Day 4- The Views are Amazing (Christi)

We started our ride with a crisp 45 degree temperature

September 12th, 2020

    I’m starting this blog post with an apology; I failed to properly charge my phone the day before, so I’m severely lacking in photos due to a dead phone. What you miss out on here will surely be covered by Brandon, the professional photographer.

    Like every morning we began by packing up camp; I have a feeling I’m not going to go camping or ride my bike for a while after this trip. Breakfast consisted of a gourmet pumpkin pie Hannah and I found at Fred Meyer’s the day before. We are on a very strict diet during this trip if you can’t tell. As we got rolling, I quickly reminded myself how I failed to pack adequate clothing. We weren’t planning on it being so cold, so I packed four pairs of shorts and four riding jerseys. The only thing to keep me minimally warm is my rain jacket, which really only works after riding up a few hills and it locks the heat in. Since the journey started we have been doing a sun dance! Our rides so far have contained a lot of fog, limited visibility, and a severe lack of good views. Someday it’ll clear up :)

The only picture of captured during the ride...as you can tell, the views are AMAZING

    51 miles and 2,462 ft of elevation gain, we’ve made it into Florence! Our major plans for the rest of the day consisted of checking into the hotel and doing laundry. We found the coolest laundry-mat called 37th Street Coin Laundry owned by Linda, but ultimately ran by Emma and Sassy the cat. Emma was super sweet and Sassy was hiding somewhere out back, so we didn’t get to meet her. Here is a picture of sweet Emma:

She is so mischievous and definitely owns the place! She had climbed into someone’s empty laundry bag on top of a washer 😂

    Evening time was spent collecting the extra bags out of the car; we would now be responsible for carrying them on the back of our bikes going forward. Hannah gets the super star award for driving the car and sparing our legs, for at least a few days! Thank you Hannah! Rearranging items in our bags and figuring out the logistics of where to put everything was fun (not), and attempting to move my bike an inch in the hotel quickly reminded me how heavy my bike was going to be to pedal the next day. Fun Fun!

Homegrown in Florence, OR

    If you get the chance to go to Florence, OR, check out this adorable restaurant. They had multiple beer options and the food filled this biker’s stomach with happiness. Hannah and I ended up ordering the same salad topped with blackened salmon; it was bomb!

Cute hand-painted beer signs

    The next day starts our solo-journey to San Francisco! It’s getting real!!

Road Kill- 1 moth, 1 duck, 1 blue bird, 2 snakes, and 1 possum

Weird things in the shoulder- razor blade, pizza crust, bottle of Ajax soap, 6 masks, keychain with no keys