West Coast of USA to Indio

Coos Bay to Port Orford

Today was a good riding day – short distance on good roads and even a tailwind that increased as the day progressed. What a treat after a few days of headwinds. The one or two long climbs were easy to handle with a breeze on my back.
It was very quiet as I left Coos Bay – Saturday morning in an industrial town tends to be like that. I wasn’t complaining and just enjoyed the peaceful ride along the slough leading to the bay proper.

 

I left on my own as the other two guys were in a different motel but we had arranged to try and meet up later. I left at my own pace and soon was in the very scenic seaport town of Bandon. Lots of places there to grab a treat and a coffee. I chose the bakery where I saw another touring bike outside. I went in to get a coffee and snack then sat down with the owner of the bike that I met outside the bakery. He's another traveller who is from Vancouver but he was originally from Turkey before moving to Canada. He is riding down to San Diego and then turning east to ride the southern bike route to Florida – very ambitious! Due to the amount of time that this would take, I asked if he was retired and he replied “No, just jobless!” So we agreed on “semi-retired!”
I saw a few more touring cyclists today too, but none of the ones from yesterday? Must be faster than me!

Bandon is a wonderful stop for anyone travelling down the coast and well worth a visit to see its old town area and harbour. Obviously a good place for fishing expeditions and fresh seafood.

 

I waited in Bandon for a while and chatted with the fellow from Vancouver, hoping to see any sign of Scott or Bob, no luck, so I saddled up and moved on south down 101.
Riding along, it was nice to dawdle along at my own pace and stop for a few photos here and there. Lunch stop was in the very small town of Langlois, which consists of a restaurant, grocery store, post office, coffee shop all in one building and a wool and yarn shop across the street (US101), not a heck of lot else! Nevertheless, it was a good place to park and eat my lunch while I watched the world go/drive by from the comfortable bench outside the store.

 

Sstill no sign of the other two, so I moved on again and pedalled to my stop of Port Orford, 85km from where I had started today.
The motel office had a note explaining that the office was closed until a little later in the afternoon, but a handy pub next door made up for the short wait – very convenient! Of course the others showed up not long after I ordered my beer, so we had some refreshments before checking in for our rooms.
Port Orford is another great little seaport town where we savoured some splendid seafood after we had cleaned up and rested for a short while.
Tomorrow will be a really short day – in reality a rest day is near but we need to make a short hop to allow for decent distances between future stopping points, so tomorrow will be a sort of rest day.

 

That’s it for today – when it’s good, it’s really good!

 

Some more pics at... THIS ALBUM

 

More tomorrow.

AdamK and (Wind in my eyes again – when is he going to get me my goggles?) Basil

 

Port Orford to Gold Beach

As I mentioned yesterday, today was more or less a rest day to break up a potential longer mileage day tomorrow. Now the distance and terrain for tomorrow is within my comfort zone. So only 48km today but some of the best of the Oregon Coast was at hand today and made for a day of dawdling mixed with taking in the magnificent views that this section has to offer.

 

 

Today being Sunday, it was fitting that the plan for a shorter day would allow for a leisurely breakfast and we got together to do just that. By the time that I hit the road it was 9:30am already, but no problem as the skies were completely clear, the sun was warm and bright, a tailwind was there so I just rode and listened to the surf and enjoyed the views around every corner.
Scott left ahead of me as he had been suffering with a tender Achilles tendon and wanted to take it nice and slow – wise move, as even today’s short mileage was not short of the inevitable coastal climbs. I left with Bob being somewhere behind me. I kept stopping to take photos and eventually Bob caught up with me and we more or less rode the rest of the route together.
There were some great views when we rode the Cape Perpetua section on that windy day out of Depoe Bay, but it was hard to appreciate them on that particular day. But the views on today’s section were even better and are worth a trip down the Oregon Coast just to see how the beauty of this coast has fascinated so many other travellers in the past.

 

 

There were some nice treed sections and other sights on the route, but the jewel was the coast. I stopped at Arizona Beach for a quick break  – not much there other than a dinosaur museum and gift shop – beyond that there is just road between Port Orford and Gold Beach, our stop for today.

 

 

I don’t think that Basil liked this fellow – he was more enthralled with these two…

 

 

We arrived almost together and compared notes on today’s wonderful ride over a beer. Even Scott’s tender ankle seems to have improved, so all is well for another day.

 

Some more pics at... THIS ALBUM

 

More tomorrow,

AdamK & (I didn’t like that big sucker!) Basil

 

Gold Beach, OR to Crescent City, CA

Yes finally after two States, welcome to California. It feels really good to get over the Oregon/California State border and travel some new roads. I have ridden to the border before but that is all, so all this will be new territory for me.
We set off more or less together this morning and then we met up on the first hill of the morning almost immediately after leaving Gold Beach – 5km of uphill to over 800ft is a good wake-up call for sure! But at a steady cadence we all survived that without any problems. Very little else of note on the route from Gold Beach to Brookings other than some more good views of the beach areas and the Rock formations off the coast as we climbed and descended many times on the first 45km of the day’s ride. It was a roly-poly section that made Brookings a welcome rest stop.

 

We did have to cross the highest bridge on the Oregon Coast too this morning – the Thomas Creek Bridge is over 345ft above the beach below and stopping to look down to the beach below is spectacular!

 

We rode into Brookings and searched out a second breaky before continuing on to the highlight of the day, crossing the State Line. Not much in Brookings to hold one’s interest – it seems to have grown since my last ride through the town. But maybe that’s just my memory? Lots of stores along a lengthy strip-mall section of 101.

 

Scott was in front a bit and had missed the official entry sign, but Bob and myself took full advantage of the moment! No trace of my previous scribblings on the post of the sign, so I left a new mark to add to all the others of travellers that had stopped here to do just the same thing. Although not a mountain summit, still a destination of significance for cyclists.
Not far after the border, we had to do the obligatory inspection from the California agricultural inspectors that all vehicles entering California must do – no problem there at all.

The weather was fickle this morning, overcast with a very slight mist, but as soon as we crossed the State Line into California, the sun came out and we basked in the warmer riding temperatures that we had lucked into – actually, the weather forecast for the next five days is that it will be excellent conditions, good wind direction and temperatures in the mid to high seventies – no complaints here!
Not long after riding south from the border on 101, we saw the sign for the “Pacific Coast Bike Route” which took us off the shoulder of 101 and onto some lovely country roads through agricultural communities. It was almost akin to being dropped into the Fraser Valley area of the BC Lower Mainland. We stopped in Fort Dick at a small grocery/restaurant where there were a few other cyclists glad of the single opportunity to refuel since coming into California.

 

That was a very pleasant alternative to 101 all the way to Crescent City 90km from our starting point of Gold Beach today.

 

Some more pics at... THIS ALBUM

 

More Tomorrow,

AdamK & (California? This is all new to me!) Basil