Road's End

Monday, September 25.  Pacific City, OR to Lincoln City (Road's End), OR.

 

Due to the dog days of summer, and the Inn's policy about not installing a/c units, we spent a fairly uncomfortable final night on the road.  It wasn't too hard to get up early, get breakfast, and get on the road one last time.

 

We had about 20 miles to ride before reaching Otis, where we planned to meet Jim & Suzi for lunch at the Otis Cafe.  We continued on the Scenic Cape Route via Hwy 101 through the small burg of Pacific City, the bump in the road known as Oretown, and then into Neskowin,  where we turned onto Slab Creek Road and the Old Scenic Highway 101.  This route avoids the massive climb at Cascade Head, but is also a stunningly gorgeous meander into a primordial rain forest setting.  Towering trees surround the road, scenting the air with cedar.  Beneath them, glorious ferns carpet the ground.  Everything is so lush and fertile here, that even cracks in the road surface are filled with bright green moss.  We begin our ascent in the shade, but soon the effort of climbing warms us up and we stop to take off our jackets. 

 

The climb continues for a long time, but the grade is fairly gentle.  The road twists and turns; we pass the Neskowin Valley School and hear the happy shrieks of children out for recess in the schoolyard.  We pass mile markers, but have no good idea how many miles we'll climb before reaching the 600+ feet to the summit.  Finally, I call for a break, and we decide to stop just at the next turn.  We haven't seen more than 3 or four cars since we turned onto Slab Creek Road, but as we're stopped we can hear a car approaching from the curve just beyond.  Matthew says "I wonder if that's my dad", and as the car comes around the bend we can see that it is, indeed, both his mom and dad.

 

Hugs all around, then a few pictures (I think I know now how Lewis and Clark felt when the Indian tribes welcomed them into their villages).  We had made it to the crest of the mountain, Jim assures us, and it's a downhill ride from here to the Otis Cafe.  Jim & Suzi agree to follow us, so we can take the lane and not have to worry about cars passing us on the descent.  My odometer reads 6597.9 as I start the descent, and I don't turn my pedals for the next 3 miles.  It's about 5 miles total to the Otis Cafe, and we cover that distance in no time.

 

For anyone who's never been, the Otis Cafe is worth the stop in Otis.  It's one of maybe 4 businesses in the entire town, which was sidelined when Hwy 101 was "straightened".  It's one of our favorite places in the area, famous for their homemade breads and pies as well as for their German hashbrowns.  We had to wait a while for a table--there are only 6 tables in the entire cafe--and that gave us a chance to come to terms with the fact that we were about 5 miles from Jim & Suzi's home on the beach in Roads' End.  We left the cafe with a loaf of bread and a berry pie.

 

And then came the last 5 miles.  We rode along the wide shoulder of SR 18 for a short while, and then were back on Hwy 101 for another mile or two.  We took a right turn onto Logan Road, and made the short climb to the turn onto Roads' End.  From the top of that hill, we had a clear view of the ocean and knew that it was, literally, all downhill from here.  The Stovall B&B was about a half-mile away; the ocean just beyond their hot tub.  We flew down the hill and were met in the driveway by our gracious hosts and Honey, their Malamut mix.  We unloaded our trailers, and rolled down to the beach for the ceremonial wheel-dipping ceremony, which marked the official end of our trip.  Within 30 minutes, we were lounging in the hot tub, a glass of Merriweather Champagne in hand, toasting six thousand, six hundred miles.

 

The journey ended the way it began--among family.  No press, no fireworks.  We talked last night about some trip highlights--the Columbia Gorge, the high deserts in Wyoming, the descent from Lolo Pass, Cedar Point Amusement Park, the Great Dismal Swamp are just a few of the fabulous sights we've seen on this trek.  And seeing them from the seat of a bicycle is an experience totally different from touring any other way.  Neither of us feel like Superman (or Wonder Woman), but we also don't feel like we couldn't have gone one more mile.  I was intimidated by the Rockies, but now I see that they're just one more day of riding.  As the saying goes, "Adversity becomes adventure after a shower and a couple of beers".  

 

We'll be hanging out here at the beach for a few weeks while we collect ourselves and our things, then begin to make ourselves at home in our new home in Portland.  Hockey season starts soon, and while Portland doesn't have an NHL team, but we hope that friends and family will visit us here anyway.  Happy Trails!