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entry 5: victoria, bc to tillamook, oregon 10/09/05

Our totally gracious hosts (and superb wine-makers) - Dan & Cindy..

We awoke to the sound of the alarm clock. Crap. I don’t miss those things one bit! The ferry ride from Port Angeles to Victoria, B.C., required us to tie our bikes to the “bulkhead” of the boat. I had asked how this was done before getting on and the lady in the ticket booth said “Oh, the loading crew will help you with that.” Of course we ride the bikes on and a guy in an orange vest points to a wall with ropes dangling from it and then walks away. Thanks buddy. After struggling with my granny knots, Lynne finds another crew member who takes the time to show her how it’s done. We are excited to get off of the ferry because we are headed to Cindy and Dan’s, a couple we met at a Horizon Unlimited meeting this summer. They had been gracious enough to invite us to spend Canadian Thanksgiving with them. They cooked up a GREAT meal and also served their homemade wines. I say “wines” because they had peach, grape, blackberry and even port! We had a wonderful two days with them and their cat Sushi. Their trip around Australia, which they did a few years ago, on motorcycles made for some good travel stories and just made us want to travel there. A big thank-you to two good people for sharing their home with us.

Back on the ferry Tuesday morning (now old hands at securing our bikes) and off to ride along the Olympic peninsula on highway 101. We plan on taking this road all the way down the coast. The weather was good in the afternoon except for the occasional smoke screens created by logging companies that burn the branches that are stripped from trees before being carried off by trucks. We seemed to have run into a large weather pattern that offered few blue skies and rain every afternoon. We arrived at Ocean Shores in the rain, stayed two days while it rained and never saw the beach.

One of the beautiful weavings at the Textile Museum in Tillamook.

Thursday we road to Tillamook, Oregon, with high winds and more rain. A visit to the Tillamook cheese factory on Friday morning was interesting but they never show you cheese being made. Must be a family secret? More rain and wind and fog made for our shortest riding day yet – 50 miles. We had gotten pretty tired of the rain so we set off on Saturday morning (in the rain) determined to go further south and hopefully escape the foul weather. I consider this day the worst riding day to date. Not only did we encounter the usual downpours but the wind was a constant 30 m.p.h. and fog banks added to the gloom. Then take these conditions and put your self on a high, long bridge WITH GROOVED PAVEMENT and the results are sore butt cheeks from the constant clenching. We pulled into our goal of Florence, OR, unloaded the bikes and headed directly to a warm brewpub and a hot meal. We plan on spending several days in Florence to visit the beach and the Seal Cave (weather permitting). We have become obsessed with trying to see the Oregon coast and I do believe the sun will come out tomorrow.

One quick note about Oregon we found interesting. When we pulled into our first Oregon gas station a gentleman asked for our credit card and then wanted to fill out tanks. I said I would rather do it and he said “O.K., but that’s my job.” This state requires ALL gas stations to have Pro Pumpers. One person I asked said that this full service was to create jobs. My mother-in-law would have been in heaven - I don't think she ever pumped a gallon of gas in her life. This human labor phenomena also must have carried over to the hotels because one hotel offered waffles for breakfast and when I began making my waffle, at what in other states would be a self-serve continental breakfast bar, a lady came around the corner and told me that was HER job. Jeez, it really made me nervous when I went to use our “full service” hotel bathroom…miles traveled is 2,796.

Notes from Lynne:

Having friends who are seasoned wine-makers is a good thing.

Logging. Evidence of it is everywhere in the Pacific Northwest from the myriad of logging trucks (big double-load hummers) on the roads to the constant smell of burning slash (branches). I wonder how they ever know if something is burning that shouldn't be?