Day 4, Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Lincoln City , OR to Florence , OR ( 3,100 feet of climbing )
80.9 miles, 13.7 mph, 5h 50m 24s
Up at 5:45, continental breakfast, 7:30 load luggage, 7:45 on the road. Last night the temperature dropped down to 48F and it was a foggy, 54F when we started our ride. The forecast was for that fog to burn off and be sunny by mid day. Well it didn't happen! It was overcast, windy and cold all day. That's why most of my photos today look dark and misty.
Last night at route rap, we were told by staff that today would be one of the most scenic days on the ride. I do agree that it was just awesome, but the overcast skies really put a damper on expectations. Tomorrow is supposed to be much better, with clear skies and warmer. We all hope so!
We were on very narrow, winding roads today and there were lots of rolling hills. There also was lots of very large campers and hundreds of cars. The 2 tsunami signs were not a joke. Back in 1974 there was a Tsunami that hit the Oregon coast and it totally wiped out everything (people and buildings), for about 2 miles in this area. This particular area is right down at sea level and the rest of the coast is not. Regardless of that disaster, people have repopulated that area. Several of my pictures show partially tipped over trees. This is caused by the constant NW wind. We have had to go through several tunnels so far on this trip. Some have 'bikes inside' warning lights and some do not. We've been told that the Heceta Head Lighthouse is the most photographed lighthouse in the world. It is extremely pretty. Again, I'm very disappointed that the sun wasn't out. It could have been worse - it could have been raining and I wouldn't have been able to take any pictures at all.
I had almost no knee pain today at all and we had many steep hills to climb. This is a good thing! Tomorrow is a 75 mile ride to Bandon. Gotta send this to Ed. It is 11:45 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
