Monday, 18. August 2008.
I wake up quite early (for me). It's barely 9 am. I get to check my mail and see that David from Coos Bay has written me back. There are good chances I have a place to stay in Coos Bay.
I check that bag of pennies and count 148 pieces! Wow! That doesn't account for much money ($ 1.48) but I wonder what was somebody doing with a bag of pennies. Some were even quite old. From the 60's. Oh well.
The sky is gray but it doesn't mean it's necessarily going to rain. I get ready, chat to the guy who lives upstairs, leave a note for Sherman, grease my bike chain and get on the road.
The stories about the bad road between Eugene and Florence (my next stop) scared me a bit last night, but at least I know what to expect. Plus I started my biking quite early today so I should be in Florence before it gets dark.
There's a bit of the wind, and although I'm riding different direction from the previous days (west) it's still against me. By the time I get to my first stop, about 35 kilometers later, it's already raining a bit.
I get a burrito and some tater tots and keep on going. It keeps raining on and off. If it wasn't for the rain and the wind, this would be the most beautiful part of my trip so far.
Just as the rain starts being a serious pain in the ass, I ride by two hitchhikers. I feel so sorry they have to hitchhike in the rain in the middle of nowhere. Plus how likely it is that someone would just pick them up here in the middle of the woods. They'll be wet by the time they get a ride. I wave at them and say something; they wave back.
The road is winding a lot and goes up and down the hills. Sometimes the shoulder is almost inexistent and I have to ride on the road. The rain intensifies. The wind does too. The road is wet and slippery and the rain hits my face hard. Dang, it doesn't take much more for the worst case scenario.
I feel I'd better hide for a while. I see a sign for a camp. The ramp goes downhill so I follow it to the first building and take a shelter.
I stay there for a while hoping the rain will stop, or at least slow down.
Some guy approaches me. He asks me if I had spoken to anyone. Well, no I haven't. He says I can stay there for a little while, but I can't wait there for the rain to stop or slow down because the camp is private.
I say it's OK, but really wonder what's wrong with this guy. There's rain blasting outside and all I'm doing is taking a shelter. How wrong can it be?
I prepare myself for the rain and get ready to go. He's back. He's making sure I'm not staying any longer. He starts asking questions about the trip and so forth. Then he says, I'd give you a ride to Mapleton (about 10 km away) if I weren't so tired. I say it's OK. 5 more minutes of chat and he decides he's not that tired anymore and offers to ride me to Mapleton. After all, he's not all that bad, I think.
He comes over with his pick up truck. We put the bike on the truck and hit the road. We're in Mapleton in about 5 minutes (probably about 40 minutes ride for me). He decides he's actually going to drive me to Florence (another 20 kilometers). Wow! I wonder why he had to act like an ass first to make up for it later.
We chat about the war in ex-Yugoslavia and about the religion (the guy belongs to the Baptist church) and get to Florence really quickly.
He drops me off and drives back to the campground. I'm happy I got to Florence alive and maybe even sooner than I expected. I imagine the guy is happy for this random act of kindness towards a complete stranger. The rain has definitely slowed down and I first look for a Mexican restaurant to eat something. Then I find a cheap hotel and crash for the night.