Day 10. Half day

After arriving in Yachats (I've been reliably informed it's pronunced Yah-hots by the locals.. although if that is the case why spell it Yachats.. anyway..) late last night I didn't really want to spend a rest day there. It was another town that is probably bustling in the summer but a pretty dour place when it's grey and rainy. I thought the best thing to do would be to head to Florence, about 25 miles further down the coast, as it is a bigger place and also has a bike shop.



I had the impression that as it was only 25 miles today would seem very easy and almost like a half day at work. How wrong I was. It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that the weather is playing a big part in my ability to get anywhere fast, and more importantly, without getting wet. I am becoming obsessed with the weather reports, however I had not checked todays weather. Why bother? It's only a couple of hours in the seat.

Today was probably the toughest days cycle so far. Driving rain and a headwind, along with the fact that none of my clothes had dried properly from yesterday, combined with a terrible nights sleep and a lack of any decent breakfast options made it a struggle. A real struggle. Added to all of this, the road was not the best; it's amzing how different a smooth road is to a rough road. There was also a long stretch with no hard shoulder and because of this I almost got flattened by a truck! There was lots of nice looking scenery, had it not been foggy again! There were also Sealion caves about halfway between Yachats and Florence, but being sodden and hungry I didn't really feel like prolonging the ride by stopping to look at them.

Regardless, I got to Florence at about 2 in the afternoon and checked into a decent looking motel, so tomorrow will be my second rest day of the trip so far. Only 28.31 miles on the speedo, but it felt a hell of a lot more!