Day 41, September 11th 2007 (Arcadia Beach, OR to Beverly Beach, OR)

My night last night could have worked out a lot better. I started out last night in the prime location, on the beach. I was told that high tide would probably come around 1:30-2 am. At about 11:30 pm I woke up because I could hear the waves and they sounded as if they were coming closer. I opened my tent and my attention instantly went away from the ocean waves and straight towards the sky. I had never seen the stars and the space so clear. It was incredible that even with all of the foggy mist from the ocean that I was able to see such a clear sky. After staring into space for a few minutes I remembered why I had woken up in the first place. The waves were approaching my tent and I was fairly high up on the beach as it was. It was time to move. I grabbed my bike, gear, and my tent and I headed up the hill to find a new place to call home for the night. I looked around and I could not see a single good place to pitch the tent. There was a large sign that read "no camping" at the top of the hill, the same one I had seen last night. I knew that if I put my tent anywhere it would be as light as day for any cars going by. On top of the whole deal there wasn't a single place to put a tent besides on gravel or on the road. I had no place to sleep except for one spot. Directly in front of me were two bathrooms. It was the only place that I could see that wouldn't involve me getting run over or washed up by the ocean waves. The floor was clean, the room was warm, I had a lock, my own personal stall, and I couldn't have smelled much worse than the bathroom did. I was able to fit the bike in the little room with me and I spent the remaining six hours of the night sleeping on the bathroom floor. I had gone from the most prestine spot, the beach, to the worst spot imaginable, the bathroom floor. From the best view of the sky to the best view of a bathroom ceiling. Although it was the most comfortable sleeping on a concrete floor, it was much better than being washed up by an ocean wave. After spending an incredible evening from two completely different envirionments, I awoke to a new surrounding in the outdoors. It was 6:30 and about 45-50 degrees. The sun I had seen yesterday was gone and showed no sign of coming back. It was overcast and there was a thick fog in the air. I couldn't see further than 20 feet in front of me and I could tell that this was the beginning to a good day. For the first 30 miles I had a couple of good climbs that were supposed to have great views of the ocean. Instead when I climbed to the top of the coastal hills all that I could see was a thick fog in every direction. I pulled over to get some breakfast and figured that if I waited for an hour that maybe the fog would pass. It did but I was right back on the road with the temperature still around 50 degrees. After riding in above 90 degree heat for so long I never thought I would find myself complaining about it being too cold, but here I was. I pedalled away and as the day approache noon it had started to brighten up a little. The sun was starting to come out along with some blue skies. I was able to catch up with a few riders on the road who were headed south bound to Lincoln City. I was going to try and get myself a little further south than they were going to ride, but I figured I could ride the portion to Lincoln City with them. They were apparently part of a 38 person group ride for the American Lung Association. With three support vehicles tagging along they weren't required to carry any of there own gear. They had started in Seattle and were headed south to San Francisco. I rode a couple from the group for a good 15 miles and was amazed to find out some pretty cool things. Although one of the riders was from Texas, he had done a lot of cycling through the summer. From RAGBRAI to a bike ride across Minnesota to what he was currently doing now. He wasn't continually cycling around the country, but he was still putting in a lot of miles and was seeing the country by way of the bicycle. After cruising with the couple for a little while, I headed out to see the rest of highway 101. It was such a beautiful ride and after I had just started to really enjoy it, the clouds started to roll back overhead. I rode the rest of the day still enjoying the views but with it being so overcast I knew it could have been better. The last 15 miles it was slightly misting outside and I couldn't wait to set up camp. On the map of the Oregon coast that Terry had given me earlier I was able to see that there was a biker/hiker campsite just up ahead. The cool part about this type of campsite was that I only had to pay 4 dollars and was able to use a nice hot showeer and had restrooms at my access. I showed up and it was starting to get dark, but there were still a few people that were up. Three other bikers had cycled about 60 miles to get to the point we were at and had decided to call it a day. They were all headed towards San Francisco and although separate from eachother they had started at different spots in Washington. I chatted with the cyclists for a little while before I started to call it a night. It was nice to be able to share the journey with other people on the same route. I was looking forward to seeing what else might lay ahead on this route of 101.
Daily mileage: 105.9 miles
Average Speed: 13.3 mph
Total mileage: 2,453.4 miles