Day 5 - Sort of a rest day

So the plan was for two nights in a hotel in Arcata, but like I said before, that didn't quite happen, but we did get done relatively early in Friday, about 1:00 and we did spend the night at Motel 6. The ride to Arcata was my favorite ride so far as far as scenery goes. We were off of 101 most of the way on scenic bypasses. We even rode for quite sometime on an actual bike path! That was like heaven. We heard and saw sea lions, saw surfers and other cool stuff along the way.
We caught an Taxi (well most of us, Lee insists he will not get in a motor vehicle until we are done with the ride) from our motel to the Arcata square... center whatever they call it and hand dinner at a nice restaurant called Abruzzi's. Afterwards we played a few rounds of pool, had a few drinks and realized, HEY, we have to get up in the morning and ride. Well that's no fun, but we acted like adults and headed back to the motel, and promptly crashed. As I began to doze I heard Tom Bodett say, "We'll leave the light on".

Day 2 Wisdom and Determination will Out Live Youthful Exuberance

Today was rough, as soon as we took off we were immediately faced with a hill. My legs were just not ready for the hills. Kelsey, Lee and Ian are taking the hills with youthful ease, I just take them one pedal push at a time, they are usually way ahead of me. My sweet Ian though keeps looking out for his mama and waits at the top of the hills for me. We stopped in Charleston, Oregon for a quick break and as soon as we got back on the road, we were met with a giant hill. By now we were off of highway 101 and on the Pacific Coast bike route, which was nice, but that hill did me in, I had to get off and push my bike numerous times, that is until Ian looked at my bike chain and informed I was in the wrong gear! Ugh. It made all the difference in the world. We stopped in Bandon for lunch at the Bandon Fish Market. After a beer and fish and chips we set out for Cape Blanco. The problem with Cape Blanco was the camp sites were first come first serve, so the plan was for Lee and Ian to ride ahead and get us a camp site. But Ian got a flat tire on the way. He fixed it in about 15 minutes and Lee was bound and determined to stop at Langlois Market - Home of the world famous hot dog. So once back on the road a decision was made to turn off before Cape Blanco and try for another camp ground. We wound up tonight at Lake Floras State Park. A much nicer, quieter and friendly place than we stayed at last night, complete with showers, washer, dryer, WiFi and access to plugs. Speaking of which I have very few photos from today because my phone died. I bought a solar power charger but it seems to work on everyone's phone except for mine.
We did about 60 miles today, tomorrow will be a bit shorter and on day 4 we get to stay in a motel....yeah! I'm tired on day two, but determination will always win the day.

Day 1 Complete - 2017 Most Excellent Cycling Adventure

Well we finished day 1, stopping at the Spinreel Camping area outside of Lakeside. Today's take away? Hills are no joke! And it started immediately, we crossed the Siuslaw bridge and immediately hit our first hill and they just kept coming. We stopped in Reedsport for a long leisurely lunch at the Waterfront restaurant, recommended to us by a guy at a auto shop on 101. We asked for good food and beer and he said that was the place to go. It was good. Bud and Buy-in were the primary brews, but they had a local brew that we all went for. It's was good. So far the shoulder for us to ride on has not been too bad. The motor homes whizzing by are not bad, the log trucks are the worse. The young folks are beating me up the hills every time, but I haven't stopped just moving slow.

2017 Most Excellent Cycling Adventure

San Francisco or bust! Me and three 20 something's will be riding from Florence, Oregon to San Francisco. Follow our adventures here.