38.9 mi / 11.5 mph / 1289 ft. climbing
Home: Cape Lookout State Park hiker/biker campsite

The forecast actually showed a lot more rain on this travel day than it did on our motel day, but the real advantage was not having to pack up camp in the morning rain; instead we could just head out into it with everything (including ourselves) already under waterproof layers.

And that waterproofness was harshly tested. While it never rained as intensely as it did a couple days earlier, it was much more constant, with very few breaks between our 11am checkout time and our 3pm arrival in Tillamook.

Midway we stopped at a gas station like drowned rats, and along with our snacks, Rett had the brilliant idea to get a hot chocolate from their machine, which was the most satisfying thing I’ve ever tasted, standing under an overhang in 58-degree rain.

In Tillamook, we stopped at De Garde Brewery, a right-up-our-alley wild ale place, and a place we could bring our wet selves and packed lunches in without feeling like we were wrecking things.

I’d been a little surprised that in out two days on the super-popular Oregon coast route, we hadn’t seen a single other touring cyclist, so then I was even more surprised that we found out first one not on the side of the road, but inside the same brewery! Scott had just recently taken up bike touring, after doing some crazy epic through-hiking through the Pacific Northwest. His $200 bought-on-the-road bike (that I originally just mistook for a local’s) is the sort of thing that makes me wonder if our custom rigs with all the bells and whistles are an unnecessary obsession. It was great to talk with him while waiting out the rain.

And it was a case of the forecast being freakishly accurate: like flipping a switch, around 4pm the rain stopped and the sun came out, exactly as improbably predicted!

Back out onto the road (but off US-101) through some Tillamook cow-ntryside, and then to the beautiful trees-on-the-beach hiker/biker site at Cape Lookout State Park. Charcuterie dinner while sitting on a log watching the sunset, while hanging out more with Scott, who had the same endpoint as us. Great end to balance the terrible beginning of the day!