Day 13--TILLAMOOK FACTORY

September 17, 2000
Nehalem Bay to Cape Lookout

Today is what cycle touring is all about. We left Nehalem about 8:30 after a great night's sleep on our soft sandy site. Left 101 to ride for nearly 20 miles through a narrow valley between towering green mountains. We followed the Nehalem River and then a pebbly stream most of the way. The road meandered and was shoulderless but there was very little traffic.

Hwy 53 and the valley from both sides of the bridge

The beginning of a long hot climb, but the road was so beautiful it certainly took our minds off the climbing. Besides, we’d use a blackberry break as an excuse to stop and catch a breath. Disregard the date on the photo. Don't know how to get rid of that and it is printing the wrong date anyhow.

We stopped and picked blackberries, which grow large and thick along every roadside from BC to CA.  Roadside flowers in BC included sweetpeas and foxglove & even hydrangea in one area. Everywhere there is foxglove, large blue asters, and fireweed. In fact the fireweed was sending off seed flurries in WA. There are also Douglas firs, western hemlocks, sitka spruce, and western red cedars, as well as holly, mountain ash, alder, & birch.

We stopped as our guidebook advised at the Tillamook Cheese Factory—a real tourist trap. This did not stop us from watching the cheesemaking or from buying a block of sharp Tillamook cheddar, a container of horseradish cheese, and a bag of cheese curd. As soon as we got to camp we ate at least half of it.

Tillamook Cheese Factory, churning out huge blocks of yellow cheddar

Lots of new faces in camp tonight, including Debbie, who is biking to S.F. alone—for the fourth year in a row. She's about 30, I'd say. Also an old guy whom we haven't talked to. He's on a single speed with metal baskets.

We also stopped and I bought some coffee singles (coffee in tea-type bags) and a pair of sandals. Right now I am sitting on a giant beach log listening to the roar of the waves and waiting for the sun to slip below the horizon. Life is good.

Internet photos of Cape Lookout,
the one on the right with hang gliders

Miles:  48.34 miles
Route: Nehalem Bay to Cape Lookout; 48.34 miles on 101, 7th street, Mc Donald Rd, Hwy 53 and 101; several sweaty climbs, but nothing like the climbs that face us tomorrow
Weather: Cold and damp in the a.m. but sunny and warm in the afternoon, probably in the mid 70s.