After the night of beers and wine, the morning was quite the slow one.

Despite not having drunk that much, our bodies are these days tuned to absorb all nutriments which implies being lightweight cheap drunks. For the first part of the trip we decided to be less ambitious (Team #2 joined us on that concept). The houses we rode by on the coast were pretty cool, some were perched up on top of cliffs, others right by the water at almost sea level, but all seemed to have a beautiful view.

On the way we saw a cow giving birth (well, just the start of it, we weren’t sure how long it would take so we continued).

Our brains felt really slow, despite the relatively easy ride, and it seemed the environment was in tune with us: in order to get to Cape Lookout, we had to ride through Netarts. We thought it was a pretty funny name, and it seems some other people thought that too…

Despite the fun and the easy ride, we arrived in a slightly deteriorated state… We were hoping to have a nice hot shower, but the campsite had a water-preserving system that would vaporize the hot water on you (rather than just letting the water flow out), so showering had an unintended cooling effect (the vaporized water would hit us already cooled down).

Michel decided to make a delicious raspberry+strawberry+rhubarb+honey jam, and we had a calm dinner with the gang. We made rice with corn hot sauce and celery.

Team#1 and Team#2 decided to take it easy and rest that evening.

Distance covered: 80.6km

Well rested, it was time to take the road for Newport. We had heard it was a very nice town, and were were hoping to take a rest day there, maybe surf a bit (if it worked out). It was a pretty long day, since there were >700 feet (214m) overpasses. We stopped to eat a disappointing chili burger (it was small and dry), and because of the hill we ended up drinking several liters of liquid that day.

Part of the ride didn’t have a shoulder road, but once we reached the coast again (and the beautiful view), we were treated for a while with a dedicated bike lane (yes!).

We went past a camping ground (where Team #2 was planning on staying) that had a huge and awesome beach in front of it (Beverly Beach), but we decided to go past it, all the way to Newport.

As we got closer, we entered the fog region. It got cold (quite cold actually), windy and very foggy (it was hard to see with our glasses, so we had to take them off for part of the ride). We were so cold that we decided to stay in a Motel that night (and the next one), and going surfing was definitely not on the ToDo list anymore. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and their portions were so huge that even two hungry bikers were not able to finish them (it was enough for a full lunch the next day!).

The next day we went to the library to use the Internet for a bit, but we were only allowed to use the computers for an hour and a half (and they were extremely slow). We wanted to get ahead on the blog (we are still behind schedule after all), and while looking for an internet cafe (there are none), we bumped into the Beer One store. The lady at the counter allowed us to use her store computer to update our blog (she was very nice!), and we got to drink some delicious beer while at it. It’s a great place to hang out, with good music, comfy couches and tables, and a huge selection of wine and beer.

A few beers also had funny names…

The breakfasts we had at the Newport Cafe were really good (Crab Eggs Benedict and Oyster Omelet).

Distance covered: 113.5km

Total distance so far: 985km

One Response to “Hungover and slow… then going to Newport”

1. Sharlene says:

   July 27, 2009 at 7:00 pm

   Michel and Gilbert:
   You guys rock! Was great to meet you. Hope you’re having a wonderful time. Be careful! Hey, if you decide to ride back to Vancouver, stop by again! lol