8/14/19 - William Tugman SP to Coos Bay, OR - Summer 2019 in the Pacific Northwest - CycleBlaze

August 14, 2019

8/14/19 - William Tugman SP to Coos Bay, OR

Continued to follow along the Oregon Dunes today. Since the road is back from the coast behind the dunes, not a lot of scenery shots.  Nice tailwind which is always appreciated. 

Today’s ride was memorable but not for the scenic views. All day we dealt with a lot of noisy truck traffic and narrower shoulders. Then in order to skip the 13-mile bypass around Coos Bay, we opted for the bridge. Rose pushed the button to turn on the flashing lights alerting drivers that cyclists are on the bridge. The bridge was narrow with no bike lane so cars stacked up behind us. Fortunately, the bridge is half a mile long and we were only on it for about four minutes. Still, an angry driver stopped and yelled at us while we were standing on the roadside after reaching the other end. Then he sped away. I hope he has a better day tomorrow. 

We found our way to Fred Meyer for a few items and had lunch from their deli. We shared a large turkey club panini sandwich that was piled very high. Forgot to take a photo but am glad I only ate a half. 

Our warmshowers host for tonight had said we should plan to arrive any time after 4pm. About 2:30 we were ahead of schedule so decided to find the address then would go sit and relax at the park across the street. As we turned up the road, a guy driving a car with his bike on the back rack asked if we were from warmshowers. How did he know? Panniers, perhaps?  Indeed he was our host so he turned around, got us settled, then went on his bike shop errand where he was heading when he saw us. Great timing. The universe provides. 

Host Daniel modeling his helmet with the brim next to his beautiful Italian, lugged-steel frame bike
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Margaret fixed a wonderful dinner. All plant-based using fresh vegetables from their Wednesday farmers market that we passed earlier.  We enjoyed discussing bike tours and, of course, our upcoming route. Daniel provided some great tips, including endorsements of some of the helpful inputs we received from Mike and Line a couple of days ago. 

Daniel’s father was a reporter in Denver during the early days of the space program. Daniel pulled out this Denver Post from July 1969. This front-page article and some on the inside were written by his dad. How cool that was. 

Daniel’s father’s front page article on the Apollo 11 moon landing
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Tomorrow we will ride to our next-to-the-last state park in Oregon. Hoping the tailwinds are the same again tomorrow. Certainly the temperatures look just right. 

Weather forecast for the next seven days
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Today's ride: 20 miles (32 km)
Total: 626 miles (1,007 km)

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