Oregon Coast Tour
September 11th-20th 2007

We are riding from Portland, Oregon to Astoria, Oregon and then on down the Oregon coast to Brookings, Oregon. We have done this ride before in the past, but have only written about the portion from D-lake Campground in Lincoln City to Brookings in our story about riding from Portland to San Francisco. It is a spectacular ride done by people from all over the world, so the focus of this story is all the people that we meet along the way.

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

We head out Hwy. 30 towards Astoria. We want find a place to camp near the half way point to make the ride a bit more humane. We have tried to make reservations at an RV Park Louie has camped at before, but no one answers the phone. Rolling into Rainer we stop at the police station/city hall building and ask if there is anyplace we can camp in the area. Just before climbing the stairs to City Hall a policeman drives up. "Is there anyplace near here where we can camp without being rousted?" Bec asks. "If you don't mind paying, there is a county park just over hill then left off Hwy. 30," says the policeman, "But you have a good climb to get to it," he says as he eyeballs the loaded tandem.

When we find the Hudson County Park we are pleasantly surprised. It is a good-sized park filled with kids playing soccer. The campground is nestled in the trees right next to the football games so we have great entertainment for the night. The hosts are packing up to leave so they give us all the firewood we can carry for our evening fire. There is only one other camper in the park, and he is in an old RV. He says hello to us but that is about the extent of our conversation. After watching the games, we listen to country music on our small radio and Louie fusses with the jug we are using to keep the insulin on ice. He fashions a way to carry it on the front of the tandem that reminds him of a Saint Bernard.

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

Today's ride takes us into Fort Stevens. Along the way we see the oddest contraption, a bike made into a lawnmower. It looks as if it might work, but we are not quite sure. It is fun to look at and speculate about. There are lots of trucks on the road today and a couple of them buzz us. One truck pulls off the road right in front of us and the driver gets out and yells something at us. Oh, no! We try to avoid him and pull out into the road to go around. He hops in his truck and takes off. We brace ourselves for a good buzzing, but he just pulls around us and stops in front again. This time he gets out and waves his arms and makes us stop. Louie says, "What's up buddy?" Bec braces for what might be coming next. The driver waves a piece of paper at us and in a very thick Russian accent says, "Where Knappa?" He is lost! He cannot speak much English. My goodness. Bec takes out her bike map and shows him where we are and where Knappa is and points the direction. He says, "Gas!" He must be low on gas and needs to get to Knappa where he can get some. Someone had drawn him a map, but it was very crude. After he understands which way to go and how far he waves at us as he hops back in his truck. We were expecting the worst, but the poor guy just needed to know where he was.

At the hiker-biker campsite in Fort Stevens State Park we meet Ken from Cathlamet. He is tall and lanky. His face is lined from all his days in the sun, but his manner is relaxed. He tells us he works at the marina and had got the itch to do a ride. He says he has been touring these roads for 30 years. He must have been using the same bike all this time because it looks as if it might be 30 years old, too. Ken also had a mean looking walking stick tied to his BOB trailer. We share stories and tell him about our strange encounter with the trucker today. He says he had trouble with raccoons last night and had to chase them away from his food. He enjoys our story about the raccoon who likes to feast on the goldfish in our pond while doing the backstroke and another about Louie's friend who had a tug-of-war with one over his pannier full of food.

We wander over to the Ranger talk about cougars. We have seen a cougar close up on Mount Adams when doing a ride with a friend. It walked right in front of us! We are most interested in hearing about them. We learn that they can jump 40 feet! They are found wherever deer live, their primary source of food. Generally they don't like to eat people unless they are very hungry. We must taste awful! But, they do bite us before spitting us out. If we are confronted by one we are supposed to try to look big and fight back. We are glad the one that walked in front of us did not jump on us!

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

We are back on the road with our goal being Nahalem Bay State Park. It is a bit off highway 101, but we have planned for the miles. Louie is missing donuts and Bec is missing her nice soft bed. When we arrive at the hiker/biker campsite it is almost filled. One woman is traveling alone. We invite her to the nice warm fire we build, but she politely declines. She is a hiker, but has a ton of stuff. We notice that she is dressed in motorcycle clothes so we speculate that she left her motor bike outside the park and walked in to save money, but we are not sure. She asks us how we got our sleeping bags so small. Louie shows her the compression bags, and she marvels at the contraption and says "I've got to get me one of those!" Across the way from us is a young couple. The woman has pink hair and a long skirt layered over other clothes. They don't have a tent, just sleeping bags. The woman spends the time reading and writing and the young man lies about. We meet Robert from New Mexico. He is taking a day off from riding. Robert started from Seattle and his plan is to ride all the way to San Francisco. He shows us his compact camp stove and we show him ours that works off pine cones and sticks. He joins us at the fire. We invite another cyclist that arrives late. He declines and sets up his camp and eats in the dark. He says he will be seeing us at Cape Lookout because he is headed there in the morning just as we are. We enjoy our conversation with Robert and hope to meet up with him again.

Friday, September 14th, 2007

We press onward to Cape Lookout State Park following the bike path out of Fort Stevens back to Hwy. 101. We pass the young couple without a tent and see they are trying to thumb a ride. We stop at a bakery in Wheeler to get Louie his donuts. When we stop, Bec makes some notes in her book, frightening a woman half to death. She thinks Bec is giving her a ticket. As soon as she realizes that Bec is just an innocent bike rider not a meter maid, she bursts into laughter. Several other women come out of the shop to check out the commotion and join her in laughter.

We see the young couple a few times today. They wave as we pass them and they tell us that they get rides. They are getting down the road as good as we are.

We stop at the Tillamook cheese factory so Bec can get some Ice Cream. If Louie gets donuts, Bec gets some sugar-free Ice Cream! While licking her cone, the group of older people that we passed on the trail comes up to say hello and ask about our bike ride. They cannot imagine doing what we are doing, though one of them did some riding in his past.

We stop in at the grocery store for provisions and Louie talks to a couple of guys from Germany. They love riding the coast. We see them one more time in camp, but they are busy wandering about taking pictures and exploring so we don't get a chance to talk to them. We see the tall thin man who came in late last night in camp tonight. Again, we invite him to the fire, but he just wants to eat and go to bed. We meet a couple that is hiking the whole Oregon Coast trail. It is hard going for them because the trail is poorly marked and washed out in places. It is difficult for them to get to services. The woman says that she has to be back at work in a couple of weeks, but the man is going to continue his hike. They do not know if they will be able to complete the whole trail.

We love the hiker-biker camp at Cape Lookout because it is so close to the ocean and wind protected by a stand of trees. We are treated to a spectacular pink, red, and orange sunset. We walk the nature trail and the beach. Louie remembers being at this park when he was a child. When he was here, back then, the tide was so high that waves were crashing on the edge where the beach was suposed to begin. The sight scared the pants off Louie and his father.

In the morning we wake up and a chipmunk is in one of our trash bags. Louie shoos him away. He climbs into the tree above us and begins to throw green pinecones at us! Good thing we have our helmets available.

Saturday, September 15th, 2007

We are headed towards D-lake Campground this morning. A deer jumps out in the road in front of both us and the car coming up alongside us. All of us freak out about it, including the deer. We try to get its picture, but it did not want it taken so it disappears into the brush. We see a black bunny alongside the road and wonder how it will get along since its camouflage is not up to snuff.

We get some good climbs that result in great views of the ocean, today. The sun is warm but the air cools considerably when it goes behind a cloud or gets stuck in the trees. We stop at the Laundromat and meet the park hosts who are also doing laundry. The woman tells Bec that she has stored all her stuff and now lives in a motor home and does not miss her stuff at all. She is about ready to give it all away so she does not have to store it anymore. She loves her new life and never wants to go back to living in a home.

Tonight we find huckleberries everywhere in the park and pick a whole bunch for breakfast. Paul from Michigan arrives just as we are finishing up our dinner. We invite him to our campfire. Louie and Paul have a great deal in common because Paul used to work in a bike shop. He knows Ira who is a bike messenger from Portland and who sat in on some of the Portland Bicycle Advisory Meetings that Bec used to attend. We enjoy his company very much and hope we get to see him some more. He also does RAGBRAI every year with the Cutters team. Perhaps we can meet him again, there.

Sunday, September 16th, 2007

Beachside State Park is the destination for today. We have some rain in the morning, but it is more like a mist than an Oregon Coast rain storm. As we are riding, a woman waves us down and insists that we visit the art exhibit of one of her professors. We take her up on it and really enjoy the art show. He makes these incredible sculptures out of rock and steel. They are heavy and sell for around $1400 to $3000 so we buy a 50-cent post card and call that good.

We meet another couple who are riding Bike Fridays that they just bought. The man has ridden a lot, but the woman is struggling a bit. She is wearing sandals and he is wearing tennis shoes. We talk for a bit and give them some pointers. They are doing about 30 miles a day. We wonder how they will do in the more dicey areas.

When we get to camp, we see Paul! He has bought a huge stack of firewood. After dinner he brings it and Mark over to our site. We invite some other cyclists over to the fire, but they just want to crawl inside their tents and rest. The rains begin, but we are all warm by the fire. Mark rode across the country and is now riding up the coast to Astoria and then to Portland. He just graduated from College as a mechanical engineer and is having a great adventure before he has to start working. He tells us about a scary stay he had in a park in Pueblo. Other than that, he has been having a great time. Bec wants to make a shelter out of the picnic tables to keep out the rain but the men will have no part of it. She wishes she had a tarp and some string to at least keep the rain off her head. But, we all talk way into the night exchanging stories and have a great time in spite of the showers that pass through.

Monday, September 17th, 2007

We are riding towards Winchester Bay. Bec shows Paul where it is on the map in hopes of catching up with him again. We meet another cranky person who yells at us as we pass through Yachats. "Stay on the bike path!" the man yells. Well, Hwy 101 is a route not a path and we had to cross the fog line to go around this bozo and a couple of trash cans that were in the road. I suppose we could have run over him and knocked over the trash cans in our effort to stay on the path. We have discussion with each other as to whether the area in which we are riding is really a road shoulder or a path. We conclude it is a road shoulder because there are no bike symbols in it and it is comes furnished with parked cars, trashcans, and people. Ugh! 99% of the people that we meet, see, or pass us are wonderful happy folks. But that cranky 1% can be very unnerving.

It is a great ride today. The sun is out. We come across a blue checked tablecloth laying along side the road. It is plastic covered so it would make that nice tarp that Bec was wishing for in the rain the other day. It is in new condition so we pick it up.

We see Paul, who shares some of his fudge with Louie at the Sea Lion Caves. We catch up with a kid who appears all of 15 or 18 riding his bike with his dog in a trailer behind the bike. The kid yells "Don't use gas!" as we pass. Louie turns around to chat. The kid proudly tells us that he uses no oil whatsoever and he would not even hitch hike. He says he walks his bike up hills to conserve calories. He tells us he rode all the way from Bend in four days as he grins from ear to ear in clothes that really need to find a laundry. His T-shirt is hand lettered with his beliefs and philosophy of life. We wish him the best and ride on.

We are very happy with the Windy Cove county Park. They only charge us $5.00 and we have this great view of the marina. Shortly after setting up camp a siren goes off. We think there is going to be a tsunomi so we check with a passerby and ask him about it. "The Coast Guard blows their sirens off and on to practice rescues. They go out and capsize their boat in the breakers. Don't worry about it." the guy says.

We are having tacos tonight and hope that Paul can find his way to the park. The young man Bec spoke with earlier comes over with a huge plate of crab. He says they have more than they can eat. What a treat. Paul, unfortunately, ended up in the state park up the way, missing out on the taco and crab feast.

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

We are on our way to Bullards Beach State Park. We are crossing the McCullough Bridge just North of North Bend. It is the only bridge that we come to that has to be walked. We are half way across when Paul comes whizzing by in the road. He hollers at us," Get off the sidewalk!" He waits for us grinning from ear to ear at the bottom of the hill. He tells us that he got honked at and then yelled at by a truck going the other way! He knew he was supposed to walk his bike on the sidewalk, but he did not want to do the 20-minute walk. We tell him about the crab feast that he missed. He tells us that he met another couple, John and Katie, who are about our age. They are both flight attendants and are riding down the coast. He met them last night at the State Park. We rode together for a bit then parted ways, Paul is going to take the Adventure Cycling route around Coos Bay. We head for the Pancake Mill and have some delicious muffins and cinnamon rolls before starting back out.

Once at Bullards Beach State Park we talk to a man who owns a pickup and camper. He tells us all about it and what pitfalls to avoid. He likes it way better than a motor home or trailer. We chat with some folks who are all camping together with their motor homes. We decide right then that we should be camping with them because they are all having steak, corn on the cob, roasted potatoes and cookies for dessert! Louie promises Bec some pork chops, corn and potatoes tomorrow.

There is a camp program tonight and it's indoors! The subject is the Coquille Watershed. We are impressed with the powerpoint presentation and learn a lot about the history of the area. Usually State Park programs are short and sweet. Not this one. After an hour we decide to walk out as the program turns into a politically and emotionally charged town hall meeting. Whew!

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007

Our home tonight will be Humbug Mountain State Park. Before we leave Bullards Beach we take a ride out to the Coquille River Lighthouse that is being restored. The keepers tell us all about lighthouses and how they worked and the people that ran them. We stop at a coffee shop in old town Bandon and meet Richard from Mt. Shasta. He used to be a runner, but now he rides a bike because he tore his hamstring. He really likes biking better than running. He asks all about the tandem and our tour.

Tonight we meet John and Katie from Texas. We tell them that we have heard about them from Paul. The are a very nice couple who do flight attendant work so that they can have a lot of time off to ride their bikes. John tells us about riding in Big Bend in Nothwest Texas and North Dakota. John says, "The people thre are great." He really like the way they talked. In fact, he liked it so much that he could do a pretty good impression of the dialect. It gave us all a chuckle. We are using our new tablecloth, which impresses everyone who passes our camp. Katie liked it a lot. We think it adds class to our campsite and decide to continue to use it. The only thing missing now is some string in case it rains. Then we could tie it up like a tarp. As promised tonights dinner is pork chops! Louie cooks them over the fire using the corn cobs to smoke the meat just like Pork Chop Man at RAGBRAI.

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

Today is our last day. We are riding to Harbor wich is just south of Brookings. There we will pick up a U-Haul truck in the morning to take us home to Portland. We get beautiful views of rocky beaches all day long. We find the string alongside the road that we could use to tie up the tablecloth into a tarp, but do not pick it up. Tonight, we all meet at the Harris Beach campground, Paul, John and Katie and a new friend, Richard. We gather around the fire for revelry and stories. Richard tells us he is 27, but he looks more like 72. He has been out on the road since 2003. He used to get a motel room once a month, but now he does not bother. He likes the open road better. He tells us about a woman we saw with a huge pack. She travels about, too, from one place to another, just like Richard. Richard is never sure where he is going to go, but he just likes to go. He is very intelligent and well read. He was going to go to California, but maybe not because they do not have hiker biker campgrounds. He will have to do a lot of boon docking there. He says he spends about $14 a day. We spend $40 to $50 a day for the two of us. We can do better, apparently. We discuss Bec's left shoe study and everyone joins in with their roadside garbology studies. We learn that the primary roadside oddity in Mississippi is men's underwear! Others used to find diapers but not so much any more. On this trip, Bec found only two more left shoes than right. We think that is because people put their shoes on the top of their car to change them when walking on the beach, losing them as they forget to put them in their cars when they drive off leading to a more even distribution of left and right shoes.

This is our last evening, which makes us sad. But, we have things to do at home before we head out again. In the morning we give everyone hugs and head out to find our U-haul. On the drive back up the coast we see all our friends riding, Paul, John and Katie, Richard, the couple on the Bike Fridays, and many others riding. It looks as if they are all riding in groups. We realize that it is because each group left a State Park and is down the road about the same distance.

On this ride we learned a lot about the people that tour the coast on bikes and on foot. Some are in an endless loop, looking for something but never finding it. Some are having an adventure, some a vacation. For some it is new and exciting. For others it is familiar and welcome. It is easy to travel down the coast because of all the state parks with their hiker biker camping and all of the facilities close by. It also presents the rider/hiker with spectacular scenery not to be found in any other state. We are going to come back and do it again and again. We are hooked.