Day 18: Ride to Comfort (Beachside SP to Florence)

15 Jul Day 18: Ride to Comfort (Beachside SP to Florence)

Foggy view from Cape Perpetua

As we approached our third rest day for our trip, we found ourselves leaving a campsite on the beach for the comfort of a motel room and soft bed. The miles were short, but the scenery was amazing as we climbed and descended countless hills. We even got to see some wild life, like sea lions, seals, and a whale with her 2 calves.

Teenage Debauchery

The campsite at Beachside State Park was great, except that we had teenagers on the beach screaming and launching fireworks in the middle of the night. I even thought they may have come in our camp site, but it could have been my fear of not locking my bike manifesting itself as something I thought I heard in my slumber.

When we woke up, half of our camp was ready to get on the road. Jeff and Mikhaila was packed up and ready to roll when I got up to brush my teeth. Peter was having breakfast while Candice was breaking down her camp. By the time we got to our breakfast, Jeff, Mikhaila, and Candice already left and Peter went to check out the beach.

Foggy View

Gray whale and her 2 calves

We finally rolled out of camp by 11AM, which was very late for us, but we figured it was fine since it was going to be a short day. What we weren’t prepared for was the climbing after we passed the town of Yachats. Heading into Cape Perpetua, we were treated to beautiful vistas at the top. If it wasn’t because of the dense fog, we would have stayed longer as we rolled through Neptune State Scenic Viewpoint.

We eventually made it through another tunnel at Heceta Head where we navigated to the final vista point. From there, we ran into several bicycle tourists and other tourists in their cars striking up conversations with us about our trip. I even got to see a real live whale with 2 calves. We even saw a sealion nursing her pup and a seal basking on a small rock below. We continued down to Heceta Beach and then finally rolled into Florence to end our day at 29 miles total.

Home for Now

Sea Lion nursing her pup

We checked Comfort Inn’s rates, and learned it was going to cost us $160 a night. Then we called the next motel down the road, which charged us $70 a night. Conditions may not have been favorable, but we would get our own shower and our own soft bed to sleep on! This was such a treat and Sang Hyun immediately took full advantage of it.  After a shower, he was passed out before we went to dinner. We can’t wait to spend our day off here to do laundry and catch up on our chores.