20-aug-2022
I left Salem this morning and rode down the coastline to Gold Beach where I would meet up with my dear friend Ralph for the night and we would ride together the next day to his place. We’ve known each other since September 2001, and were riding together along the Pacific Coast Highway when the events of 9/11 unfolded. I lost a good friend in the events of 9/11 who was on United Airlines Flight 175, the second plane to impact the Twin Towers. Christoffer was on his way to Los Angeles to meet up with our group later in the week. It was a horrible event and the worst day imaginable, yet somehow an amazing friendship grew out of that event. Life is strange that way.
It was another cool and foggy morning, then the fog started to lift as the road veered inland. A few curves later and the road went back out to the coastline then I came out to this view.
Just wow… I had to stop and bask in this moment. The only way I can get a view at home with this much distance is to take an expensive elevator ride to the top of the CN Tower, and even then the view is filled with the infestation of mankind and it’s buildings, roads, and people.
But this… this is a view. And as it turns out pretty much all of the Oregon coast looks like this. It’s stunning. Endless beaches, piles of salt faded driftwood, and pine trees as far as the nose can smell or whatever that expression is.
I rode through Port Orford as well , and if you miss the sign entering town you’ll still know as there are numerous filthy dual sport and adventure bikes. These are the people who have finished the Trans America Trail, a collection of off road trials, gravel roads and minimal asphalt that starts on the east coast of the US and ends here in Port Orford. At the beginning of the trail townsfolk see clean riders on shiny bikes with excitement in their eyes. The folks in Port Orford get to see trail weary, potentially injured riders covered in dust and dried mud, some with enough bike damage to make you think they were sponsored by Zip Tie and Duct Tape.
Gold Beach is a nice little town, and it was great to meet up with Ralph. We couldn’t stop hugging each other. It’s been years since we’ve seen each other in person but we talk almost every day. We had a great long conversation at dinner while waiting two hours for it to be served at a local restaurant called Spinners. Yup, two hours. Turns out the kitchen was short staffed, and the manager never said a word when we entered. He made it the task of the serving staff to alert the diners about the delay once they were seated. There is no better sign of a lousy manager than one who makes the serving staff do his job. I feel bad for the servers. They are being shoved to the front line to take the brunt of complaints from the diners, for a situation they have no control over, resulting in lower tips and with these long delays they are turning far fewer tables in an evening, further reducing their tips. A real manager, or really any human being, would have been the one to warn customers about the delay upon entry, so they could make a decision. I have little respect for whoever was trying to run this place that night.
After two days of seeing the Pacific Ocean I really needed to go actually touch it. On the path down to the beach from our cabin I got to enjoy the work of natures best engineers, the typical spider. I’m in awe of the intricacy of the webs they weave, their size and the strength of their structure. Imagine having the spatial awareness required to build a web 4 feet off the ground, sometimes anchored to bushes or trees 6 feet apart, all while being a creature smaller than a dime.
It was early morning when I walked down to the beach and while the sun was out near me, in both directions the fog was still lingering. There were a few other people in the distance but overall it was a great feeling of solitude.
Time to hit the road! Next stop is Ralph’s house in Arcata, CA!