Day 6

Here we are in Lincoln City, Oregon at the Public Library yet again! After our last blog entry we continued day 4 by biking along the GORGEOUS 3 capes scenic bike route. It was so beautiful. We came upon a dripping waterfall, which we attempted to climb. Jason pushed Megan up the first part. Megan couldn't go up any higher, and Jason couldn't come up to meet her because there was absolutely nothing to hold on to so a mere 7 feet off the ground we had to turn around and broke into a hysterics as Jason helped Megan off the waterfall. It's one of those things you need a video of to understand just how ridiculous it was. The wind was pretty awful going around the first cape but once on the other side it was gorgeous. We climbed an incredibly steep hill (Jason finally used his lowest gear) and saw an awesome view at the top. A few substantial hills later we started descending into one of the most majestic sites we've yet to see: gorgeous blue/green ocean for miles, white beaches, rock covered beaches with people out fishing, and a luscious island in the middle of it all. We spent several miles biking around it all. Jason yelled out "WOW" and "AMAZING!" which surely sounded hilarious to the fishers as we sped by. Finally, we reached Cape Lookout around 6pm. We were told the best sites at the campground were the hiker/biker sites and sure enough. We were literally behind the first line of trees from the beach. We encountered a minor travesty when we noticed that one of the tent poles appeared to be broken. Jason suggested tying off the string and just going with the pole as is but Megan insisted that wouldn't work. As Megan went off to find the park ranger and try to get some help Jason diligently threaded the tent pole and had it completely fixed just as Megan came back with some duct tape. It was a definite Lydon moment (for those of you who would understand what that is). We cooked dinner on some rocks, watched the sunset, and listened to the waves as we fell asleep.
Day 5 began with Megan falling off her bike. Don't worry, she was actually stopped (and yes, dad, I was wearing my helmet. We both have been the entire trip). Her shoes lock into her pedals and sometimes don't come out very easily. This would be the second time this has happened. Later that day she loosened the tension on the pedals so hopefully that won't happen anymore. The first 2.7 miles of the day was an ENORMOUS hill. We were fighting the cars and giant trucks for access to the street that had no shoulder. We fought our way to the top and after lots of huffing and puffing we succeeded and had the pleasure of looking back and seeing all the area we had biked for the past couple of days. Pretty incredible. We shot down that windy (as in left right left right, not as in wind woooooosh) hill with the wind whipping in numerous directions as we made our way to the base of a little three hill ride. Up and down those hills we saw all the multi-million dollar homes we will own one day and wind surfers who would entertain us as we sip mojitos on our patio. Soon we came to the second giant hill of the day. We again made it to the peak (all 775 feet of it) and that glided down it hitting something like 40 miles per hour, CRAZY fast!!! We eventually came into Lincoln City where we told ourselves we could stay in a motel and go to the movies. We found ourselves at a Motel 6 and flopped on the bed for a while before venturing out for some dinner. We ate at a super cute little cafe and sat next to some amazingly boisterous gay men (total bears, they were adorable) who couldn't have possibly been more bourgeois though, it was hilarious. Then we were told we could find a movie theater just up the road on the left. We were so glad to be done riding our bikes for a day (we decided to mark Saturday as a day of rest) so we set off walking. Well... just up the road on the left soon became nearly 4 miles up the road. We did, eventually, make it aaaaaalllll the way there (walking that is) and got to see Transformers (INCREDIBLE, and long). After that we took a cab back to the motel 6 to fall asleep so perfectly in a delightful bed (first time in 7 nights).
This morning Megan got up early, because that's what she does, and took care of all our dirty clothes (many thanks from Jason who just slept after coughing all night). Then we began our day with some Starbucks before heading off to the library for hours of fun on the internet!!!! And here we are.
As we pulled up to this library to lock our bikes we noticed another touring bike. When we got to the internerd Jason quickly spotted the biker and said hello. She has been biking up the Pacific Coast since the southern tip of Chile FOR 2 YEARS!!! Goodness! She's trying to make it to Alaska. She's had several different buddies throughout her journey but is doing the last leg on her own. Incredible!
We forgot to mention some of the hilarious things that happened on the first few days. By far the funniest was when we first stepped onto the beach, in Cannon Beach, and Megan remembered an article she read in Vogue... or maybe People, and proceeded to tell Jason about it.
Megan: Have you seen the new Muslim bathing suit?
Jason: ... Is this a racist joke?
We now realize that it doesn't sound as funny writing it as it was in real life but we are still laughing out loud about it 4 days after the fact. There have been many good belly laughs on this trip. We've realized there's a stark difference between bike tours by oneself and tours with your bestie. The former being depressing and lonely at times when things aren't going well and the latter being hysterical when you have someone with whom to share the minor misery (ie: sore butts, scraped knees, giant hills, falling off your bike, walking 4 miles after biking all day, etc)
As we like to say everytime we're off "Next stop, St. Helens!" But for reals it will be Florence.
- Jason and Megan