After a good night's sleep, I spent a leisurely morning with my studies and a good cup of coffee. Met Randy for breakfast, and we were off by 9:00 am. I felt much more rested and excited about today's ride since we were re-tracing parts of the 2012 Transam ride.
It was quite cloudy and cool. The first 5 miles or so were along a fairly flat 2 lane highway. Then we began a long slow climb into the Van Duzer Forest Corridor. This was a beautiful stretch of highway bordered by large pine trees on both sides, with views of hills and mountains in the distance. We were finally rewarded with a nice downhill cruise after approximately 10-12 miles into Rose Lodge.
There we got off the highway onto the North Bank Rd for approximately 3 miles. This is one of my favorite roads to date. Beautiful wild flowers of every hue - white, red, pink, blue, yellow, orange - you name it. No traffic. Basically, a lovely country road and no hills, so we cruised along. At one point, I came upon a couple of friendly horses who seemed to be enjoying the day.
At the end of the road, we turned left and stopped at the Otis Cafe for a snack. This cafe is a must stop. I ate breakfast here in 2012, and it was nothing short of a culinary experience. And their breads and pastries are homemade wonders. So, for my snack, I had a slice of their apple pie a la mode. I won't even begin to describe it - just take a look. Randy had a good looking walnut cinnamon roll with milk.
The next phase of the ride was a 10 mile stint called Slab Creek Rd. It is essentially a 5 mile climb through more forested areas bordered with those windflowers. At the top, another 5 mile cruise. We saw at most two cars the entire time, so had the road to ourselves. The funny thing was that I had remembered this Slab Creek ride as being much more difficult, albeit beautiful. However, I had ridden it within the first few days of the 2012 ride when I was still getting my bike legs and bearings. Funny - now it is a fun ride.
When we reached the end of Slab Creek Rd., we came upon two men on fully loaded touring bikes. I almost jumped with joy. We have seen few other riders. Earlier today, we had seen a couple of riders on a recumbent bike, but that was on the main highway and they were going in the opposite direction. These two riders were from Great Britain and Germany, headed for San Francisco. We chatted for a few minutes, then continued onto to Highway 101. Shortly thereafter, we saw a lone woman on a touring bike. She smiled and gave us a broad wave.
We faced some strong winds the next 10-15 miles to Pacific City. Off in the distance we began to see the Pacific Ocean. Also saw some marshlike land and water inlets, including one where a blue heron stood fishing.
We rolled into Pacific City around 2 pm, and found a lovely little motel. I had been cold most of the day, and took a hot bath after cleaning the bike. Settled in for a leisurely afternoon, then walked down to the Sports Pub and Grub for dinner. Randy had opted for Mexican take out earlier so he could watch the Arizona baseball team play in the final game of the College World Series.
Tomorrow we continue riding up the Oregaon coast. Looks like temps in the 60's, and I suspect it will somewhat windy, so I will dress in layers.
