Welcome to Oregon

Saturday May 26, 2013 - Day 10

Today was another short day - about 30 miles.  James' achilles heel was bothering him and he was feeling tired.  I think his extra credit excursion at Prairie Creek State Park caught up to him.  We left Jedidiah State Park around 12 pm and road to Smith River Ray's Market which was about 14 miles from the park.  The town was really really small it was surprising to see such a large and nice supermarket.  We grabbed lunch and then headed towards the Oregon border.

We took a back road (Lft on First street then right on Oceanview Drive) to Hwy 101.  It was a nice road, relatively flat and very low traffic.  We rode past a cemetary that was lined with flags for Memorial Day.

As we got back onto Hwy 101, we met 3 women who were doing their first bike tour from Portland, OR to San Fransisco, CA and chatted for a brief moment.  They were having a great time and very excited to be on their trip.  We crossed 101 and stayed on Oceanview Drive until it intersected with Hwy 101.  It had some rollers but very low traffic.  Once we popped out on Hwy 101 we rolled northward and crossed the OR border about 2 pm and then kept going towards Brookings, OR.

Brookings is a medium sized town with a Fred Meyer (I learned that these stores are great places to stop during bike tours...more about that in a minute) and Harris Beach State Park is 2 miles from town and there is a bike path that connects town to the State Park.  The weekend we were there was Memorial Day weekend and they were having a lot of activities to celebrate.  If I did it over again I would have stayed an extra day, gone into downtown to see the celebratory activities.

Harris Beach State Park is within walking distance to the ocean.  James and I walked over and hiked some of the trails down to the side of the ocean.  It was rocky on one side and we spent a little time laying on the rocks listening to the ocean pound on the rocks.  Another trail led us to a a nice sandy beach and we walked along it. It was chilly and windy and I was definitely glad James had me pack my heavier wind breaker.

 Harris Beach State Park definitely lived up to the expectations that had been given to us from the cycle tourers we had met who were heading south.  The shower facilities were clean, relatively new, had hot showers at no charge, and there were laundry facilities and vending machines.   The staff was really friendly.  The state park also has Yurts as an option if one were to get stuck in a rain storm.  One of the travel tourers told me she was stuck in a rain storm, her gear got wet, and she got a Yurt and was able to spread everything out and get it dry and have a nice bed to sleep on.  Granted getting a Yurt on or after Memorial day weekend requires advance booking -- at least a year out for Memorial Day weekend. We took the opportunity to wash all of our clothes and have some snack food while we were doing our laundry.  The laundry facilities were really close to the hike/bike section.  There was one other cyclist in the camping area, a woman who was riding from Washington to San Fran, CA.

 

"I like long walks on the beach..."

 Fred Meyer  is a great grocery store to stop in during a cycling tour.  The parent company is Kroger which is the named used for the grocery stores we have out east.  It has clif bars, bulk bin items, a lot of fresh produce, a deli, a section that has prepared foods that caters to the busy family, regular grocery items, camping gear, camping supplies, clothes, electronics - it is basically like a department store.  I regretted that I didn't bring my Kroger card with me on this trip.  James found some "chunks of energy" in the bulk bin section.  We decided we definitely needed some of that.

We are getting tired quinoa, spinach, and spaghetti for dinner so we splurged and bought some Tortellini from the refrigerator section, spaghetti sauce, a loaf of artisian bread, and fresh fruit.  It was a nice change and tasted really good.

Since today was such a short day we are hoping to get 80 miles in tomorrow, which means an early start.  Hopefully we can do it!

Total miles for the trip:  557 miles.