Motorcycling into the Sunset: Day 9: Last day at Bullards State Park

Day 9: Bullards Beach State Park, near Bandon, Oregon

Distance for the day: 65.1 km

Cumulative distance: 1,550.8 km

Top speed: 104 kph

Moving average: 63 kph

Temperature: 11.8 - 23.0

Heartbreaking loss for the Oil tonight, after being up 2-0 at the end of one.

Once again, the local kids had us awake by 6:30. It is hard to be upset with them though because they are all so sweet and it really has been quite pleasant having them around, riding their bikes through the tent site and visiting with us. One little guy gave Nan and me each a hug when he was saying goodbye. I told him "hugs are good, as long as your dad is around!" Can't be too careful nowadays.

There really wasn't any point in staying in bed so we were up. We had a little visit with the next door neighbours and they gave us a bunch of wood for a fire tonight, including splitting it and stacking it by our fire pit. It has been serving us well as we watched the hockey game and especially now as I write this since the temparture has dropped to 12. at 8:30 pm.

The lineup at Bandon Cafe
goes out the door, as per usual.

Into Bandon for lattes and breakfast. They make a mean breakfast sandwhich of ham, an egg, cheese and avocado on toasted whole wheat bread. Can't beat it and it is portioned a good size for people my age! While we are sitting there in the cafe finishing our coffees (and Nan contemplates another) I spot a gal come in and get in line that I had met in line yesterday. We had talked about riding as her husband had a history of it. Plus, she told me what a good wife she is by going out to get milk and responding to his request to bring him a coffee. We call out to each other and she says she brought her husband in today and since we are sitting at the window, I easily spot him seating himself at a

Always busy.

picnic table outside with their Blue Healer. Since I practically know him already, I wave to him and he sees me and gives a friendly wave back. He practically knows me already, too! Nan clears our breakfast plates and I take my remaining coffee outside and ask if I can join him and we introduce ourselves. Jennifer and Randy. We are then joined by two friends of theirs, Sherri and Ara, who are their next door neighbours. They are all a wealth of knowledge about the routes we are considering and have helpful tips which in fact did lead to our game plan for the next three days. This fun group would have been great to get to know better.

Getting the low-down on getting down low (in CA.)

After we bolted from Bandon Cafe, we stopped up at the grocery store to get some dinner for tonight. Since we had just finished breakfast, we underestimated what we would really need to have a decent meal and ended up a little light. That's ok since we are still working off the Mexican food from the first day.

On a lark, rather than head straight back to camp, we rode up to a nearby town called Coquille because of its enticing set of roads. The route follows the Coquille River, which actually exits very close to our campground and typically, roads that follow rivers are twisty and these are no exception. The road is curvy but not gnarly and not too busy, which is great for a day that many people are heading home after the long weekend. We pass by a weigh scale and weigh in after our first full week on the road and the picture is not pretty. Somehow, Nan avoided having her picture on the blog at this point. Don't worry Sweetie, your secret is not safe with me!

On the scale.

That must be because of my gear.

Back at the camp, while Nan busied herself I went for a stroll over to see the Bullards

Family Bone Yard, which is just off the edge of the campground. The Bullards were a prominent family in the area at the turn of the 19th century and were instrumental in lobbying for a bridge to cross the river here. I am a great fan of graveyards because they hold so much history and it seemed this one was in an odd place since there was nothing around but a campground. The grave stones ranged in age from about 90 years to to 150. There was about a dozen up there and visible; there may well have been a few more graves that were no longer marked, though I noted that at least two of the grave stones were not original, being made of freshly carved granite. Apparently, the Bullards' family home was approximately at the location of the entrance to the park so, in fact the graveyard is not really out in the middle of nowhere, at least, at the time it was initiated.

When that was done, we went for a walk out to the beach, then along the beach and back along the road, the same route we did yesterday and a loop of about 5 ot 6 km. Nan has long been a great fan of walking the beach and collecting shells and stones and this is a great beach for that. There is a myriad of coloured stones with every colour of the rainbow represented. Many of the stones have striations giving them the appearance of Jovian planets. Others are deep red, deep blue, translucent yellow and green, marbled, purple, just about anything you can imagine. On a bike, though, it is tough to collect such things.

After our walk, we have our meagre rations, build a nice fire and settle in to watch the hockey game. It actually streams pretty well - much better than on Saturday night. The turkeys stop by to check out the action.