May 3, 2012
Otter Rock to Pacific City
It's 4 weeks now since I set off from Sheffield on this journey. In that time I have had lots of time for reflection, and I reckon that one of the reasons that travelling by bicycle is so good is that it allows you to experience huge extremes, which makes you appreciate things even more. When climbing a big hill the most noticeable thing is that you get very hot, and then when freewheeling down the other side the sweat chills you and you very quickly become cold. After a long day pedaling the biggest thing on your mind will almost certainly be food, to fill the empty stomach, and after gorging on as much as you can possibly squeeze in, to provide the energy for the following day, the feeling of a bloated stomach contrasts that of the empty one just a short while ago. This morning I awoke to a wet tent in a waterlogged campsite where I had to walk through about a half inch of water sitting on the surface of the ground, and I am now sat in a motel room, with a microwave oven and many other mod cons, having dried everything out, and making the most of all the facilities before going back in the tent again tomorrow night - which is where I would rather be!
As you can see, the day didn't get off to a perfect start, although I had slept well last night. After packing the tent away wetter than it has ever before been, and using the shelter of the shower block to make the important first cup of tea of the day and eat breakfast, I was on the wildly wet and windy road by 0830.
Apart from a couple of hours stopped in Lincoln City in the middle of the day to chat with a great service station manager whose name has slipped through the grey cells, to sort out why I couldn't upload pictures, and then eat in a 60's style burger joint because I was too cold and hungry to do anything else, nothing much happened until I arrived in Pacific City.
Pacific City sounds like a big place (being a city), but a quick look on my map shows the population to be 1,027 (although it will be 1,028 tonight) - the sort of town i've come to like stopping in, where most people know most people, and they're mostly friendly and interesting people. I've also taken the opportunity of being in a motel to pack up a few surplus items for posting back home, not many, but i've not used them in the last month and can't see that i'll need them yet.
Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 1,086 miles (1,748 km)
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