we really felt like we were on vacation.

This cycling adventure is not all rough. Our table outside a coffee shop in Manzanita.

That is, until we looked at the clock and the distance to our target, Tillamook! Snapping back to the reality of the ultra short days, we sallied off past Nehalem and Rockaway Beach.

It seems like after 1 p.m. in this season the day starts to shut down. The light drops noticeably, and with it the temperature. We tried to hurry on, but the slippy feeling road held us back noticeably. In time, Dodie pointed out that since we had been on the bikes all day, we should take extra care to maintain concentration. Five minutes later a slippery ridge in the road threw her to the ground.

With no convenient works truck nearby, I parked my bike across the road to fend off traffic. So this time it was me lifting Dodie off the road, rather than the reverse. Yes, there was another bruised knee in this, and I have the photo, but decided the blog is getting too bloody to publish it.

My bike blocks traffic but Dodie had already been scraped off the road.

It stayed light a little longer than expected, since there are no mountains or forests between us and the setting sun, but eventually (about 5) it did get dark. We have all kinds of flashers and 300 lumen headlights, so we are willing to ride for a bit in the dark. On the other hand, it is cold and a bit scary.

Before we could get too cold or scared, we did arrive opposite the famous Tillamook Cheese factory. This cheese is sold throughout the western states, and we always buy it because we like the name and the town, and because all the products are hormone free. Last Spring we toured the factory, and wrote it up in the Grampies on the Go - Again blog. This time, we just have a neon lit photo of the outside.

In downtown Tillamook we came to the Mar Clair Inn. Here for $60 we have a truly huge room, microwave, fridge, desk, and more. Even the bikes have a large covered patio to rest in, just outside our door.

We turned up our noses at the great stuff that we had got at the grocery, and went for the nearby Pacific Restaurant. This was just as expensive, but just as good as the one we went to with Art and Mary in Ilwaco.

Despite all the dissing I have done of food in the USA, I must admit we had no better meal in Europe than the one just enjoyed in Tillamook. All you need is the luck to find the right place and a fair whack of money. We have met some pretty tough cyclists in our travels, able to go for days or weeks on a bag of pasta and a bag of rice. For us though, after two maybe three days we will pay basically anything for a well made salad. And for a real steak or wild salmon? They can just keep the Mastercard for all we care!

PHOTO GALLERY FROM TODAY

We are not sure how much has really arrived here from the Japanese sunami.

Have you seen the movie "Soylent Green"?

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 543 km (337 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0