Warning: This Is Going to Be A Cheesy Post...
81 Miles today! A new record for Katelyn! Definitely worth of a donation! Click HERE!
Sketchy GPS tracker: click HERE
Tomorrow's route profile: click HERE
Today's Vlog post: click HERE
Total Distance Ridden: 382 miles
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 16,150 feet (Mt Whitney is 14,505 feet)
I think it is safe to say that we have become scenery snobs. For those of you that don't know much about us, (I'm talking to the surprisingly strong viewership in Ireland and Germany) we live in the Central Valley of California where it is mainly tree orchards and farmland. Today we found ourselves for the first half of the ride passing by lush dairy farms and grazing fields. By comparison to Central California, this area was gorgeous! Yet we were more like, "Meh, I saw better yesterday."
The truth is, every single day has been filled with one thing or another that absolutely blows our minds. Here's today:
We left Bay City and visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory which was fun to see. It was too early in the day for ice cream so we just ate a bunch of cheese samples and looked around. Then we headed off to the post office and dropped off 8 pounds of gear that we hadn't touched once. It was mainly extra clothes and tools that we cannot foresee needing before San Francisco. 8 pounds was a lot to come off. Katelyn is riding much lighter now! Then we headed into the countryside passing dairies and farms, all the while getting sprinkled on--not more rain! Luckily, it passed fairly quickly and we weren't too uncomfortable.
We stopped for a break in Hebo, OR and while we were there, a bunch of fire trucks and police cars came screaming past us, sirens blaring and going in the direction we were heading. After getting back on the bikes, it was about 5 miles up the road that we ran into them again--a car was upside down off the side of the road and down an embankment. It didn't look good for the passengers of that vehicle and our thoughts are with them. I am reminded that it only takes a split second to go from having an awesome day to having a tragic one and we do our best to be safe and smart while out here on the road.
A little beyond that, we met up with some touring cyclists--6 of them! Some were traveling cross country to Virginia, others were heading to Mexico like us; it was nice to know that we have company on the road. We even traveled with them for a little while but we were moving much faster so we were soon back to just the two of us. One of the nice things about riding with the others is that they had some info that we didn't have. We were going to be staying on the 101 and going up a pretty nasty climb. Well, they had heard that the climb had no shoulder on the road and that it was super trafficked and they had an alternate route that, while a couple miles longer, was not traveled much and didn't have any more climbing. We ended up going the way they suggested and it was one of my favorite parts of the ride.
Once we wrapped back to the coast, we FINALLY got to cruise along without battling the wind in our face and it felt so nice to not have to struggle for every mile. The coastline we are on right now is just incredible and I found myself reaching for the camera or go pro every couple minutes to try and take pictures. In the end though, pictures just don't do justice to the places we are seeing. We have to suffice to have some really awesome memories in our heads and stories to tell.
After 81 miles (was supposed to be 75 but we took the long routes), we pulled into the Hallmark Resort. Ric, the General Manager and their AWESOME staff welcomed us in and provided us a room as their part in helping fight kids' cancer and we were grateful for the stay! Their property sits right on the ocean and the rooms are so nice--we had our fireplace on the entire time we were there! I included some footage of the room and the views on the Vlog so be sure and check it out. Without businesses like this helping us with lodging, it would be really hard for a trip like this to happen.
Ok, tomorrow: another LONG day and the weather report shows that the wind has switched to the SW which means that we have a 72 mile ride straight into the wind. I'm going to go ahead and say it now: tomorrow will be the hardest leg of our ride so far. Wish us luck!
Sketchy GPS tracker: click HERE
Tomorrow's route profile: click HERE
Today's Vlog post: click HERE
Total Distance Ridden: 382 miles
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 16,150 feet (Mt Whitney is 14,505 feet)
I think it is safe to say that we have become scenery snobs. For those of you that don't know much about us, (I'm talking to the surprisingly strong viewership in Ireland and Germany) we live in the Central Valley of California where it is mainly tree orchards and farmland. Today we found ourselves for the first half of the ride passing by lush dairy farms and grazing fields. By comparison to Central California, this area was gorgeous! Yet we were more like, "Meh, I saw better yesterday."
The truth is, every single day has been filled with one thing or another that absolutely blows our minds. Here's today:
We left Bay City and visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory which was fun to see. It was too early in the day for ice cream so we just ate a bunch of cheese samples and looked around. Then we headed off to the post office and dropped off 8 pounds of gear that we hadn't touched once. It was mainly extra clothes and tools that we cannot foresee needing before San Francisco. 8 pounds was a lot to come off. Katelyn is riding much lighter now! Then we headed into the countryside passing dairies and farms, all the while getting sprinkled on--not more rain! Luckily, it passed fairly quickly and we weren't too uncomfortable.
We stopped for a break in Hebo, OR and while we were there, a bunch of fire trucks and police cars came screaming past us, sirens blaring and going in the direction we were heading. After getting back on the bikes, it was about 5 miles up the road that we ran into them again--a car was upside down off the side of the road and down an embankment. It didn't look good for the passengers of that vehicle and our thoughts are with them. I am reminded that it only takes a split second to go from having an awesome day to having a tragic one and we do our best to be safe and smart while out here on the road.
A little beyond that, we met up with some touring cyclists--6 of them! Some were traveling cross country to Virginia, others were heading to Mexico like us; it was nice to know that we have company on the road. We even traveled with them for a little while but we were moving much faster so we were soon back to just the two of us. One of the nice things about riding with the others is that they had some info that we didn't have. We were going to be staying on the 101 and going up a pretty nasty climb. Well, they had heard that the climb had no shoulder on the road and that it was super trafficked and they had an alternate route that, while a couple miles longer, was not traveled much and didn't have any more climbing. We ended up going the way they suggested and it was one of my favorite parts of the ride.
Once we wrapped back to the coast, we FINALLY got to cruise along without battling the wind in our face and it felt so nice to not have to struggle for every mile. The coastline we are on right now is just incredible and I found myself reaching for the camera or go pro every couple minutes to try and take pictures. In the end though, pictures just don't do justice to the places we are seeing. We have to suffice to have some really awesome memories in our heads and stories to tell.
After 81 miles (was supposed to be 75 but we took the long routes), we pulled into the Hallmark Resort. Ric, the General Manager and their AWESOME staff welcomed us in and provided us a room as their part in helping fight kids' cancer and we were grateful for the stay! Their property sits right on the ocean and the rooms are so nice--we had our fireplace on the entire time we were there! I included some footage of the room and the views on the Vlog so be sure and check it out. Without businesses like this helping us with lodging, it would be really hard for a trip like this to happen.
Ok, tomorrow: another LONG day and the weather report shows that the wind has switched to the SW which means that we have a 72 mile ride straight into the wind. I'm going to go ahead and say it now: tomorrow will be the hardest leg of our ride so far. Wish us luck!
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| This is one of those "you had to be there" pictures. Epic views looking down on Newport, OR--our eventual destination for the day. |
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| Saltwater taffy anyone? This place had over 200 flavors! |
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| some of the sea caves carved out over the years. Really pretty views. |
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| Katelyn says I'm not in enough of the pictures. |
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| The 101: the real MVP of this trip! |
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| cars? Heck no! Everyone is out on bikes! In this group you had people traveling to Virginia, Mexico and San Francisco! |
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| Depot Bay: whale watching capital! This is the only one we saw. |
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| When the cheese factory makes their cubes, they take the ends that are cut off and they package them up together and sell them. They are terribly misshapen but people were scooping them up since they were cheap and taste the same. |
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| Cheese tasting! We went through the line more than once! |
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| Katelyn and one of the farmers on site. |
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| Katelyn and another one of the Tillamook Cheese Factory workers. Ok, these are actually pictures on the wall, but they looked real enough to me! |
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| Katelyn made some awesome smoothies to get our day started out of some delicious fruit that Sheltered Nook gave us. |
Great post! Keep going!
ReplyDeleteLoving these posts! Keep 'em coming! Also, Don and I LOVE Tillamook Cheese Factory!
ReplyDelete