Day 2: Hail to the ... hail

Today was mixed with ups and downs (pun intended.) It rained (again) most of the day, and the views were not as spectacular, but I met a new friend along the way, and am writing this from a heated yurt.

The day started, as most days do, with me needing to pee. However, it was raining outside and I’m a wimp, so I waited for an hour for the rain to stop before rushing out of my tent and beating my 50 yard dash time to the bathroom. (It was worth it.) more relaxed, I tore down camp, with most things damp, and got everything on the bike. After a brief chat with my neighbor (an older gentlemen from Portland that was fishing along the coast in a pretty cool motor home) I was off back on the 101.

My bike in front of my camp? Looks like it might be a nice day, right?

My first stop was at Parkside, a restaurant recommended by the lady that checked me in at the campground the previous night. The food was delicious, and the restaurant host very talkative, which was nice. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a huge appetite, so I wasn’t able to finish almost half of the food.

Almost immediately after leaving Parkside I ran into Austin! Not the city, but a guy on his own bike trip. Austin is peddling down to L.A., across the south side of the country, back north along the east coast, and west again along the north side of the country. He used to be the lead brewer at Buoy Brewing (where Dad and I ate dinner the night before our trip). He’s using this trip as a chance to meet lots of brewers around the country, brew some beers, make some connections, and have a good time. He plans to open a brewery after he’s done with this trip (which I’ll definitely go check out! He seems pretty good at making beers.) You’ll hear more about him later, as we spent this rest of the day biking together, and will likely bike tomorrow together as well.

Austin and my first stop was, of course, the Tillamook Factory. It turned out to be a great stop, as we got tons of great food from it. That is, free cheese. I also got some ice cream (of course, how could I not) and we both got a beer. Austin bring a brewer, I asked him for suggestions which he humbly obliged. It may have only been 10:30am, but we drank down our beers (oops!)

Unfortunately, most of the rest of the day was spent inland. So I only have a few good Coast pictures. I should’ve taken more inland pictures, but didn’t today! Sorry! Needless to say, Oregon is beautifully green, and has plenty of water.

During the riding the weather was...poor.

I’m not sure if you can see from the above picture, but the road is covered in hail. Because it was hailing! Ow. My hand is raw, not from sunburn of windburn, but from being hit by hail while biking.

Both Austin and my final destination for the day was Lincoln City, so we hung out together for the entire day. Conversation ranged from politics to the mechanics of brewing, to life. And everything in between. In 45 miles of biking together you’ve got plenty of time to talk about whatever it is you want to talk about.

Upon arrival into Lincoln City Austin and I were both pooped. Austin had woken up at 4 to get started, and I’m just tired. The final ride into Lincoln City was hill after hill (thus the up and downs for the day) and it was exhausting. Luckily, we made it to camp by 5, and after and amphibious assault on the campground (the entrance road was totally flooded), we found the camp host and....reserved a yurt!! And I’m super pumped to be writing this from a yurt right now. All my gear is drying out.

After a beautiful shower, and changing into my even attire, Austin and I went out on the town. Which is to say we had an amazing dinner at a Thai place (it was delicious) and then had some beers at a bar. The bar was surprising progressive for the town.

After beer 6 for the day, it was time to hit the hay. We went back to the beautiful yurt, and went to bed. All in all, another great time. I was super thankful to hosts at the campground.

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Apparently there’s still a blockbuster here.

I’m literally about to fall asleep, while I write this, so I’m signing off. Another 50-70 miles tomorrow! Some with Austin! Some not. Good night!