Day 4 - Florence to Bandon

Daily Statistics:
Rode 78.6 miles and burned 5100 calories.
Left the hotel at 7:38 and arrived at 2:23.

Today was another beautiful day on the bike in Oregon. We were a little more inland than we have been, so we were in more trees and less coast. We still managed to have a number of scenic opportunities, and riding in the trees was very pleasant. Just over 11 miles into the day, we took a short detour to Oregon Dunes State Park. As you might imagine, this is a lot of sand piled up. The shot below gives you one perspective, but it varied depending on your vantage point.


We then proceeded on to the first SAG of the day at the Umpqua River lighthouse (I told you yesterday the Oregon coast has a plethora of lighthouses). Since the SAG was there, I took the photo below. It is pretty much your classic lighthouse.

Upon leaving the SAG, it was pretty much highway 101 for the next 18 miles or so. As we were approaching the town of North Bend, we had to go across a bridge that was a little over a mile long. The sign said walk bikes, so that is how we started. I had gotten a little way, when a car coming the other direction slowed and hollered "there is no law you have to walk", so I got on and road a narrow ledge (the bridge was fairly narrow) of about 2 feet the rest of the way. I had to pay attention, because if I slipped off, it was a good drop, with plenty of traffic to run over me.

After passing through Coos Bay, we made it to the second SAG in Charleston. It was around noon, so Ron and I had lunch in a small deli. They were rightly very proud of their chowder. At the SAG, I took the following picture of Ron and Rachel (our English lass) with Charlie the Tuna. These chain saw carvings are fairly common in the NW. Sorry I clipped Charlie's head.

With about 20 miles to go, we turned on to Seven Devil's road. This started out sharply uphill, and then became a nice rolling road. Mike had promised panoramic views, and I was starting to doubt him when I hadn't seen any for the first 6 or 7 miles, but we eventually got some. They are better in person than on film, so I haven't included any. With 5 miles to go, it was back on 101 to the hotel in Bandon. The pleasant surprise was I have a room with a million dollar view of the harbor and beach. The wind is blowing to hard to sit out, but it is still nice to enjoy.
We wrapped up a fine day with dinner at the Minute Cafe. Nothing special, but solidly nourishing, and should get me through the day tomorrow.