Friday May 29, 2015

We said goodbye to the German couple and the Brit, and Ralf indicated that he had thought about his answer from last night. He told the young guy to travel as soon as his studies were finished and before he started a family. “That was the answer I was looking for” he smiled at his partner who didn’t share his view. She wanted to get started on her career and have children. It is different for a woman, the longer you wait to have children the tougher it is. I said that when you get to our age you have already accumulated so much stuff and for some people it is tough to then make the decision to leave it all behind. A lot of our friends still do not understand why we are doing what we are doing.

It was another dreary, cold, grey day along the coast line of Oregon. One of the other cyclists we had chatted to about this area told us it was beautiful. It would be if you could see it.

Our original plan was to cycle to Gold Beach, (45 kms). We were cold and wet and I was all for finding a motel and getting the washing done etc. We decided to have a second breakfast and look at our options. Option one, find a motel and stay in Gold Beach, Option two continue cycling to the State Park near Port Orford (88 kms) Option three cycle to Port Orford (90 kms) and take a rest day tomorrow (Ralf’s birthday). Option four stick to doing the 45 – 50 ks a day and keep cycling until the predicted storm comes through and we take a rest day.

After a great lunch at Double D\’s Cafe, we decided to push it to Port Orford, we were feeling good and the boat was available today so we could have two nights under cover for $29 per night and a rest day.

While we were discussing our options, the four American cyclists saw our bikes and decided to eat at the same café and then three other American cyclists heading southbound saw all the bikes and came in as well.

The importance of cycle tourism to a small community at work. If we all spent $10.00 there was an extra $90.00 spent in this Town now add the cost of accommodation and you can see how cycle tourism can make a difference.

When we left the café, we could feel a temperature change, it was actually getting warmer. We had opted to stay along the coast line and Hwy 101 rather than going inland and hills as per the ACA maps. I don’t think it reduced the distance by much but it did reduce the climbs. The sun came out and we could see the beautiful coastline.

We made really good time, cycling the 90 kms in just over 6 hours including our 45 minute lunch break.

We were a little concerned about the wildlife in Oregon.

At some stage on the Pacific Coast, I had missed the 20,000 kms mark on my garmin, we didn’t take photos or record it on the blog. We passed the 10,000 km milestone in France and had recorded the garmin on the blog. I decided that when the garmin read 22,222 km I would take the photo. The garmin clicked over just as we were cycling downhill into Port Orford.

We arrived at our little boat cabin at just after three o’clock and there was no-one about.

Ralf called the phone numbers, apparently the owner was at a funeral in California and the camp-host had been rushed to hospital after lunch as he had fallen. Eventually someone came and opened the boat for us and we got settled in to our very humble abode.

The shower block is clean and good hot showers for 0.25 cents. There is a laundromat across the road and a grocery store about 500 metres down the road.

We are taking a rest day tomorrow, it\’s Ralf\’s birthday.