Winchester Bay, OR to Charleston, OR - 30 miles
When we left the campground this morning, the rain was just starting to fall. Luckily, it was only a mist and not a monsoon. We planned on getting soggy, but not soaked, damp, but not drenched. The only problem is that a mist while you're standing still turns into a monsoon when you're racing down hill.
MythBusters did an episode once where they tested if you would get wetter by walking through the rain or running. They concluded that you get wetter by running through the rain even if it does get you out of the rain sooner. Our experiment yielded the same conclusion. The faster we rode, the wetter we got. Within minutes we looked like we had been swimming. It was a blast!
Before crossing the bridge into North Bend and Coos Bay, Oregon, we stopped at the Bay Bridge Motel to use the restroom. It turned out to be a fortuitous stop. Bay Bridge Betty told us about a fabulous restaurant in town that we should visit. We took her advice and are so glad that we did. We rode up to the Crossroads Community Cafe and saw a sign in the window that said, "$1.50 Lamb Stew or Potato Leek Soup." The place is open for lunch only from 10am to 3pm. It's a non-profit that started to provide inexpensive, hearty meals for the local homeless and elderly populations, but they are open to the general public. Lunch included a beverage (coffee, tea, water or pink lemonade) with one free refill, a bowl of soup, bread and butter and a slice of pound cake for dessert. We ordered 4 bowls of the lamb stew and 3 of the potato leek soup for a grand total price of $10.50! Yes, I know there are only 4 of us, but our appetites are growing with all the extra exercise. The food was divine! Stephen and I both left in awe of the whole establishment and it's beautiful simplicity.
When the rain started in the morning, Stephen began researching options for this evening. Did we really want to stay in a tent during a downpour? Would it be better to spring for a hotel? Did the state campground we planned to stay at have any available yurts or cabins? The rain subsided within an hour however, so we stuck to our plan of tent camping. We had a lengthy stop in North Bend for lunch, a few groceries and a laundromat, with the weather cooperating the whole time. 2 miles from camp this evening, the rain started up again. Stephen made an unexpected turn into a county campground we saw along our route and asked if they had any cabins. The camp host said that he had just finished cleaning one that we could rent for the night.
Amazingly, he said that all of the cabins had been booked since May! This was the first opening in 4 months. We are now sitting in this snug little cabin singing "Count Your Many Blessings" to the percussion accompanyment of rain on the roof.
