PACIFIC OCEAN (Heceta Beach RV Park – Florence, OR)

This afternoon Chris officially finished the journey, making it to the Pacific Ocean. I will tell you all about it, but first – the rundown on the last day or two.

Yesterday morning we left Blue River and headed to Eugene. It was a lighter day of riding for Chris, so we had the afternoon and evening to explore the city, home of the University of Oregon Ducks. Eugene has been named one of the Top 10 most bicycle friendly cities in the U.S., so we wanted to get a feel for it.

Chris was really hungry by the time we met up with him, and his choice for lunch was The Sizzler. We had never been, only heard of it, and he thought we should try it. If you’ve ever had a deep burning desire to see what The Sizzler is all about, I’m here to let you know that you are not missing much. The food was average, and the prices were pretty high I thought. I guess if you are a high quantity eater, you could get your money’s worth. Chris got the Malibu Chicken, which he said was pretty good. I had the fish and chips, just ok.

Afterwards we stopped by Camping World to get an item or two for the RV to make sure it is 100% ready for the big sale this week. August was falling asleep by the time we left the store, so we were all able to sneak in a nap in the parking lot with the generator on to keep us cool. There are some true conveniences to having an RV!

We had to go see Hayward Field, as the University of Oregon center is the Track & Field capital of America. Chris has coached middle school track for the 9 years he’s been at Avon, so it was neat for him to see the premiere facility.

Then we hopped on our bikes and rode through campus, stopping at a great little trattoria in an old converted house. We are feeling celebratory for being so close to the end, so we each got a big plate of pasta. Fettuccine carbonara for Chris, and egg noodles with a hearty tomato sauce and chianti braised beef for me. Both were excellent, and worth us taking turns the whole time placating a feisty little boy.

We camped just outside of Eugene, and this morning Chris took off relatively early to try to beat the heavy traffic he knew he would face on his last highway. It did have a very large shoulder, which was redeeming.

Meanwhile, August and I had a big breakfast to honor the last riding day. We came across a little restaurant a few miles from the campground called Our Daily Bread, which used to be a church. It still had the beautiful stained glass windows and wooden beams forming the vaulted ceiling.

Since it was a big day for us, Auggie got the special – a scrambled egg, bacon and a white chocolate raspberry pancake. I got a combination breakfast that was filling and delicious. We ate like kings today!

A short while later we found ourselves in Florence, meeting up with Chris in a parking lot just a couple miles from the ocean. Chris really wanted us to ride the last stretch with him, and we were happy to oblige. It was a beautiful cruise there, and August and I enjoyed the breezes.

Finally, we made it to a jetty and made the long walk out to the beach. Much of Oregon’s coast is rocky and/or not accessible, so we went out of the way to go to a park with sand and everything. It was beautiful, and surreal to be there. We agreed afterwards that it was almost anticlimactic as it hasn’t sunk in that it’s done, but we did have a great afternoon at the beach.

After dipping the front tire in, of course we had to do the ceremonial dipping of the August.

He had an absolutely blast rolling around in the sand, crawling in it, heading back to the ocean again and again to get his feet in the wet sand and feel the waves crash over him. What a beach baby he is!

We celebrated with an afternoon snack afterwards, and then rested for a little while before meeting up with Chris’ cousin Sam and his wife RaeShannon (sorry if I butchered the spelling!) for dinner at the Bridgewater Ocean Fresh Fish House. Chris had not seen him since he was 10, so it was really great to catch up and swap stories. RaeShannon is actually from Covington, so it was pretty funny to have two Cayuga-ites and two Covington-ites mixing it up on the Oregon coast.

Chris got a bowl of clam chowder while I got crabcakes, and we both enjoyed big salads. A great way to end a momentous day!