Day 3 (June 4th, 2024)

    

B Y :   L a y l a

City To City: Bay City - Grand Rondo

Miles: 61

Miles Total: 141

Flats: 0

Video: https://youtu.be/RMlp0CDEmco?si=e2RazTs5xAn6Q7pB

Us climbing a hill outside of Pacific City

    It wasn't supposed to rain from 7-9 am, but it did. We reluctantly pulled on damp socks and put our cold feet into wet shoes that squished and sloshed.   We had planned on eating breakfast and packing everything up in that time slot.  But since it was raining, we ate and packed in the rain.  We hit the road and traveled along the coast in a headwind for a while before breaking away and traveling on a very seldom-used road that switched from a pothole road to loose gravel.  Let's just say much caution was exercised when riding over the gravel.   While traveling up to the top of the gravel road hill, we passed a hillside of cut-down trees.  As we neared the top, we saw two dirt roads that led to abandoned lumber mines.  Soon, we started to veer toward the coast again, only to climb an eight-hundred-foot hill.  Up and up, we went through  Oregeon's famous tall trees and other plants that thrive in a moist area.  Sometimes, we passed by a small waterfall cascading down the rocky hillside.  Other times, we unconsciously steered toward the middle of the road so we wouldn't have to even think about the steep drop right off the shoulder on the lane.  About two-thirds of the way up to the top, we stopped to see the majestic view of the Pacific Ocean from a height.  Someone had told us the day before the view was worth the climb.  Judge for yourselves when you bike up a big hill, but it was more than worth it to us.  The rest of the way up the hill was in very dense fog.  Finally, reaching the top,  we went down with a sigh of relief.  We passed small sand dunes and stayed along the coast.  We braked for lunch, dripping wet from the rain.  The last ten miles were the longest.  We went up a tall hill similar to the eight-hundred-foot hill.  My dad considered stopping at the next bridge for a selfie and taking a snack break.  The next bridge we came to, Henry stopped, but the rest of us kept going.  We looked back to see Henry still standing there, supporting his bike, with the camera in his hand.  Henry ended up taking a selfie of himself before hustling to catch up.  At the top of that hill, we all silently cheered because we had climbed four thousand feet of elevation gain for the whole day.  From there, we followed Google Maps to get to our warm showers host.  Well, no one had updated that Google Maps in a while because we ended up at a dead end in a very sketchy, run-down neighborhood.  We figured it out, went to the right house, and ate dinner to satisfy our ravenous hunger.  Our host, Gary, wasn't home, but graciously let us wander around his house to find the washer and dryer as well as the bathroom.  After organizing everything and placing our belongings neatly back into panniers, we stretched out our sore and tired legs. We never did meet Gary that night.  

    Love to all!