day 16: beverly beach state park to jessie m. honeyman state park

it was cold and i couldn't get out of my sleeping bag this morning. 

7am

7:15am

7:22am

7:45am

still not out. 

(samuel waiting patiently for me to exit.)

it was because i woke up at 6am, and desperately jumped on my bike and pedaled my way to the bathroom to take care of my urgent morning business. that rude awakening turned into a short ride to sunrise-ish at the beach and a view of an older gentleman dressed in all red sweatpants and sweater. my picture doesn't capture how perfect the scene was. 

he could've thought the same about my get up. 

at 6:50, i was back in my sleeping bag because i was shivering from the early morning chill. what is happening? just a few months ago, i was handling sub-freezing temperatures in montana, and now a mere 40-something degrees is rocking me. what the heck?

anyway, some days feel like the miles take forever. today was one of those days...until we saw a group of four cycle tourists. we said "hello" and "goodbye" and "see y'all" and "hello again" as we yo-yo'ed all day. the last time i saw them, we had just climbed a hefty ascent through our last tunnel. we could hear the sea lions which indicated we were halfway through oregon! wow! and there they were sitting, having a snack. we looked at the seals and then took off after a short 5 minute break. even though i had been going through my normal 4pm crash, the thought of "beating" them to camp was motivator enough hustle all the way to fred meyer to pick up dinner ingredients. (i was also motivated by hunger. my stomach was turning into knots on the way there.)

side note: have you ever been inside a fred meyer? (think of target meets safeway.) it should be against the law to send a hungry cyclist in, but one of us has to. i have this tactic from over buying in a grocery store. either i take a handheld basket or none at all. if i can't hold it, then i shouldn't be buying it. my little basket was pretty heavy by the end. 

after getting to camp and getting instantly devoured by mosquitos, we did our usual routine of setting up camp and showering, and then packed up dinner and walked up a giant sand dune to watch the sunset while fighting off more mosquitos! (by the way, we got to camp like 40 minutes faster than the group. heehee) from wanting to do zero miles at 7am, we were able to pound out 60 miles today. phew!! 

at 4am though...the rain began and that is a story for day 17.