Map courtesy of AAA

July 17, 1999, 11:39 am - In Astoria
Dan and I are sitting in a Burger King in Astoria, Oregon. The ride to the Astoria bridge and through the first tunnel was rather uneventful. The bridge crossing was long but not too bad. It was a little cold and the climb up to the high part was a little tough. We are about ready to move on. Looks like the potential for more showers. If you can give us decent forecasts from the internet for where we are I would appreciate it. Maybe Joe could send us nice weather forecasts for where we are.

Will send another update later today.
Tad and Dan

July 17, 1999, 10:14 pm - Astoria to Nehalem State Beach
We had a good day today. We woke up to some sun and took a while getting packed because the tent was so wet from all the mist and rain the day before. I think I mentioned in the last email what the Astoria bridge crossing was like. We had a few steep hills after we left Astoria. The first seemed really long but I think that is because we took it too fast and it hurt a bit. The next two were actually ok. The second two were supposed to be worse but we took them at a slower pace.

Before the second hill we stopped at a little Deli and ate some bananas and drank a bunch of water. We happened to see some news about JFK Jr's plane missing at sea. Gosh what terrible luck that family has had. The 2nd hill started at a tunnel that climbed the mountain and went through it. The traffic was zooming by us and the tire sounds echoed all around us. It was a little scary but not too bad. The third and final hill was supposed to be the worst but it was ok also. We stopped near the top at a great lookout called the Oswald lookout which had the best views so far. There were a lot of people stopped there and several took interest in our setups. It was great talking to so many nice people.

We arrived in Nehalem State park about 4:30 after stopping in Manzanita to pick up some groceries. About 45 minutes later we met two couples from Vancouver BC who arrived via bike. We had passed them on the first hill outside Astoria. The seem quite nice.

Dan and I sat and played cards by an electrical outlet trying to get his radio charged. This place has free hot showers so we both took the opportunity to shave our legs again. (Aren't cyclists weird?).

Oh well, that is about all for now. Talk to you later.
Tad

Sunday July 18th, 8:05 PM - Nehalem Bay to Cape Lookout
We had a great ride around the Bay to start out the morning. We finally had the winds switch directions for us to get some benefit out of going south. We arrived in Tillamook just before noon and explored the cheese factory, including the samples and some great ice cream on a waffle cone. It was very crowded. We left the factory and went to the store to get some laundry detergent and some tar remover to clean up our bikes.

We got directions to the laundry mat and spent an hour and a half there, we met 4 young guys driving cross country from PA to the west coast down to Tijuana and back home again.

After we got going Tad got his first flat tire just outside Tillamook. Then it was a short but hard ride into out current camp here at Cape Lookout. It is beautiful here with a rugged beach and pounding waves. The rain forest extends down here in Oregon and it is very green everywhere.

Till Later,
Dan and Tad

Monday July 19th - Cape Lookout to South Beach
The day started foggy and stayed that way through a late breakfast in Pacific City, where we met two young ladies from Portland that were interesting to talk to.

We had stopped at Post Office just before to send back some unnecessary items. We felt a bit lighter after that, though Tad would need his gortex jacket later :)

We had three tough climbs in the day. The one was first thing in the morning. Next was a long hot one over Cascade Head just before lunch. Then, after Lincoln city we had a long climb over the aptly named Cape Foulweather. The fog rolled back in at Lincoln City and we have not seen blue sky since. Oregon is not fun when it is like this.

In camp we met Dave, a 67 year old man with tons of hair and a big mustache and a great attitude to top it off. This was his third time down the coast and he was a great character to talk to despite the bad weather.

More about Dave and the weather later,
Dan and Tad

Map courtesy of AAA

Tuesday July 20th, 12:45 PM - South Beach to Honeyman State Park
The South Beach campground was really nice except for the weather. The company of Dave, the 67 year old third timer on the Pacific Bike trail, made for interesting conversation. They actually had free coffee and coffee cake in the mornings. It was a shame the weather ruined probably the nicest campground we have been to.

The weather in Oregon is enough to make me want to tour Puerto Rico next time. We have not seen the sun the last two days except at the top of Cascade Head Pass yesterday where we stopped to put on sun screen for our 10 minutes of sun.

The weather today was foggy and misty with head winds for 50 miles. The winds are supposed to be from the North West but we were getting a wind from the south all day. We passed by the Sea Lions Caves but they are no longer putting on the bumper signs.

We got a sorta late start today so we did not pull into Honeyman State Park until about 4:30. Due to the poor lighting all day we didn't take a single picture.

We are hoping for sun tomorrow so we can play on the huge sand dunes. We were lazy tonight so we ate at the little lodge in the park and had a few beers. The food was good with reasonable prices. A nice end to a sorta crummy day.

We will check in again tomorrow.
Tad and Dan

July 22nd 7:45 AM - Honeyman State Park/Florence to Sunset Bay
We started off the day very slow, tired and somewhat bummed about our experiences. We were at prime dune jumping area with cold drizzly weather, so we decided to move on south in hopes of sunshine. We stopped for lunch in Reedsport and headed to Umpqua lighthouse where we missed our turn and went a couple miles off course. They were good miles because we saw our first sign of blue sky.

Later the partial clearing turned in to mostly sunny...YEAH!!!! We took a side trip to Umpqua dunes to enjoy the sunshine and then headed on south.

It stayed mostly sunny with some tailwinds for the rest of the day. We met a cool biker from Macon, Missouri on the north side of the Coos Bay bridge.

While crossing the bridge we were stopped by an ODOT worker and told that we had to be on the sidewalk because we were a traffic obstruction, meanwhile creating one while pulled our bikes and trailers up on the sidewalk, we were not pleased! On our way over to Sunset Bay we nominated the Coos Bay area as having the worst drivers and Charleston as being the stinkiest town. Sunset Bay is beautiful and worth the afternoon mishaps with the roads and drivers.

Till later,
Dan and Tad

Map courtesy of AAA

Thursday, July 22, 1999 3:29 pm - Sunset Bay (Hello from Dairy Queen)
Dan and I took another day off here at Sunset Bay. We ran out of food so we took a five mile ride into Charleston to Dairy Queen and will be heading to the grocery store to stock up for tomorrow. Only a couple of more days to the California border.

I am tired of fog and wind. Today it had been foggy all day. The only slightly interesting thing that happened is that we left some peanut butter on Dan's lexan spoon and a squirrel jumped up on the table and started licking it. When he started chewing on it Dan got up to make him stop and he ran into the bushes with it. Another wild animal theft. We have had a lot of problems with that throughout the trip.

I am looking forward to moving on tomorrow although I am sure my legs appreciate the rest.

Talk to you soon,
Tad

Friday, July 23, 1999 - Sunset Bay to Gold Beach
We left Sunset Bay at about 7:00am in a misty fog. We stopped at the Bay and took a few pictures. The ride started with a climb up to the ridge line. It was so cold and wet, our glasses were fogged and our hands were numb.

After the ridge line we dropped down and rode a total of 25 miles before breakfast in Bandon. Breakfast was great.

We then continued riding and I got two flats today. Oh well, I guess it happens.

We stopped and got groceries in Port Orford and then continued to Gold Beach. On one of the decents before Gold Beach, Dan and I hit 42 and 41 mph respectively. A new maximum speed. What a wild ride!

We were tired of the cold and although the sun did come out, we decided to check into Motel 6 and dry out a bit.

Tomorrow -- California!!
Tad and Dan

Saturday, July 25, 1999 - Gold Beach, OR to Crescent City KOA, CA
We slept in a bit this morning and woke up to a nice shower in the motel. The skies were somewhat clear and we felt pretty good. We had our poptarts and got going. We had a hard climb up Cape Sebastian and Tad broke the trip speed record at 43 (the previous being 42 set the day before). We had scattered sun most of the day later turning to extended cloudiness and now it is ugly again. The lousy front is supposed to be heading out, we are continuing south in search of better weather.

Today was pretty boring for the most part, there was some great scenery in southern Oregon but it got foggy so we saw little of it. We did cross the border into California but the weather did not improve. All it means is we have to pay sales tax again. We stopped at the Dairy Queen in Brookings, OR and saw a girl working there that looked exactly like Helen Hunt, it was uncanny, I have never seen such a look alike! We have also hit Redwood country. It is nice but I hope the weather will make it better.

Till Later,
Dan and Tad