September 12, 2015 – Sun, 75 degrees

Miles Today: 78

Miles to Date: 6,773

States to Date: 23

 Any Saturday that begins with coffee on Kurt’s sunny deck bodes well. It was difficult to leave such a serene place and such a delightful man, but I had a breakfast date with my most faithful reader, Sherri McCutchen. Sherri invited her son Zander Chanin to join us at Brail’s A Eugene institution. The food was good, the conversation even better.

I didn’t get on the road until eleven. The day was fair, the breeze light, the scenery lovely. I stopped at a car show in Crow. My favorites were a pair of truly classic 1953 Chevy Bel Airs, but nobaody asks a guy in bike shorts his opinion of cars.

I took a wrong turn and went three miles down a gorgeous valley before I realized my error. Back on track, I headed west, enjoyed ten miles of excellent riding without encountering any other vehicles, and then reached the huge Noti sawmill. I took a break at the Noti Market and met Tom a sawyer who was keen on my journey.

I joined Highway 126 West, which turned out to be a much better road than I had been warned. In late afternoon I stopped at a country park and met a couple I had contacted as potential warmshowers hosts. They were heading east (which is why they could not accommodate me) but we had a nice visit. One more climb to the tunnel, which is narrow but the flashing bicycle light warned any cars or trucks about me. Traffic was so light that no one even approached me in the tunnel.

On the far side the air was salty, the breeze brisk. After a long down slide, the highway paralleled Siuslaw River for twelve miles to Florence. There was a staunch headwind, but I moved strong, motivated to arrive before dark.

I stayed in a fine motel but the Internet didn’t work and in Indian-style the proprietors chose to blame my computer rather than their system. I went elsewhere, my computer found Internet just fine, and I got to see a bit of Florence at night, thought I still haven’t been to that famous Florence over in Italy.