Nicest Time of the Year

On the road again! I got a ride down to Astoria on Friday where I met Jon and Lilia. Leaving Olympia was more emotional and tear-filled than expected, but this is what I want to be doing right now...
I started laughing hysterically as we were biking yesterday. In conditions that would normally lead me to put on my fuzzy red pants and torn up blue hoodie, cuddle up in blankets with someone I love, drink hot cocoa, tell stories, laugh, maybe watch a movie and make delicious lentil vegetable soup, I suddenly found myself biking up and down hills on the Oregon coast. I could barely see through the rain, the wind was nearly knocking me over. Perfect. The forecast says rain rain and rain for the next days, but yesterday was supposed to be the worst of it, and it should clear up as we get further south. Before I began this journey, Lilia assured me this is the "nicest time of the year" on the Oregon coast. We make sure to laugh about that often.
It has become clear that we will be covering ground slower than we were this summer, at least until we get a bit further south. It's cold in the mornings and hard to start early, it's quite hilly, it's rainy and windy and cold, and it gets dark early. Note to self and others it may pertain to: Biking down the Oregon coast in October=rain+wind+cold+hills.
But in all seriousness, the riding is absolutely beautiful and we continue to have fun and meet awesome people. We stopped at a favorite spot of Jon's and hung out at the beach, hiked around a bit, we stayed with some former Greeners in Astoria and at a collective house of friendly people in Nehalem. Yesterday we were teeth-chatteringly cold and wet once we stopped biking and we wanted to be warm and dry so we gave in and spent what amounted to over half of our current group funds on a hotel room...in doing so, we managed to turn off the rain and bring out the blue skies! ha, but let me tell you, we lived it up...TV, microwave dinners, hot tub, sauna, showers, heat...
We are in Tilamook now (we went to the cheese factory!) and looking forward to more biking and more beautifulness and awesomeness. I'm excited to be on the road again, having new adventures, seeing new places, meeting new people, eating bread and hummus and chips and salsa and drinking $3 wine, just like the old days...

Take care, post comments, send e-mails, etc.
Love,
Kaite