Winchester Bay, Oregon - part 2

End of the Tour...

Susan sustained a broken wrist in a fall from her bike while we scouting our camp site at Discovery RV Park on Wednesday. Freak incident, really; we were going about .001 mph and her bike bumped mine and down she went, breaking her wrist trying to catch her fall. The irony is that it was the long and steep 40 mph descents that caused me the concern for a fall, not a stroll thru a campground!

shit happens. we had a great adventure while it lasted. we will finish this tour in the future from where left off ...

back home to re-group. we have many ideas for other adventures this summer !

and, as our team motto goes: improvise, adapt, and overcome.  ciao folks, and thanks for following along.

Winchester Bay, Oregon - part 1

Dave and Roberta from Winnipeg

 

 

 

  

 

Seals sunning on the rocks below us

 

 

 

 

After leaving the park we rode through Florence and ran into Dave and Roberta!  We all stopped a little diner type place and had a late breakfast.  It was great to visit and learn about how Canada and US are the same yet different.  Then once again we were on our way. We hit Winchester Bay at the end of the day.  We stopped at a convenience store for supplies.  This town is so small they don't even has a gas station. This is where I fall off my extremely slow moving bicycle and break my wrist.  I was sure I had just bruised it and had Donnie get me some ice to help with the swelling while he set up the entire camp on his own.  After an hour it was obvious there was something more serious going on.  Donnie got the campground owner to drive us to an emergency room in Reedsport.  I was seen immediately and x-rays confirmed I had broken it.  After some drugs and the doctor manipulating the bones back into place, he gave me a splint to immobilize it and made me an appointment to see an orthoepedic surgeon the next morning in Coos Bay. We caught the one taxi in town back to the campground for the night.  We made arrangements for him to pick us up the next morning the drive us to Coos Bay. Long story short....I went in for surgery that day.  Donnie arranged for a van/SUV to transport us, our gear and the bikes to Los Angeles to pick up the truck.  We stayed a couple days with Donnie's friends again then took off for Houston.   So ended our epic adventure we had pain stakenly planned for months!  We have already decided we will pick up where we left off in Winchester Bay Oregon....so stay tuned.

 

 

 

Carl Washburne State Park, Oregon

 

 

 

 

 

 
We stayed up pretty late last night sitting around a campfire with Dave and Roberta.  We met another tourist that came in just as dusk hit, Justin, who was traveling alone while his girlfriend and her parents drove an RV up the coast.  He has never done this before so he was hungry for some road tips, which everyone was happy to give him. He, in exchange provided us with a bottle of whiskey that went down really smooth in the drizzle.

We all parted early the next morning and made our way down the coast through another tunnel.  It is so strange riding in one of them.  Cyclists have to stop and push a button the flash warning lights that bicycles are in the tunnel but you are still hoping a car won't come through since they are very narrow.

Rolled into Carl Washburne State Park fairly late, just as the sun was going down.  Got our tent up quickly and headed for the showers. 

Met a man that was touring on his bike with his dog in tow in a toddler carrier.  I think I have seen everything now. 

Saw that our friends from Dave and Roberta were also there but didn't catch up with them since it was too late in the day.

   

 

 

 

Beverly Beach State Park, Oregon

 

 

 

 

Pebbles instead of shells wash up on the beach

 

 

octopus trees

 

Day 11 = 7.4 miles

Total = 378.3

Today will be our first rest day.  We stayed at a hotel with the nicest managers last night.  

It felt like they had invited us to their home.  If you are ever in Depoe Bay, stay at the 

Hotel Pacifique.  The town is known for whale watching, but we didn't get to see any.  

I saw another bald eagle, so that was   cool. We cycled to Beverly Beach State Park to 

have some quiet enjoyable surroundings on our off day.  We got here midday and took 

the opportunity to walk along the beach.  They don't have shells on these beaches... the 

tide brings in rocks!  Not what I was expecting....

We got some rain after we checked out the beach.  We were in the hiker/biker section of the

campground so met another couple touring on bikes.  David and Roberta from Winnipeg Canada.  

They started in Vancouver and are going to San Francisco. It's drizzling right now...we 

got hot dogs to cook later when this rain stops and beers on ice.....   

Depoe Bay, Oregon

Lincoln Beach

Day 10 = 35.4 miles
Total = 370.9 miles

First of all, Happy Father's Day to my dad, Monty Murphy and Donnie's, Donald Shelton Sr. - and to all father's reading our blog.

We got a really late start today. We couldn't decide whether to take a rest day or not. Finally we decided to press on to a town closer go a state park we want to spend more than a few hours at. The sun was shining and it would be nice to ride in it for a change instead of the gray clouds we typically have. We only had one really steep long climb today and after that we followed the coast from one beach tourist town to another.

We settled in for the evening in Depoe Bay....splurging on a room with a fireplace and access to a hot tub.

We got far enough today that the plan is to ride the few miles to the state park, check in and get most of the day to explore (on foot).

Pacific City, Oregon

Cape Lookout

Sandlake Recreational Area

Day 9 = 29.9 miles
Total = 335.5 miles

Tough ride today....lots of long steep hills. Saw a bald eagle!!!! I can mark that one off my bucket list. Beautiful scenery. We rode through Sandlake Recreation Area - it is a really cool area where high winds blow beach sand up the mountains to create sand dunes. Residents have to have a permit to remove sand from their property.

Ended the day at Pacific City. Someone left a comment yesterday about this place. We stopped in at the local micro-brewery and had pizza and beer. We are staying at Webb County Park. They have these adorable black rabbits EVERYWHERE. We appreciate and love everyone's comments...please sign your name to them - they are showing published from "anonymous" so we have no idea who is leaving them.

Considering taking a day off tomorrow....we aren't tearing up the miles but we are really working hard for each and every one of them.

Tillamook, Oregon

just outside Cannon Beach

on the way downhill to Manzanita

> Day 8 = 43.9 miles
> Total = 305.6 miles
>
> We started our morning with a breakfast of bagels and peanut butter with jam.....yummy! We began with three bagels which changed to two thanks to a very bold chipmunk. The bagel was bigger than he was. But he didn't keep it all, there was a huge bluejay that had eyes on it.
>
> Met another bicycle tourist today, Robert from San Diego. He is out on his own following pretty much the same route we are for a while. He is riding for cancer. He is trying to raise money so check out his web page "Cycle2cure".
>
> Beautiful landscapes today. We had one really long climb...but the screaming downhill made it all worthwhile. That, and one of the best BLT's I've had in the city at the bottom-Manzanita. We were starving and fortunately this pub was one of the few places open at 1pm (do people not eat lunch in this town???). Donnie also raved about the salmon chowder they had.
>
> We continued on through a nice flat stretch (for a change) and ended up in Tillamook. They are famous for cheese so naturally dinner had to be mac 'n cheese. It was delicious...my compliments to chef Donnie. In fact I want to thank him for a number of things: his patience waiting for me to climb all these hills, his carrying most of our supplies (easily over 70lbs) and most of all his knowledge and experience that is making this so much fun.
>