military acronyms
Starting location: Pelican Shores Inn, Lincoln City, OR
Ending location: Cape Perpetua Campground
End of day cumulative mileage: 395.0
There’s a couple of military acronyms that I really like. The first is SNAFU. It stands for Situation Normal: All F’d Up. That’s pretty much what the last few days have felt like. There’s been some sort of bike problem, from bent racks to flat tires every single day up until now. This morning, just a few blocks away from the motel, I had another flat. I discovered that the sidewall on my tire had ruptured, which caused the tube inside to be exposed. The tire probably got damaged when I rode on the gravel road the day before. I needed a new tire. I looked on my phone for a bike shop, unfortunately the nearest one was in Newport, over 20 miles away. I used my patch kit to patch the hole in my tire, then used a dollar bill around the tube to give it a little more protection. I forget where I picked up this trick, probably from one of the biking or outdoor magazines I get from time to time. It’s gotten me out of a few tough spots and this time it got me safely down the road to Newport where I picked up a new tire and a few extra tubes.
The second military acronym I like is FUBAR, which stands for F’d Up Beyond All Repair. Although I’ve had some setbacks, nothing has happened so far that has made me or my bike FUBAR. Let’s hope things stay that way.
Actually, things have been looking up. The scenery has been absolutely beautiful today. I’ve been passing through numerous small coastal towns, and each has its own distinct character. The riding hasn’t been too difficult, although it looks like tomorrow will be tough. According to my guidebook, the next 20 miles are some of the steepest sections of highway, with little to no shoulders, which makes it the most dangerous section of the Oregon Coast. But I’ll worry about that tomorrow. I stopped early today so my legs will be fresh for that section.
Tonight I’m spending the night at a campsite called Cape Perpetua. It’s a small federal campsite, but it’s quite nice, with a lot of cool stuff packed into a small area. There’s a tidal pool, a visitor center overlooking the beach below, and a lookout point on top of the mountain. Since I figured I probably wouldn’t ever come here again, I decided to race up the hill to the lookout point to catch the sunset.
The trail was steeper than I thought it would be, and rocky at some points, but surprisingly my thin soled Vibram five finger shoes held up pretty well.
From the trail I could see why tomorrow’s riding would be tough. The road ahead turns into a narrow winding road. It looks like it would be tough, but the views would be worth it.
I was able to make it to the lookout point well before sunset. At the top there’s a stone hut from where you can see for miles down the coast. I talked to an old man there, he said this was the best spot to watch the sunset on the entire Oregon Coast. I believed him. It was a pretty nice spot. He said it had taken him three hours to drive there from Portland but it was all worth it. It had taken me three full days on my bicycle. Was it still worth it?
I think so, although you’ll have to take my word for it. The crappy picture from my crappy camera really doesn’t do the scene justice. I wish I had brought my SLR.
After sunset I hiked back down the trail by an almost full moon. The moon through the trees was quite spectacular.
I’m hoping that this is a turning point in my ride. Instead of days of SNAFUs I’m hoping for days of SNAGs. SNAGs is Situation Normal: All Good. That one’s not a military acronym, it’s a stupid acronym I made up. But I’m seriously hoping it’s all good from here.
