Florence, OR

It's our eighth day of riding - we're stopping for a lunch/library break in Florence, OR. Yesterday was our longest day on the road - we rode along the coast from Pacific City to Yachats, covering 78 miles. Funnily enough, it was supposed to be our "easy" day and we planned to only do less than 50 miles, then rest. However, while buying our groceries in Lincoln City, we met Dave and Kathleen and their kids, a family from Texas, who is staying at their relative's beach house in Yachats. An offer of a dinner and a roof for the night easily persuaded us to double the distance for the day and after riding for over 6 hours, we reached their their bungalow by the sea. It was definitely worth the effort - the clam chowder, the showers, the beds, and great company of Dave and Kathleen and their four kids ended up a nice little adventure - the kind of stuff you travel for in the first place.

All the way from Pacific City to Florence we have been riding along Highway 101, with small detours through bicycle paths. The views here are just stunning. Sharp cliffs, long desolate beaches, caves and rocks sticking out of the sea. Trees I don't know names for seem to have adapted to the wind, constantly beating against the rocks they are growing on. They have assumed these "aerodynamic" shapes, leaning away from the wind to protect their leaves, needles and fruit. This morning we saw sea lions resting by the packs on the rocks. We are told Oregon coast is migration path for whales, so we're on the lookout for any spouts in the horizon.

We've been getting a lot of tail-wind, which is a great help climbing the hills along the coast. Sometimes, you can just coast and the wind will push you along the flat road or even up a small hill - it is that strong down here. We're feeling lucky we didn't stick to our original plan of doing the west coast south to north, which would have quite painful with the constant headwind.

We'll be camping 30 or so miles south of Florence tonight, most probably around Reedsport. In just a few more days, we will be done with Oregon and enter California.

We'll keep you posted on how that goes. Thanks for stopping by!