Stats: Coos Bay, OR - Cape Blanco State Park - 61.2 miles; 164 total miles.
Because it's Sunday, and because we have a big ol' church family down here in North Bend, we really wanted to take the time to worship God in the morning. While staying the night with Carter and Amber, I asked them if they normally have cycle tourists stay over and worship in the morning "No, never, he said" Well, super. Either we're very pious :) Or very stupid.
After worship got out (12:15), we were sent on our way with a 'tour de Coos' itenerary of where to stop at everyone's favorite food joints. Super good advice, since food touring is just about my favorite part of the experience!
But things didn't go quite as planned... Early in the morning, while loading up our bikes to ride to church, I (Ben) tweaked my knee stepping up on a boulder. Immediately a sharp pain shot through my leg, followed by an audible popping sound everytime my knee bent. The ride to church was very painful. (In fact, this knee injury reminds me of when I chipped my tooth rafting down the Deschutes river; a story for another day)
During worship, I iced my knee, and committed to being kind to my knees today. After leaving church, our first stop was "Fisherman's Grotto" in Charleston. A lovely fish and chips place, where the owner IS a fisherman, and his catch supplies the restaurant (literally located right off the dock!) I stupidly asked if the tuna was fresh.
While the fish 'n chips were ohmygoodness good, we pulled out at almost 3pm (with still over 50 miles to accomplish). This was stupid. Really stupid. The big climb of the day was right after Charleston, and our full bellies, combined with ridiculous grades meant that we faced the real possibility of re-visiting our lunch. We invented a barf-o-meter scale; from 1-10, and encouraged each other by calling out what number we were (8, 9, 10 represent imminent potential for the technicolored yawn).
After realizing what a late start we have had to our day, we knuckled down and committed to fewer breaks than usual. We *needed* to get to our campsite before dark. The hill kept climbing higher and higher until we entered a fog bank. No visibility, blind corners, rough roads, and the threat of 2nd helpings of fish all worked together to make our progress very slow. Probably averaged around 9 or 8 mph.
After about 20 miles in the fog bank (which Eric was enthralled with), we descended into the city of Bandon. And we were met with beautiful views that we had NO time to stop and enjoy. If it weren't for Murphy's insistence on stopping, we would have just pressed on. Just like Murphy to squander our time...
After enjoying the view in Bandon, we rode - nay we flew to our destination, Cape Blanco; in a vane attempt to beat sunset.
We learned a few things today:
We learned a few things today:
1. 'Cape' always means 'Big hill overlooking the ocean.' So we should stop being surprised by them. Even if we rode off route to camp at one.
2. Everytime the Adventure Cycling map takes us off 101 the traffic decreases, but the roads deteriorate, and the elevations are usually significant. So, chase these alternates on your own risk.
3. Pejorative means 'belittling, derogatory, or disparaging.' And for the record, I did *not* use this word correctly. But I was very close.
Here's the explanation for the 'word of the day, from Ben:' I get tired. When I get tired, I forget normal words. So my vocabulary expands, and sometimes I may, or may not know the meaning of the words I'm using. So it's become a fun game to find what word I'm using, and to determine if I'm using it in the right context. Here's the tally so far: Day 1: Ubiquitous. I thought it meant unique. It means almost exactly the opposite. Day 2: Adulation. I thought it meant to give praise and adoration to someone. I got it right (although Kim looked up Adolation, and found a completely *different* definition in the urban dictionary). Day 3: Pejorative. I thought it was more closely related to implicating yourself in a lie. So, I think I get half-credit for this one...
We rolled into Cape Blanco shortly after 10pm. Set up camp, bathed, and then went to bed. Oh, wait. I'm the only one in the crew that took the time to bath. Ugh, and I'm the caboose. *here's to hoping for a tailwind*
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