The Nomads

Left Humbug Mtn. State Park, Oregon 10:3o

Temp: 14 degrees C

Sunny, Cold and very windy

We started bout heading for the nearest hot coffeepot (at Brewed Awakenings) and an internet connection to check with my realtor. While there I had a nice long chat with a young cyclist from Vancouver headed for San Diego. He is camping in a Hennessey Hammock along the way and averages about eighty miles a day, no mean feat when you consider the huge mountain climbs on the PCH! If you’re not pumping your guts out going up, you’re pumping adrenaline going down; can’t remember a long flat stretch for the last two states….!

The ride was sunny but the winds were very strong and super gusty. It was throwing the bike around to the point of getting very worrisome. And it was so very cold that Susie had on every layer she could muster including my raincoat and was still shivering so we pulled into a sporting goods store and she bought herself some Irish wool/merino underwear and wore it out of the store, Still cold!

Aside from the incessantly winding hills, the one thing that will stay with me about California and Oregon is the ever present smell of cedar or eucalyptus, the breathtaking headlands high above the surf, and the sight of the narrow, twisty, winding road through those giant redwoods and sequoia.

There’s something mystical and grand about it and we feel blessed to have had the opportunity to experience it!

By suppertime we were ready to pull up for the night and try to get warm. Set up camp in the Rock Creek State Park, bought firewood and made a fire before doing anything else! Went to bed with all our layers on inside the sleeping bags and my leathers and Sue’s piled on top of her bag for extra warmth but it was a very cold night nonetheless!

Kilometres - Daytrip: 206 km total: 23,380

Gas: $16.75 Tolls: $0

Lodging: Rock Creek National Forest Park $ 20

# posted by Richard and Susie @ 8:54 PM