Today we had to say goodbye to Lincoln City and our little cabin by the ocean.  Too bad we are not coming back through Lincoln City on the way home.  Apparently, they are having a 50% off their off-season prices deal next week.  That would make it about $30.00 a night for us.  Darn!

We were on the road early this morning for us.  We managed to get the bike loaded by 8:00 AM, including a cranky little dog who wanted to stay in bed.  We headed out under gray skies with a major Oregon winter storm chasing our tail.  It was all about getting through the storm front today and, hopefully, crossing the border into California.

We only took short breaks today.  We hit two espresso huts along the way, one in Florence and one in . . . in . . . oh, I can’t remember and Jeremy cannot remember either.  Apparently, these espresso huts are just as popular in Oregon as Washington.  Maybe it is a coastal, Highway 101 thing.  Whatever it is, we are enjoying them!  I actually learned how to hold Jeremy’s half-finished triple Americano coffee with my left hand and hold on to Jeremy with my right hand while weaving through the redwood forest of Highway 101.  I did not spill a drop!  And it really is not as dangerous as it sounds.  The coffee was cold and most of my balance on the bike comes from my legs and hips, not my arms anyway.

Don’t worry.  We are not living on caffeine either.  We stopped at a gas station in Port Orford to fill up the bike and Koira, as everywhere we go someone wants to give her a dog biscuit.  We have had to restrict it to one a day and say no to people, who then look as disappointed as Koira.  We asked the local attendant where the best place is to eat in his town.  He suggested The Crazy Norwegian down the street, so we decided to try it.  The locals always know where the best food is.  The Crazy Norwegian had fantastic chowder and homemade sourdough buns.  And we met a couple from British Columbia.  They were heading back from Reno in their camper van.

Our other memorable stop today was a small beach access area on the California coast just after we crossed the border.  There was no sunshine yet in California but we could see a promising band of light in the distance that we were hoping was our planned stop for the night.  On the way back to the bike, Jeremy decided to use the facilities.  Normally I would not mention this part of our day except that, just after he entered the bathroom, a huge California Forest Fire Services/Correctional Services armoured truck pulled into the rest stop where we were parked.  I found it a little interesting, but did not think much about it and sat down to wait for Jeremy.  The guards wandered around a bit, checked things out, and then unlocked the doors on the back of the truck.  Well, about 20 orange-clad inmates poured out from the back of the truck.  Guess where they were heading?  The men’s bathroom.  I think the guards were waiting for the bathroom to be clear before they let them go in, but I was a little concerned for Jeremy.  When he has all his rain and motorcycle gear on, he takes a long time in the bathroom.  I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Jeremy’s red and black rainsuit come around the corner BEFORE the inmates got a chance to go in to the bathroom.  Jeremy laughed at my concern.  He told me that I did not need to worry, because “he was not having a shower in there.”  Now, I had to laugh at that!

Unlike the inmates, we were free to leave the rest stop at our leisure.  A few of them were watching us put the dog on the bike.  I guess they will have something to talk about at dinner tonight.  They will probably be calling her “Fifi” in their story too.

After the rest stop, we had one last stretch of Highway 101 ahead of us before our stop for the night.  At Arcana, we caught up to the sun in the distance that we saw at the rest stop.  As we pulled into the parking lot at the Red Lion hotel in Eureka, the sun was still shining.  We were not sure they would have room for us at the hotel, though, as just as we were pulling into the hotel parking lot, two buses were pulling out from Utah that had just dropped off a whole load of college football players and their entourage.  And then you kind of think about rowdiness and noise even if they had room for us for the night.  Well, this hotel is huge.  It swallowed up the football players without a peep and, by the time we were walking to our room down the mile long hallway, there was no sign of a football player, coach, mascot, or groupie anywhere.  Where did they go?   Did they all go straight to their rooms to get a little study time in tonight?  Yes, that must be it.