Oregon Coast 2011 Day 3 Manzanita to Cape Lookout

Kevin and Jo: We got on the road earlier today, but stopped in less than a mile for breakfast at the Big Wave Cafe. Breakfast was good, although it took forever to get our meal. I guess everything is on "Oregon Coast Time". We met a guy at breakfast that was riding from San Diego with the ultimate goal of Seattle, but ran out of time so he called his wife to drive down from West Seattle to pick him up. He said the headwinds all the way up the coast were brutal. He said he was excited to see his dog...I kinda think he was happier to see his dog more than his wife!

After breakfast we rode through Nehalem, where I saw the Tsunami Bar. I liked the sign, which featured the Tsunami evacuation route sign wave with a guy running from it heading to the bar.

The ride from there to Tillamook was mostly flat, and relatively uneventful. There was road striping going on, so the work crews kept traffic slow and calm, making the ride along Hwy 101 less stressful. One dumb woman in the line of traffic yelled at Jo twice telling her to stay on the right side of the fog line.

In Tillamook we stopped for lunch at the Local Doghouse for a hotdog. The owner, Ray was really friendly and said that he eats one of his hotdogs everyday for breakfast. He said in the last year his cholesterol has dropped from 250 to 140!

After Tillamook we headed to Cape Lookout via the Netarts Highway, as a slide had closed the route around Cape Meares. We had hoped to ride that route because in 2008 Alan and I didn't ride it because it was too foggy.

The one moderate climb on the Netarts Highway went by easily, and we met a couple from Portland out for a 2 day bike tour. We rode with Fred and Cheryl to the campground, where we got our cabin and they went to the biker/hiker campsites.

Janet: After Kevin and Jo left, I walked around to see the sights of Manzanita. I visited Nehalem Bay State Park. There are lots of horse trails around this park. I walked a short bit on a horse trail which eventually would end at the North Jetty but decided it was not the best trail to be on so headed towards the beach. Shoes filled up with sand which ended up in the car as well - Darn sand! Back on the road, I stopped in at the General Store/Emporium in Nehalem to find a whisk broom to clean out the car. I met up with Jo and Kevin in Tillamook for a hot dog. They were really good – hot dogs wrapped in homemade bread with Tillamook cheese. So good that we bought three to go for a late night snack. A couple of things we saw along the way, a Sprinter Van with what I hope to be the color we ordered and a trailer for Herbie and Libby to pull behind their Subaru.

We all met up at the Cape Lookout campground, where Jo had reserved a Rustic Yurt. Jo was lamenting the fact that the Yurt did not have a bathroom in it, so she asked the Ranger if there were any Deluxe Cabins available and it sure would be nice to have a bathroom. He said “What did you say?” and replied I just got off the phone with a cancellation of a cabin. At that point, a big smile came across Jo’s face and she said "I’ll take it". The people standing in line behind her were very sad because they wanted the cabin. Our cabin wasn’t ready so we decided to take a short hike on the North Trail which heads towards the Cape. It turned out the trail was steeper than we thought and gained 550 ft in a short distance. Jo was thinking – I just got done riding my bike for 40 miles, why am I hiking! We ran into the road and decided to take it back to the campground. It was the same road/hill that Jo and Kevin would be riding up the next morning. As we walked down the hill, Jo cleaned the road of debris that might be in her way. She didn’t want anything on the hill in her way that might cause a spill. Once we got back, our cabin was ready so we unloaded the car and then started our search for a place to eat. First stop was the Schooner in Netarts. We sat down looked at the very pricey menu with virtually nothing that Kevin could eat (all shellfish meals), so we left and headed towards Tillamook. Jo spotted Kendra’s Kitchen so we turned in. It had a better menu and the food was quite tasty. Satisfied, we headed back to the cabin. At the cabin, I noticed the bathroom sink was clogged so it was Handyman (aka Kevin) to the rescue. With the sink fixed, he moved onto changing his tire and then it was off to bed for all.