Great day for riding north

But, alas, we're riding south. Strong sustained headwinds of 20-25 mph kept us working hard today. The good news is that the rain that was forecast for today never found us! And, the best part is that we had a spectacularly beautiful ride on the central coast of Oregon. It wouldn't have been nearly so dramatic without all that wind, either. But, wow, are glad we decided to ignore the forecast and ride anyway today, even if we did ride only 25 miles.

When we left our Motel 6 to have breakfast at Pig 'n Pancake early this morning it was miserable -- wet, cold, rainy, and very windy. We pretty much decided after we got back to the motel that we were staying in today. I talked to the desk clerk, and she said "this is December weather here, not May!"

We watched the weather forecast again, checked the internet, looked at our maps for possible stopping places. Just as I was going down to tell the clerk we were staying another night, I looked outside. No rain. And there was even the hint of sun behind one of those clouds. I ran back to tell George. Within about 3 minutes, we were packed and ready to go.

In spite of the wind (didn't someone tell me the wind was always out of the north here? Right. Just like the one who told me if we went north to south it would all be downhill!) it was one of (if not THE) most beautiful day we've had for the raw beauty of nature.

Somewhere along Route 101 between Lincoln City and Newport we came upon a place called Boiler Bay. The water in this area churned like a boiling pot of water. It was powerful. The waves were probably 10-12 feet and breaking out at sea. It was an awesome site to behold. The entire Depoe Bay State Park area was breathtaking. And then we took a little detour off 101 onto the Otter Crest Loop, a small road that stays close to the water, and goes down to one lane plus a bike lane. The views were the perfect combination of coastal rainforest, moss-covered trees, with rocky coast and hard pounding surf. Quintessential Oregon coast, from all I can tell. We noticed a house built high up on a promontory 500 feet above the water. Unbelievable. Our little road took us there, and it turns out it is a little gift shop called The Lookout at Cape Foulweather -- aptly named. But today, the foul weather is far outdone by the spectacular beauty of this place. Someone knew that about this place when they built it in 1930, as a gift shop. It was taken over briefly by the Coast Guard during WWII, but has otherwise been in continuous existence as a gift shop. We have no room for things, so I couldn't buy anything, but someday I'm going to come back here and buy myself one of those Cape Foulweather caps they had there.

I asked the woman minding the shop if she had to pay to work there. She said she should have to. We asked how far it was to Mo's Clam Chowder, and she informed us to our delight that it only about a mile and a half down the road -- all downhill. We had a great lunch at Mo's, then went right outside to see The Devil's Punchbowl. Liz and Duncan had told us it was not to be missed. It is a giant round rock formation, hollowed out, with giant holes at the bottom where the tide forces water into the big bowl. It is a ferociously churning cauldron displaying the contest between water and rock that define this endlessly fascinating coast. We were there at low tide. I'm told it's even more dramatic at high tide.

We rode another eight miles or so into Newport, where we headed straight for Bike Newport. We needed a tire check as well as a couple of other little things. I had the first flat tire of the trip two days ago, and even though the roadside change went flawlessly, I was pretty sure our little hand pump had not gotten me to the 120 lbs. of pressure we're supposed to have. Great shop with very helpful people.

We met two young guys there who left Vancouver a week or two before we did. They're roughing it with camping gear, pots and pans hanging off the bikes, and the bikes are one speed. We felt like a couple of pampered babies after seeing that. We promptly came and checked into our (cheap) motel, after a brief ride through the local beatnik area and past the club where we hear that tonight is jazz night. We put our feet up, checked our email (none) and thought about what a great day it has been.

And we almost missed it all because of a little wind.