Day 5

We woke up that morning to the sound of rain outside our window. It was dark in the room and we felt warm. What time is it? It feels a little after or projected 8:00. We looked at the clock to see it was 10:15. Oh shit! I went to the bike to put some thing in the pannier and found shallow layer of slush covering the parking lot. I brushed the snow off of the bike attempting to make use of the wet paper towels that had been stored in Chris's blue hiking/camping backpack. We moved slowly, packing and put on our mostly dried clothing. I put two pairs of socks on, and wrapped my feet in garbage bags. I put on my "not so waterproof" water proof pants followed by my gasoline smelling jacket. The gloves had shrunk slightly from the soaking and drying process from the previous day. We didn't hit the road until 11:30.



Driving was wet as usual and very cold. The temperature had dropped and the snow level couldn't have been more than 500 feet. We drove through the morning gloom along the coast. The scenery was incredible. The sea was a mystic green and white as waves roared into shore, crashing through the giant rocks that littered the shallow waters. Cars screamed past as we passed through micro climes when the road pulled away from the water and swooped into green vallies with surging streams and full rivers. Sometime we would ascend into the snow level and riding on a dusting of snow or in the thick slush. Progress was cautious and slow.

We stopped three times that day roughly every 40 miles to warm our soaked hand and rise our core temperatures. The first stop we ate breakfast in Bandon and overheard stories of more snow. This wasn't encouraging. The road turned out to be better to the South until it began to get extremely windy on the coast. Gusts of 30 miles per hour hammered our bikes as we traveled conservatively in the middle of the lane. We took extra cautions on the corners where we here rumors of centerline cutting RV travel in the area. We passed over bridges fearing on-coming traffic and praying for pavement instead of steel grate and violent wind. Just before we reached Brookings, our second stop and huddle point, we found a relatively high pass where the snow levels were becoming concerning. In Brookings and had some warm coffee liquor drinks followed by a soup and desert. We decided to continue after talking to the waitress about the road to crescent city.

The conditions mediated and a bit of sun peaked through the clouds on our jaunt across the Oregon California border. We were warned by the guard that the road to Eureka was snowed in and we should not to attempt the drive. The roads widened in California and the speed limit jumped from 55Mph to 65Mph. Shortly after we arrived in Crescent City; Chris insisted that we get lodging with a fire place to dry our clothes. We found a nicer hotel on the coast and managed to knock $60 off the $140 dollar going rate. It was Sunday night in out-of-tourist season. We pull the trigger on that one, they had a sauna, breakfast and internet access.

That night was spent relaxing in the sauna and pool, followed by eating granola bars and raiding of the breakfast facilities for something that resembled dinner and capped it off with some internet usage. I also plotted the rout on my GPS from Mazatlan to Zihuatenejo. A bit a pre-packing for the next day and we were fast asleep.

137 miles in total