Day 38: August 18th, 2010 (SouthBeach Campground outside Newport, OR to Honeyman Campground outside Florence, OR)

Day 38: August 18th, 2010 (SouthBeach Campground outside Newport, OR to Honeyman Campground outside Florence, OR)

Distance, miles: 51.59
Ride Time 3:43:57
Work, kJ: 2233
Average Power, watts: 163
Normalized Power, watts: 207
Average Speed, mph: 13.56

Forecast: Cloudy, temperatures around 60 degrees with wind out of the NW 5-10 mph.

Up early thinking I can get to Florence, have laundry finished up by the middle of the day and just relax and write! Right - with campgrounds and biking on the coast you come across cyclist touring that want to visit and its tough to get to work. Kinda like the office when people spend all there time around the water hole and complain about not having time to finish projects. At South Beach campground Tobi and I met some folks traveling from Seattle with a load! The largest load I have scene so far, four paniers and a trailer. They had a lot of solar panels that charged their electronics, pc and phones and maybe some other electronics they may have. They were only traveling 25-40 miles a day as they have plenty of time. I sure do wonder how much money some of these people have as they sure do have plenty of time! I'm on this tight budget trying to get by and doing my best on what little I have and loving it. I wonder what touring will be like when I'm older and have money to stay in nice hotels and eat at the diners and cafe's for lunch along the trip, occasionally having a good dinner! O' the thoughts - this all makes me think about getting back to work.

Can't think about this now as the journey is right in the middle and thoughts like this have me thinking I should throw in the towel and get back to work, however what's the rush? I have so much time to work and experiencing this right now is what the Lord has led me to do, embracing it was easy in the beginning, having these thoughts makes it tougher to embrace. Kinda like our faith, and other things in life, for instance relationships. So many relationships are started out on lust, or infatuation and last a short period of time. What if you really get a hold of the true meaning of why you meet someone or why your doing what your doing? You might just unlock a door to the meanings, or turn over a stone that has the answers to life or the situation you are in at the moment. Thoughts of throwing in the towel have come and gone and I'm back to enjoying the journey, I would be crazy to quit now, no matter what the cost. Lots of pedal strokes ahead of me to return to my Brother's where I started this epic journey, many have commented on that I'll remember for the rest of my life!

I feel I'm rambling again, however I have explored many things and will continue to do so on this trip. Before I started this trip I explored a relationship with a girl to the fullest, no lust even though there was an attraction I did not follow through with those thoughts. I followed my heart and asked a million questions to get to know this girl. Questions extremely deep that I believe surprised her and me and I will never forget this. It appeared the timing may have been off but there was definitely something there, and if the time presented itself again I would love to explore the relationship. However I have learned many things from this that I will hold deep to my heart for the rest of my days, matured so much!

So when your diving into something, slow down and ask questions as questions can unlock the answers to anything in your life! Do parents spend the time with thier children teaching them how to ask and what to ask when? So much to parenting, have parents forgotten this? I can think about my unborn children and how I hope to teach and mentor them all the things I have learned over course of my short life! Still the things I have learned as I put myself into unknown scenarious have taught me things even mentors will not be able to share. Is it our childhood that molds us, our mentors, our education, or our life experiences? I would say it's all encompassing, everything has a positive or negative affect on our outlook in this world. Hence, why some have bad attitudes and others positive, however that's a choice not the experiences we have experienced. Change is the only universal constant, its' how we embrace it that truly reflects the way we life our lives. Today I choose to live a life of smiles and laughter! (The sun is back and I'm so happy today for that! The warmth of the sun can change my mood as quick as a shimmer of light that reflects off a mirror while in traffic...)

Rolling out of camp I know I have about 50 miles or so to go and plan on doing it without any nutrition today. Why, becuase I have felt full the last couple of days eating all the goodies the gals sent me in Astoria! I devoured all those goodies very quick!!! Funny how many calories I contine to burn while on this trip even when I have teared the milage back. Rolling on down the road, huge shoulder and a mental aleartness as keen as the sight of an eagle today I'm ready to get to my destination and do some laundry. After smelling myself in my tent last night I think its time to do some laundry! I hope to have this finished up before the afternoon so I can sit and enjoy the day, a day of nothingness, seeing the sights and watching the people. All in the sunshine! Finally SUN!!!

Rolling along in the scattered clouds I hit the next little town and notice I'm riding on a slow leak with the front tire. I'm thinking I'm so glad its the front as the rear is a pain to change and needed a new skewer for the BoB (its' bent) I really don't like taking that off right now. I do have my friend planning on bringing me one from Eugene to allieviate the problem which will be nice, along with tires and bar tap from my good friend Julian! (Thank you Julian - we will ride together soon and trading coaching for gear is a great deal, I just hope you are ready to hurt! LOL) I stopped at a local filling station, they still have full service here in Oregon. I'm not sure why, somebody please do explain. Do they truely think that people don't know how to pump there own fuel? I'm sure there is something to it, never have a spill is what I'm considering. I watched a lot of Californian's filling up heading South, this must be a vacation spot for most of them. Maybe some own vacation homes up here, maybe just visiting, I'll never know as they just stop and go!

I get the mall leak fixed with a patch and continue on my journey, its foggy ahead so I'm thinking I might get caught in another day like yesterday, however its unknown. There is one climb before I roll down to Florence and to be honest, the coast is rolling so I'm not expecting much flat terrain which is okay as I wouldn't get the rocky cliffs without the topography that supports them. Rolling along I'm not really thinking about much. I have had some interesting close encounters with RV's today, however its just another day I'm guessing! Once through the fog I head into some more rolling terrain and just enjoy riding along! The Ocean is to my right and it is Gorgeous!

So many places to stop and visit, Light Houses, Sea Lion Caves, Et cetera. So many places to spend money on this trip, however I'm content with taking photos of these places and reading about them versus spending the money to go in an visit. I know I'm missing out on somethings however I don't have the money. I don't let this get me down though, as I think about this trip as a recon for the next one! The imagination is something - sometimes I have thoughts whether or not technology is stealing the imaginations of our youth or enhancing it? I remember when I was a kid playing Nintendo alot, I wonder what my childhood would have been like without it. I didn't get to play as much as I could have as it was limiited by my Mom but I have to say Thanks for that - I do remember complaining a lot when I was younger about being bored. If only I would have tapped into my imagination more at this age, what more would I have experienced, accomplished, or just shared with others versus being trapped in a technological daze.

This ride was short and I could tell, I got to the base of the small climb very fast. I think I had the flat around mile 25 or so, leaving 25 miles to go. After checking the data this is one of my shortest rides and one of the easiest with little topographical change. Rolling up the climb I see a gentlemen stopped looking down into one of the caves along the seashore. I recognized the man from the coffee shop and stopped to say hello. Rich was his name, a traveler from Austin Texas. He was taking pictures of the Sea Lions swimming down below, and those on the rocks basking in the sun! It was perfect, about 10 miles North of Florence next to a pay site to see the Sea Lions.

I chatted with Rich for about an hour and watch numerous cyclist pass and thougth I should head on, however I was amazed at the beauty of these creatures in the wild and I was in no hurry to be honest. Sit in a laundrymat or watch Sea Lions swim in the ocean? I think I can smell myself for a couple hours more! Rich was great to talk too, he had driven his 5th wheel from Austin to Alaska for the summer to beat the heat and o' the stories this man has! I'll remember his advice about travel, marriage, and life for the remainder of my days. The scenery will help recall these memories!!!

Put yourself in the moment I was in for a small piece of time:

Ocean waves breakin' on the Oregon coast, sea gulls flying in and out of the sea cave. Sea Lions barking for attention, tourist dancing up and down the pull out. Cameras clicking, flashes flashing. In the distance a light house, fog surrounding its red top, horizon lined with lush green forest. Sweet smell of the ocean enters your nostrils, deep breath in you feel connected with the ocean tides, the peacefullness of its beauty.

The feeling of being small enroaches your thoughts, surrounded by beauty of this depth is worth more than any material thing. To feel alive, the warmth of the sun hitting your forehead, face, and lips. Sweet ocean breeze dances around you with the most elegant of touch. Sea Lions continue to swim in surft, a pod of them out at sea just floating while others along the rocks hit with waves that would knock the heaviest human to the undertoe below.

Perfect moment for a perfect ride, an hour out of my day! O' so peaceful - I have to ask why have I been stationary for so long when all this beautiful country exist to explore. The television can portray only so much. To experience nature with all five senses is truly something! I recommend putting down the remote, closing the laptop, shutting down the computer your on right now and see if they sun is setting? Are the leaves changing? What is truly happening right now as you read this? Are children laughing in the background, is dinner burning on the stove top? Has something just exploded in the microwave? So many things going on in this world with so many people? The moments of time we miss can never be captured so capture as many as you can!

I sit here in a coffee shop capturing my thoughts of the day and look up to read:

"the story of a home - its the simple everyday moments that TELL the STORY of our home"

The words "simple moments" stick out to me as I have been trained to look at the little things in life, the simpliest of details to take it in, to embrace it, to love it, to cherish it as the moment we have is so brief that its worth it! My good friend Jan has commented about Baseball players and there attention to detail. When I watch a baseball game I see so many things that the normal person, I guess maybe my time playing ball and studying economics where you have to piece together the ripple affects caused by the smallest of shifts in the economy have me intune with something. What that is I'm not sure, however I'll never miss the moments if I'm truly in the present.

I didn't want to leave the Sea Lions today or my conversation with Rich. Ten miles to Florence and most of it was down hill which I was indifferent about, legs felt great and the little efforts on the bike I have put in have felt really good the last couple of days! Once into Florence I start my chores, pick up some fuel, and head to the laundry! I make a few calls to line out tires in Eugene and find a skewer for my friend EJ to pick up tomorrow. Tried to get this done as quick as possible as the sun was shining and I was enjoying it to the fullest! One more stop at the Safeway to check the 50% off rack for any goodies and then to camp. Sure enough, score a box of Kashi cereal and some pasta (really don't need it but at 80 cents its worth the weight!) I grab some milk for the cereal and attach it to the top of BoB head to camp. Camp is close to 3 miles South of Florence just across the bridge and I'm looking forward to see what the hiker/biker sites are like. Some have been secluded others right at the front of the campgrounds. I have heard this one is in the trees and is really nice. I pull in and its what I had imagined! Small but worth it!

John the Intel Marketing guy is chatting on the phone when I pull in and there is another sites that full. I hope to have a quiet evening as on the way down from Sea Lion Cave I ran into my other Canadian friends (French ones) that had a few bike issues on the decent. I stopped however it looked like his free wheel was in need of replacement and I couldn't help so I headed on to camp. They would join us later too, which was great! Then another group of three. The three were three guys that went to high school together reuniting for a trip down the coast for a couple of weeks. What a cool way to reconnect I thought! I should connect with my friends form high school soon!

After dinner I read a little then headed to sleep, looking forward to a day of relaxing in Florence and waiting for Friday to hang out and enjoy the ocean, the sand dunes, and the small city of Florence.