May 29 (The Journey begins)

I somehow managed to wake up at 6 a.m. today – and to mercifully blue skies no less! Wonderful. After a eating a quick breakfast of pasta and repacking all my things I was on my way!

The pump manager had indicated that a beach was nearby the campsite, so obviously that was the next thing on my list. And, after about 20 minutes of nerve wracking waiting (I had left my gear hidden but unattended behind some sand dunes), I got a nice lady to take my picture.

I chose to take a different road back to Eugene, thinking that 60 miles on a main road should be easier than 80 in the back country. Still not sure if I made the right decision. To be sure, the roads were better maintained (and had more traffic as a result), but it had its own share of difficulties...

It had two really steep really long climbs that almost killed me; on each I had to get out and catch my breath for a minute a few times. The first climb was particularly hellacious, from my logs it looks like 500 feet up in the span of a mile or two.

The funny thing is that I never saw those hills coming. There's this weird effect you get riding on a bike through very slowly rolling hills through the forest: you lose the ability to gauge what the slope of the road is. Because you are effectively at a fixed angle to the road at all times ... and you can't see much further than a few hundred feet of the road at a time ... and because there is never quite a perceptible change in the slope ... you quickly lost that perspective. As result there were many points throughout the day where I was riding up a hill and really thought I was on a descent and why can't I seem to pick up any speed!?

None of this was particularly improved by the fact that it was raining. This was less of an issue than I had expected, as the Gore-Tex helmet cover, booties and the gear my dad forced me to buy (coat and pants) kept me completely dry. I do wish the weather hadn't alternated between soaking and roasting me every hour or so, though.

Hours later, completely exhausted I arrived at the hostel and – Bam! They're out of rooms. Greaaat. Quickly checked my map and picked a new hotel. Ten minutes of unexpected riding later I had my new room. After dinner and a bath (somewhat simultaneously) I turned in for the night. I think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.