Day 3 - Umpqua Lighthouse to Bullards State park ( near Bandon OR)

Day 3 Umpqua lighthouse to Bullards by jheggen at Garmin Connect - Details

OR state parks are just the bomb. Very biker accommodating. Did I mention the hot showers! Awesome. I'm used to backpacking and taking the occasional cold water bird bath. Umpqua uses on demand water heaters. Instructions state turn on a couple showers to get the hot water flowing. I think that just created more demand than they could handle.  Tonight's shower in Bullard had all the hot water I wanted! 🚿. 

Last nights supper was a bag of lettuce, a packet of deli turkey, dressing and a cookie.  I was satisfied but Rhonda woke up hungry....at 2am. This morning we rode 7 miles into the quaint little burg of Lakeside and met Tug and Jim at the local American classic diner. Rhonda had enough cholesterol for the year. I had some French toast. The menu mentioned three eggs. I assumed that's what they dipped the bread in. So in addition to the two slices of decadent toast, I had three eggs AND sausage.  

Lakeside wants to attract tourist off the 101 a mile, but still keep its culture of timber and commercial fishermen.  They are simply down to earth folk.  They line their streets with Scare Crows. Not sure this is meant to draw in tourist or keep us away. However the cholesterol binge was the cheapest meal yet. 

Tug and Jim finished early and we wouldn't see them until North Bend/Coos Bay.  The road was quick and relatively flat as we continued past the Oregon sand dunes national rec area. 

We met Tug and Jim and two others, Steve and Art just before the mile long Coos Bay expansion bridge. Steve, Art and their crew are cheating. Steve's wife drives their van with all their gear:the ultimate sag wagon.  They are staying in motels or yurts every night....cheaters...

Jim, Steve, Art, Tug, Rhonda, and me. 

The big yellow warm Orb made an appearance today!

We shed jackets, vests, arm warmers and replaced them with sunscreen! 

We stopped at the Starbucks in Safeway again, this time in Coos Bay.  We bought some snacks and replenished our supply of Vitamin I, the adult vitamin (ibuprofen ). We left Jim and Tug and headed up the "scenic" route of the Seven Devils road towards Bandon.  Scenic route means narrow, winding, and hilly. The garmin registered an 11% grade at one point. This morning's cholesterol has left us.

I should mention our gear: 

Rhonda rides a true touring machine; a trek 520 modified with drop handle bars and shimano ultegra shifters to manage her triple cranks and standard 9 speed cassette.  It also sports some nifty bling given to her by her friend Lisa. The 520's name is "Tunk" 

In complete opposition to my mantra that the number of bikes one requires is X+1, where X is the number of current bikes you own, I have a hybrid; a trek CrossRip Elite. It can tour, commute, and do some cycle cross. It has an aluminum frame as opposed to steel and a geometry more close to a road bike. It has a compact crank and I swapped out the cassette for a 11-34 9 speed. It came in handy today. I haven't named it yet, but my bling comes from New Belgium Brewing, so I think I will name it "Amber". But if I go on any more tours I may need to get Tunks sibling. 

Well, I'm sitting in a local Mexican restaurant finishing my first true supper of the trip. Rhonda just swapped the laundry to the dryer. Soon we need to motor back across the bridge to our camp before it gets too dark and check out the local lighthouse. Remind tomorrow to talk about the OR highways and biker hospitality.  

Until then, here is our camp for the night, a request from Ty:

And I thought Tuna came from a can!