I left Charleston at 9:00 this morning. Continental breakfast was 3 cups of coffee, and 3 donuts. Oh we'll, beggars can't be choosers.
Bandon (my original destination yesterday) was 40km away. The first 20km was almost all uphill. It's possible that having to backtrack yesterday was a blessing in disguise, but I woulda have made it either way. Anyways, I got to Bandon at about 11:30ish, and it was a super cool town. The scenery was really cool too. I wish I coulda made it here last night. I thought about stopping to eat, but I still felt ok, so carried on.
After Bandon, the road was more or less hilly, but not that pretty. Just roads and trees. Nothing we don't see everyday in Vancouver. I just rode. On my map there was a town called "Langlois" along the way to Port Orford (where I planned to stop today) and I wanted to have lunch there. I remembered that town from a previous trip I had made here, had a small shop called "Langlois Market" which boasted the best west coasts sandwiches. I was intent on making that my lunch stop. (A small sub note here: in my Tragically Hip tribute band The Hip Show www.thehipshow.com, I play the role of Paul Langlois, so stopping there only seemed a propos). I arrived there at about 12:30, and enjoyed a famous west coast sandwich. This was about 60km in, and my first real meal of the day.
Port Orford was only an hour later. I got there at 2:00, and 80km for the day. There's nothing there but a couple of motels, and it was early. I was still full from lunch, and wasn't sure if I should keep going or not. The next town was Gold Beach - 50km away. After my 115km day yesterday, stopping after only 80km didn't feel right and I'd didn't know what the heck I was going to do all afternoon. I also felt I didn't deserve to stop yet. I embarked on this trip to push myself, so that's what I did. I kept going.
The scenery between Port Orford and Gold Beach was back to being amazing. I had to climb 2 really big hills, but the views were spectacular. All of a sudden, it all felt right again. I arrived at Gold Beach at 4:30, and 130km later. It's s bigger town, and I earned it this time. The bar has been raised.
Nothing super spectacular happened today, except I completely broke down while riding for some reason about 10 minutes before Gold Beach. I think it's because I realized my original destination for this entire trip (Brookings), is only 50 km beyond Gold Beach, and pratically in reach. I should get there by lunch tomorrow.
That would be 6 1/2 days to complete my treck down the Oregon coast. I had no other plans beyond Brookings, other than if I have time, I'd keep going - maybe. All I knew, is that Brookings was my goal, and anything else would be bonus. I'm so close. I'm now planning to keep going, and try to see red woods forest, and Northern California. I don't wanna fluke anything, so I'll talk more about that tomorrow. People do this trip all the time, so really it's not that big a deal, but it means something to me.
My soundtrack was different today. I chose some of my favorite road trip bands for the whole day. A little mellower, a little more soulful today. On my iPhone, I loaded: Brendan Benson, Concrete Blonde, The Crash Test Dummies, John Mayer, Matt Mattson, The Refreshments, and Roger Clyne. All these artists have life reflection songs, and after a full day of listening to all these artists, it's no wonder I broke down. Lol. If you haven't yet, take some time to listen to full record from one of these artists. They're not for everyone, but they're definitely saying something different, and usually profound.
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