This blue bird hung around, hoping we'd share our breakfast

This morning I woke up before Dallas’s alarm sounded.  I had actually fallen asleep and slept fairly well all night!  So I guess its not impossible to get a decent sleep in the tent, but I definitely appreciate a good bed.  Both of us were in high spirits this morning after having had some good rest, and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of apple, cheese, and turkey jerky before packing up the tent and getting on the road.

This is when I discovered that the lighthouse, which we had climbed so steeply to reach the previous night, was not even halfway up the hill.  We started our morning off by finishing the ascent before rejoining with highway 101.  From there, it was about twenty miles to the next town of North Bend, and another 3 miles to get to Kaffe 101 in Coos Bay, where we remained for a good hour or two.  This place was adjoined to a Christian bookstore, and was much larger inside than it appeared from the street.  We snagged the table just on the other side of the window where our bikes awaited us and then ordered two cups of soup, a panini, a carrot cake muffin, marionberry scone, chocolate peanut butter cupcake, chocolate covered espresso beans, and two triple-shot lattes.  AND we took advantage of their WiFi.  So yeah, we were probably there for two hours.

Heavy traffic as we cross the bridge to North Bend

Our goal for the night was a campground by Lake Floras, about 46 miles away.  The Pacific Coast Highway is much different from the country roads and forest roads we were on before.  This road sees a LOT of traffic – large, heavy, loud, fast-moving traffic.  For the most part there is a shoulder or a bike lane to ride on, but the traffic was still far too close for comfort in many spots.  In spite of this traffic (or maybe motivated by it) Dallas and I made great time after leaving the cafe…until we reached East Beaver Hill Road.  I despise any road with the word “hill” in its name.  This was the steepest climb we’ve encountered by far, and it continued for far too long (over a mile…maybe two miles).  It was so steep that I tried to stop and walk, but had more trouble pushing my bike up the hill than riding up it.

We saw a bald eagle

We stopped again for groceries in a town called Bandon.  It was my turn to go in and buy food, and I came out with half of a roasted chicken.  I normally don’t like chicken, but it was strangely appealing to me in the market.  We sat on the ground just outside the entrance and ate the warm, delicious chicken before hopping back on our bikes for the last 17 miles or so of rolling hills.

We still had ten miles to go when the sun set

Aside from Beaver Hill, our ride went pretty smoothly and quickly.  We had a tail wind and managed to cover 66.66 miles of rolling hills for the day.  It was, however, dark when we arrived at the campground, and once again we had to set up the tent in the dark.  Hopefully we chose a decent spot!