Miles Today: 13.0    Total Miles: 165.7

We of course slept in, left around noon and biked around the town towards Beverly Beach State Park. We stopped at a really eclectic coffee shop to get breakfast.We also crossed “The World’s Shortest River”, called the “D” River. Amazingly short. Tiny. Ridiculously small.

So, after Lincoln City we didn’t make it very far but the ride was great, again. The hills were mostly small and short, we took a little detour from Hwy 101 to follow the Oregon Coast Bicycle Route instead to stay away from traffic and get better shoulders. The views, incredible! We stopped at this view point of Boiler Bay where you can whale watch. We didn’t see any though.

We had lunch and saw all kinds of people traveling through the coast, vacationing. We also talked to some older couple who was RVing through the coast from Alaska, they had nice bikes with them too. Passing through Depoe Bay was like passing by pirate town. All shops where pirate inspired, very cool. We also went into the Whale Watching  Center where they have whale bones, videos, and tons of info. A little about Depoe Bay: Home of  The World’s Smallest Harbor. Who would’ve thought we’d pass by all these world record spots.

We got to Beverly Beach after an 18.8 mile ride to a small campground where we met…dun dun dun…the “shovel killer”. He’s not really a killer, but a few minutes after we arrived, we started setting up our campground and he got off a car to camp there, how convenient, since it’s a HIKER-BIKER campground only. So, we watched him as he set up his site, picked up some firewood and took over the only fire pit, sipped on his 20 oz beer, and hung out. Lance had a short interaction with him and found out he was prospecting.

We thought that night was going to rain but we thankfully only had a few sprinkles. Other bikers or hikers accompanied us in the campground. The next morning, we got up early to go to South Beach State Park, nothing like Miami’s South Beach. This was, so far one of my least favorite sites and I’ll tell you why in a second.

So the ride was ok. A few hills, a few sprinkles, nothing too steep. We got to Newport.

A little history about Newport: Population: 10,400. After officially founded in 1866 eventually becoming a tourist destination. “Newport’s subsequent development centered around three distinct areas: The Bayfront, Nye Beach and the Highway 101 Corridor.” (http://discovernewport.com/index.php/about/history)

Biked through Nye Beach and saw the cutest beach houses ever!!! like ever! Some look like homes but they’re coffee shops or restaurants. We stopped at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, a.k.a. the Cape Foulweather Lighthouse, a historical site now. The lighthouse is no longer in service but the site was preserved (fought by the local peeps). It was built between 1871-1873, today you can walk through the house and do a self-guided tour and learn how the lighthouse keeper’s family used to live. We also made it to a bike store to get a new front bag after the chipmunks trashed mine but decided to save the money cause Lance let me switch with his, since I used mine more.

We ran into this old guy with a huuuuge belly. He told us all about Cape Perpetua and how we HAVE TO stay there because (according to him) it is the most beautiful place ON EARTH. You heard it, so make note of it and go to it. He said he saw all kinds of elk when visiting for a day but ended up staying there for 3 WEEKS! with his wife, that’s how beautiful it is.

We crossed a big green bridge that took us right into the Rogue Brewery, where they make FANtastic beer. So we did some beer tasting and had some lunch…the best clam chowder we’ve had so far down the coast.

For me, EVER. It was a little stinky, prolly cause of the hops, but it was too strong for me, it didn’t smell good though. A little tired, we got on our bikes and biked a few more miles to South Beach State Park. Hell indeed. Mosquito hell. I’ve never seen so many mosquitoes in my life. We were living in a mosquito cloud. Un-believable! we quickly set up our campsite and figured we’d go to bed then (6pm) to escape the starving suckers. We also thought about playing cards in one of our tents but I think any was too small for all 3 of us.

Thankfully, Lance found a yurt that was the Hospitality Center just accross our campsite where we met Nancy and her hub Bob. The yurt was full of books, board games, nature movies, magazines, etc. We were spoiled. Later, Bob came in with a bag of hot dogs and buns that some kids camp offered, so that was our dinner, they later offered us some ‘smores…yum! We stayed in there until closing time (8pm) and played some Disney trivia while getting to know Nancy a little, munching on popcorn and siping on coffee. The two retired couple, live in their RV.

Without a penny in debt, they travel around the country, volunteer in parks or host campgrounds, live off his SS and travel the U.S. The secret, they said, is to be debt free…and of course, to retire! they don’t own a home, they owe everything they have with them in their RV and that is all. Occasionally, they visit their family here and there and their family visit them too, wherever they may be.

We went straight to bed at 8pm and it immediately started raining. In the morning stuff was pretty wet. The mosquitoes were still out but not as many. Lance’s stuff was wet as well as all our panniers. Our clothes were dried but we knew what we were wearing was not going to stay dry for long, the weather was not so nice this morning. So we packed up our stuff and decided to skip breakfast and go to the Hospitality Center to grab some coffee. Lance beat us to it while Ryan and I took showers. When we got back, Nancy and Bob had offered him to come in their RV to have coffee and hot dogs, so we joined them.

They were so so so so sweet, they brought us mustard and gave us all the popcorn before she closed the night before and even let us use their computer!!! How nice are they?! super I must say. We thanked them for their kindness and wished them many more awesome experiences in their years to come. Memorable time. So we took off under sprinkels toward Carl G. Washburne State Park.

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