A busy and eventful day

This morning we headed straight into the old town of Florence, to see (and be part of) the big gathering of motorcyclists for Rhody Days. It was pretty quiet when we got there before 9 am. The locals suggested there were two reasons for this - the first was the rain, and the second was that a large contingent of bikers had partied late into the previous night, and were presumably still asleep We hung around for a while until we met a couple of lovely ladies who showed us the program for Rhody Days. Apparently the assembly of bikers is an unofficial event. However, the official "show and shine" display of cars at the Three Rivers Casino was getting underway so we rode over there. With all the wet weather (again), it was more of a "rain and shine" event, but there were some really impressive cars there, including a 1935 Auburn.

We spent some time ogling the many cars before heading back to the old town. It was still rather quiet, so we did another lap of the stalls we visited yesterday. At one, we got talking to Ron Pierron who had a motorcycle mounted on a special trailer rig such that punters could (for a price) try their hand at pulling wheelies in complete safety. It had a rigid mount for the rear axle (about which the bike could pivot and the rear tyre was mounted on a roller that acted as a rolling road. A safety strap at the front prevented the bike from toppling completely over. Check it out at http://www.balancepointent.com/.

We had a late breakfast while waiting for the 5000 bikes we expected to see, then went out and wandered around the main street again. We spent some time chatting to some lovely folks who rode a Harley, and to another group of blokes who had served in the US Air Force and flown to bases around Australia. It was after noon, and there were only about 50 bikes there. We decided not to wait any longer, and just as it started raining again we got on our bike to head out of town.

A few minutes later as we were riding up 101 in the rain, a car came slowly out of a side street on our right. I fully expected the driver to wait for us at the stop sign, but as we got closer he (or she) just kept coming out towards us. When it became apparent he wasn't going to stop, I figured I was likely to hit the side of the car if I braked, so I swerved and somehow got around in front of it, but he didn't miss us by much. I pulled over in shock, and a following driver stopped to check I was alright. I was really angry that I had not been concentrating fully and taken avoidance measures earlier. I was also peeved that on account of the rain I didn't have my helmet mounted camera on to record the event.  We later heard a motorcyclist had been knocked off his bike the previous night in Florence, but we have no further information. We hope he is OK

We continued north up 101 in the rain, but by the time we got to the Seal Cave about 11 miles out of Florence, it was easing to a drizzle. We spent some time there and visited the cave, reached by an elevator that goes 208 ft down through the cliff. The noise of all the Steller seals was really loud, and there was a strong fishy smell to the cave, but it was a great experience.

The entry to the cave was at a point that allows a wonderful view of the Heceta Head lighthouse, claimed to be the most photographed lighthouse in the world. We did our bit to ensure the claim was upheld. The longer we stayed there the more the weather improved, and every successive photo was better than the previous.

By the time we were ready to ride on, the weather had completely changed and the sun was shining brightly in an almost cloudless sky. We were starting to get hot in our wet weather gear, and it was tempting to take it off. A bit further up the road we stopped for lunch at the very pretty town of Yachats. From there we continued to make good time up 101 through the large and not-so-pretty town of Lincoln City. We stopped for a rest in Hebo, and our decision to stay in our wet weather gear was vindicated when it started yet again.

We discussed whether we would go into Astoria for the night (as planned) or stay in a smaller town south of there in the hope of getting cheaper lodgings. We decided to stop at Manzanita Beach, but the only room we found there was way over our budget, so we turned back south 7 miles to Rockaway Beach where there was a greater choice of motels and we found a comfortable and affordable room. When we went to buy pizza or something like that for dinner at the nearby convenience store, we discovered they had freshly cooked crabs, so we yielded to temptation and bought one that weighed nearly 2 lbs to share. It tasted wonderful! We explored the huge, barren beach. Vegetation on the sand dunes is very low. The buildings (many of them to let) looked bleak and alone on the huge sandy beach but the area must be full of life during the summer.

The hills and plants are much smaller in scale in this area, The coast is much more accessible, with a few people line fishing off the rocks or walking on the much lighter, fine and yellowish sand.