I hit the snooze twice on my duck quack alarm before deciding to get up. Although the night and morning were cold, I slept incredibly well. I was the first one up and out of my tent of the five of us. Besides Paul and I, a young couple from Minneapolis, MN showed up as well as a guy from Juneau, AK. Half-asleep I started packing up my things right away. There was a break in the sprinkling and I figured I should get a move on to Newport to do some grocery shopping as soon as possible. By the time I was ready to leave everybody was up and starting their day. I wished Paul a safe ride and he said he was leaving soon and would meet up with me at Fred Meyer where I planned to stock up. I didn't see him the rest of the day.
After a leisurely shopping spree I wanted to head to a coffee shop so that I could charge my phone and work on the blog. I headed down the road and as one would expect, I found a Starbucks.
After about a 45 minutes, in walked an early 20's kid with a smile on his face. He looked clean cut and well groomed, so I didn't really notice his cycling attire. As he walked near looking for an outlet to plug in his laptop he asked me, "Are you the guy with the bike out front?" I replied with a nod and from there we broke into conversation. He said his name was Austen (we both shared a chuckle at our names) and that he was on his way to Phoenix, AZ and that he had been cycling since Anchorage, AK. Wait a minute...Anchorage?!?! Come to find out, he and Paul and spent their first week on the road together. Sometimes it really is a small world.
The time slipped by as I went I switched between blogging and swapping stories with Austen. At one point one of the employees brought us a pesto/tomato/basil panini to split for free. Apparently it was ordered but the customer decided they didn't want it. Either way it was a good score for some touring cyclist. Our conversation went on an on, and based on first impressions, I think I could relate to him more than anybody I've met on this trip so far. His plan was to stick around Newport an extra day so he could enjoy the Rogue Brewery and catch up on some things. I contemplated hanging out in Newport also but eventually decided that I should keep going so I wouldn't lose momentum. We exchanged contact info and I was finally on my way at about 1pm.
Not even an hour down the road and I already started to get hungry. I eventually came to a beach called Lost Creek State Park. The clouds were light grey but there were patches of blue in the sky and a break in the rain. The waves were swelling big and crashing hard all along the coast, and this place was no exception. Having stocked up on food earlier in the day, I made myself quite the bounty of a lunch. Tuna and crackers with spinach and tomato. A tangerine and banana. Some trail mix. An electrolyte drink. And peanut M&M's for dessert. Yum!
I figured since the weather was staying dry for the moment that it would be a great time to clean and lube my bike. Asked I scrubbed and oiled I hoped that it would continue to stay dry, and after about an hour of work I was done. I'm not kidding you when I say that as soon as I started to clean up the sprinkling began. Phew! Luck was on my side this day.
The fact that it was 3:30pm and I hadn't made it 10 miles outside of Newport didn't discourage me much. I had gotten a lot done besides riding, and I figured I could still get in about 20 more miles before searching for camp. Little did I know that it would be raining non-stop for the next 20 miles.
Despite the rain and the ominous dark grey skies, I really did pass through some beautiful areas. Seal Rock, Waldport, and Yachats are all wonderful coastal towns even when foggy and wet. As 5:30 rolled around, the temperature had already dropped to about 52F and I was dripping wet. As I climbed the steep hill with little shoulder at Cape Perpetua I started getting nervous that I wouldn't find a place to camp and I'd be stuck riding for another hour and have to set up camp in the dark again. I promised myself that the next spot I saw I'd stop, and sure enough not even a mile up the road was Cape Perpetua State Park.
As I pedaled into the park I joked to myself that 'perpetua' must be short for perpetually-damp, as all the trees in the area wore a coat of green moss as thick as a lumberjack's beard. The road ahead forked and one side was gated shut. I feared that the campsite was shut down until the spring, as so many others that I had passed had been. I didn't care this time, I needed to get of the road and set up my camp.
The camping area was completely baron. The restrooms were locked, but much to my pleasure the water faucets all still worked. I stopped at the first site I saw that had two trees for hammock hanging and got to work. As soon as I pulled out my tent I realized something was wrong. In my half-asleep morning haste I had left my quick release hanging straps on the trees from the night before! I was disappointed that I left them behind, but I was more annoyed that I'd have to spend another $30 to make the quick release mechanism that I had made before. Those things cut my set up time down to less than 2 minutes! Luckily I had brought an extra pair of straps, which made hanging the hammock at least partially easy...but not 2 minutes easy.
The campsite looked great and I even had a nice cooking area under my rainfly to help keep my dry. After a nice meal I made some preparations for the days to come and laid in my hammock recollecting my day. The combination of fresh air, knowing that I was alone in the park, and the sound of a nearby creek all combined to lull me into a deep sleep...
Progress: 34 miles
Random Roadside Debris: a mailbox
-D
http://www.trackmytour.com/b5k7d
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