Day 6! A Good One

We got up early on day 6 so we could tackle one of the monster climbs (1000 ft of elevation gain and it was just the first climb of the day) early before the heat and before we were full from breakfast. We were on our way at 7:00, which means we'd gotten up, dressed, packed up our sleeping bags and mats, taken the tent down, pull all that and our sleeping clothes in our panniers/trailer, brushed our teeth and gotten on the bikes.

Pulling out at the same time was a young woman who seemed to be getting a head start on her companion. She and I rode side by side for a time and it came out that she'd met the dog guy, too, who was still at Nehalem Bay, and, having seen our stuff in camp the evening before plus my parents' chairs and cooler, assumed we were the same sort of people. But, no, here we were, riding. We never did see her or her companions again. Traveling at different rates, I guess.

On the climb, there was a gorgeous view of the spit, looking back where we'd come from, with the waves just glowing in the early morning light and a little hovering mist. This was one of those times I wish I'd gotten the camera out, but didn't.

At the top of the hill, we opted to ride on a bit to breakfast, as there wasn't a great place to stop at the top and there was a place after the decent. We ate almond butter and fruit spread on corn thins along with grapes at a surfing beach right where Anthony, in the spring, finished the Reach the Beach ride. It was charming.

We also got to ride on two roads which took us off of 101 for a while each and were both really nice biking roads. Both are scenic byways on the old 101 and neither had much traffic at all. The first was a 10 mile diversion, which, although it climbs to the same elevation as 101, does so in a much more ambling way. So, not only did we avoid doing a steep climb on busy 101, which just isn't fun, but we got to see this lovely byway, which happens to be the road that Davan's friend, Adrien's, school is on. It followed along a stream and, on the whole 10 miles, we saw about 8 cars. Lovely.

Later another scenic 101 diversion took us off for a few more miles. This time, we got to climb much less than 101, see some great views of ocean and rock and see almost no cars. There was a section of this bypass that was one way for cars, but had a wide, two way bike line. Sweet.

We got into Beverly Beach, our favorite coastal campground, at 4:00, after 60.4 miles of riding, and gave Adrien's family an immediate call. Davan was so, so excited to see him. They came right over for a walk/run/play session on the beach and then took Davan to their house to jump on the trampoline, play and eat dinner. She had an awesome time and it was certainly a highlight of the trip for her.

Anthony and I did camp chores and ate dinner. Less exciting, to be sure, but it just being the two of us for a few hours was nice, too.

Davan was returned around 8:00 and, after prying her and Adrien apart:


And consulting Marissa about the intricacies of Newport:


We got into the tent with the ubiquitous line of clothing still hanging:


camp fairly well tidied, which we started being much better about after the rain of two night's before:


and, very satisfied with our day, crashed.