Day 4 - The Fog Days of Summer (Brandon)

 

Taken by Hannah Friday night, before the fog set in

With 50+ miles of riding ahead of us we were up at the crack of dawn to pack up camp and hit the road, we had a hotel booked in Florence that night to look forward to, and an opportunity to do some laundry. It was brisk and foggy as we hopped on our bikes to get started, and we had a breakfast date with Christi’s uncle at 9am, 15 miles away in Waldport, so we needed to get some miles under our belts. While her uncle had other priorities pop up, we still made it to the Waldport Cafe for some amazing breakfast to warm our chilly bones on this foggy day.

Waldport Cafe 😋

There was a glimmer of hope for a good day of riding when I checked the Weather Channel app while in the restaurant and it predicted the fog clearing in the next hour, FAKE NEWS! The next five hours consisted of heavy fog mixed with light mist, and occasionally, a mild smoky haze. Based on the number of pull outs on the side of the highway during this stretch I have no doubt the views would have been incredible!

Look at that beautiful Oregon coastline behind my bike! 😂

We did glimpse the rocky shores a couple of times before we made it to Florence, one such time was at Thor’s Well. While we couldn’t see the whole thing, and neither of us were inclined to hike down from the viewpoint above in our riding shoes, it seemed cool, and offered a little excitement after hours of fog.

Thor’s Well? I wasn’t quite sure what to look for. 🤷🏻‍♂️

After Thor’s Well, or those rocks and ocean we glimpsed, we made our way to the Haceta lighthouse. Christi is a bit of a lighthouse nerd, so we decided to pull off the HWY and take a look. Thirty minutes, and one 200ft death climb on the bikes later, and we had secured a beautiful picture of the lighthouse for our efforts (see below).

Look very closely, and pretend you see a lighthouse. Isn’t it magnificent!?!?

One last hill, and we were on to Florence. Unfortunately for us, this hill also included another death tunnel. Once again, vehicles paid little mind to the 30MPH speed limit while we were in the tunnel, including one extra awesome gentleman in a large pickup truck, hauling a fifth wheel, who decided not only should he do 55 and not make room for us in the shoulder, but that we also needed to hear his horn honking at us, if I hadn’t been too afraid to take my hands off my handle bars I would have given him a one finger wave for his trouble.

Death tunnel #2 for this trip. 

Once we made it safely into Florence it was a low key prep evening for us, which you can read about in Christi’s post. I was just happy to have a real bed, it’ll be a week before I have that luxury again. 😕

Couldn’t have been happier to see this sign.

Cheers!