Day 6: Bullards Beach State Park, near Bandon, Oregon
Distance for the day: 257.2 km
Cumulative distance: 1,414.7 km
Top speed: 104 kph
Moving average: 67 kph
Temperature range: 13.8 -23.0
We were on the road by 9:50 this morning. So much for the proposed "pre-departure walk on the beach" as had been discussed last night (after the Oilers victory). Even though we knew we didn't have a long way to ride today, we didn't want to hang around because the hotel was going to be full for Friday night and we didn't want to impede the workers.
Denise, who had been the bartender/sommelier/chef last night while we watched the Oilers asked us where we were going. I gave her the full picture: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and points in between and beyond. THEN she asked us how long we
have been together. 37+ years, I tell her (including dating, engagement etc). She was either in shock or awe, assuming that we would say that we were newly together and that because I was dragging Nan out on a trip this extensive, we had to be new (and that it wouldn't last)! Ha! Little does SHE know!
The morning started off cloudy but the further south we went, the more the clouds dissipated so that by the time lunch time rolled around, we were riding in clear, blue skies. Still not very warm but it wasn't raining.
We stopped for lunch in Florence at Wheel House Family Dining. We thought, "that
We took a little side trip from North Bend, which was just before our day's destination. As it happened, there was a state park along the route - Hwy 540 - that I had stayed at last September on my solo trip. At that time, I had wanted to continue on the route past the campground because I had heard that there was a very nice beach park beyond, however, it was unclear as to what the road was
We arrived at our campground in good time, around 2:30 p.m. This was ideal as it would give us enough time to set up our tent then head into Bandon, a mere 5 km away, to pick up some provisions for dinner. As it turned out, dinner was not the priority. Setting up the tent, one of the poles, which are all inter-connected, splintered. The tent is 7 years old, designed to be lightweight so the pole maybe had just lived its life, in my opinion. However, that opinion may not have been
shared by everybody on the trip. The poles are alumnium with a carbon fibre coating, so very high tech, but not high durability. This was going to be an emergency, in-the-field repair job because the tent wasn't even able to hold itself upright. We rode into town to the only hardware store, bought some 14 gauge wire and duct tape. Then we bought some groceries: a bagged salad, a small salad kit to augment the bagged salad and some almonds along with some fresh raspberries.
I wrapped the end of the pole with the wire, then coated the wire with neoprene adhesive to hold it in place, wrapped the wire with duct tape and secured 4 zip ties around the end of the pole to build up its strength. To no avail. It folded like a cheap, well, you know, tent. The low tech but more reasonable solution is more or less holding now: multiple wraps of duct tape. The fly isn't so taught any more, which is little worrisome because we are hunkered down in the tent and it is raining lightly but steadily out there but for the moment, we are dry.
Oh, that was last moment. Water is dripping inside occasionally.
I am going to post this now, without pictures. If you don't see any pictures with today's blog post, then you know that the cell signal is not strong enough to upload a bunch of data. We are here at this campground until Tuesday.
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