Ahhh. The Best Western had a hot tub in the pool area and I partook. Felt really good on my legs and back.
No real rush this morning as I was only planning to do 40 or so miles so I didn’t get out until around 10:30. I rode the Riverwalk trail in Astoria, about a 4 mi track back and forth looking for a good place to do a wheel dip since this is brackish Pacific Ocean-Columbia River water. I was giving up hope of finding anything but rocks to clambor over down to the water like Dana did on her cross country trip. However, since I was alone, I thought rock clamboring was only a good way to end my trip right here. So I kept riding the Riverwalk and eventually he found a boat launch spot that achieved my goal without risking life or limb.
After a short tour of downtown Astoria, I hit the 101 bridge for the trip to Nehalem State Park hiker-biker campground. I made stops at sunset Beach, Seaside, Cannon Beach, and a number of viewpoints along the way. They were so many amazing views it was hard not to stop more often, as you’ll see you when you look at the pictures.
Three goodly hills on this ride and the last two were saved for the last 5 miles. On the last one there’s a viewpoint about a quarter mile from the top, and I stopped there and met another touring cyclist and Chris from Vancouver Canada. He was on his way to Mexico City. Anyway we rode into Manzanita together, stopped at the local grocery store for provisions, and then headed to the campground. The Oregon Hiker-biker campgrounds are great in a number of ways, first that they can’t turn you away, there are showers and restrooms, and they’re only eight bucks. I’m planning to stay in them every night I’m in Oregon.
This was the first day on the trip that I would say that I felt cold. Highs were in the low 70s, and it was cloudy. I put my long sleeve shirt over my jersey, and that was enough to break the chill. The temps went down to 49, but it was comfortable in the tent and my sleeping bag and I had a really good sleep. All for now, day 42 awaits.
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