Netarts, OR

A real house with a kitchen, laundry, bathroom and a computer! We are staying at Doug's mom-in-law's house. Unfortunately she is in the hospital so we do not get to say hi. We had salmon for dinner that Doug caught yesterday with his brother-in-law, Jim. Really good. Ev's doing laundry and we plan to find some ice cream later.

Yesterday we rode from Astoria to Nehalem Bay. Ah, to have the wind to our backs and be riding down the Oregon Coast. Such a pleasure.  There were still hills. There are always hills. In fact, we passed over 20,000 feet in vertical climbing for the trip. We rode along the promenade (boardwalk) in Seaside. Many people were out and about and on the beach. Not a SoCal beach day for it was cold and overcast, but they all seemed to enjoy. We stopped for coffee and a treat at Cannon Beach. Cute town with lots of small quaint shops. Our book said there were places down the road to get lunch so we ventured on.

Hug Point State Park was a short downhill ride and walk to the beach. There is a small waterfall going onto the beach and some really cool caves. There is also an old section of the original Hwy 101 when it was (literally) on the beach. You had to time your journey according to the tide. You can see some of the rode just left of us in the above picture.

We never found an open store or cafe the rest of the day. We split a Cliff Bar and some Sport Beans. We were a little spent by the end of the ride. We shopped in Manzanitas just before our campground. We bought cheese, smoked oysters and beer for a late lunch or really appetizers. We also got salad makings for dinner.

The hiker biker site was right at the entrance, not far from bathrooms and showers. We earlier met Allen and Harold on the road and they showed up. We also met three girls earlier that were on the first day of a 5 day bike tour and they showed up. After Al (77 years old, riding 2000 miles this trip), a couple from the Netherlands and a guy from Germany came, there were 11 of us at the site! Great night of stories and trading advice.

Today's ride took us through Tillamook. We stopped to tour the cheese factory. Us and everybody else for it was very crowded. Doug met us there and we had lunch with him, Jim and Judy and Jim's Aunt. The "girls" and the "guys" also showed up at The Rodeo (the restaurant). Quite a scene of bikes parked along the side of  the resturaunt.

We then rode the "Three Capes Scenic Route". It's a thirteen mile ride. The first part was directly into the wind since we were heading northwest. Ugh... not hard but not very fun. Then a hard turn to the south. Yes the wind was to our backs but also up this killer 1 1/2 mile hill. All granny gear all the time. Ev really started to feel bad. Lunch was not agreeing with her. We stopped a number of times, but we made it. Doug had visited him mom-in-law and drove up to meet us at the lighthouse. We were making contingency plans if Ev could not ride again. I could ride the tandem solo, but it is a real weird ride. We saw the lighthouse and the "octupus" tree. Ev started to feel better and insisted she could do it. There were two more hills but not as bad. Hot and sweaty on the rides up and cold on the way down, we made it. Doug drove down and got his recumbent bike and met us just as we got into Netarts to show us the way. 43 miles total today.

Tomorrow is a long day; over 60 miles to Beverely Beach State Park. The tandem - recumbent train will ride again.

A sad note: With a real computer, I uploaded a couple of photos this time. We suspected, but now know, we lost all of our Vancouver pictures. Somehow they got deleted when we charged the battery. Thankfully the iPhone still has photos from those days, so all is not lost.