Singing in the rain

10/7/11
Second day of life on the road could've been better. After waking up at 6:30am, I took down camp and road 3 miles until I saw a gas station. I needed water bad (note to self: always refill bottles). I continued on my way and saw a restaurant about a mile up the road. Should I stop? Nah, there'll probably be another one soon. Little did I know it would be about 30 miles until the next restaurant. So I just lived off of snacks until then. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was raining, and continued to rain all day long? Not the most pleasant riding conditions, but really I tried to make the best of it.

Upon entering the Tillamook state park I realized not only was it beautiful, but it would also be my first real incline! I ended up climbing about 1500ft just to reach the summit. From then on it was mostly rolling hills and downhill, so well worth it. Really though, the Tillamook State Forest is beautiful. It was nearly all burned to the ground by careless human activity between 1933-1940, but restoration efforts have brought it back since then. I learned all this at the visitors center where I stopped for a good hour.

From then on my goal was to hit Tillamook. It rained and rained until I stopped into Alice's Homestyle Restaurant. The public notice on Alice's menus reads:
The hurrier we go, the behinder we get.
So if you're in a hurry, this is the place to forget.
Upon reading that I realized that was the place I wanted to eat. Obviously traveling across the country by bike is about anything but the hurry. As it turned out though, my food was prepared in the average amount of time one would expect to get restaurant food. Thanks Alice.

Just as I was unlocking my bike and mentally preparing to return to that damp and foggy road a friend rolled up. I never actually got his name, but he was a long haired bicycle tourist much like myself. We chatted like old friends for a good 15 minutes, and then went our opposite ways. That was the first tourist I encountered, but I was certain it wouldn't be the last.

When I finally got to Tillamook I was craving some warm liquid to thaw my soggy bones. As I scoured the town I came across a tea shop called La-Tea-Da. What the hell, I like any establishment that will use word play in the name. Little did I know I was walking into a life-size dollhouse. The tea room reminded me of a place mothers would take their daughters once a year as a tradition. Fancy floral tea sets, crystal creamer holder, and the like. I immediately walked out before breaking something or getting any of my road sludge on it. I never did find a place to warm my bones that I was comfortable with, so I headed back on down the road.

The rain confined to come and I continued to ride. By now my shoes had be reservoirs. I would have liked to use my waterproof shoe covers that I thought I had packed, but couldn't seem to find them. I have a feeling that I will soon be making a hobby of searching for things in my bags.

Eventually 6:30 came around and I decided I need to find camp fast. My map showed that the next camp on my route was about 10 miles away, so I headed up a road going in the opposite direction. Little did I know it was all up hill from there. Just as the sun was setting I was passing some beautiful dunes, but still hadn't found a place to camp. Up and up I went. By the end, the fog was too thick to see 20ft ahead of me. The sun had completely set. The rain continued to drip, and every 10 minutes I had to take a break because of fatigue. Finally after reaching Cape Lookout State Park, I just decided to set up camp on the side of the road. It was an inconvenient spot, but felt like it was too dangerous and I was too tired to go on. I threw up my hammock as best I could, slipped into something dry, and called it a night.

Sometime during my slumber my rain fly collapsed and when I awoke to find it this way, I was too tired and too warm to get out and fix it. Needless to say I woke up a little damp...

Total miles: 60

Random roadside debris: life jacket

-D
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