The Battle With the Trash Pandas
“Oh, and we have a raccoon problem.”, they said. Must have been on my mind when I went to bed. At about 11:00, I woke up with a start, because a trash panda was pushing on the side of my tent under the vestibule. I knocked over my chair that I had forgotten I had put there out of the rain. Did I scare the trash panda away…or was there ever one there???
Later, at about 3:00, I sat bolt upright again thinking was hearing a trash panda messing around near the vestibule. Again, no trash panda. Finally, I realized, it was the wind. The wind had pushed my chair into the side of my tent, making me think is was a raccoon. The wind was flapping the vestibule making me think, again, it was a raccoon.
While there may not have been a trash panda messing with my tent, one did pull my empty platypus container out of my pannier pocket, and puncture a hole in it…great. I should be able to fix it with some Tenacious tape. Also, Doug kept waking up to find the stuff in his vestibule having been dragged out.
The food was all in the critter locker, but trash pandas will be trash pandas (even though it’s not food or trash)!
The End
On with Day 4, where we go from Cape Disappointment to Nehalem Bay.
Once again, we had to pack up in the rain. For me it was standing around in my poncho, interspersed with flurries of activity when the rain would lighten up. Finally, we managed to get everything packed up, and on the road just after 8:00.
We had about 14 miles to the Astoria Megler Bridge over the Columbia River. Along the way, we stopped at Fort Columbia to eat a snack before we crossed the bridge.
The old fort buildings.
Then we went through the first tunnel. There is a button to push to activate lights that tell drivers there is a cyclist in the tunnel. This one wasn’t too bad because it wasn’t uphill. The traffic going through is deafening though.
Tunnel goes under the fort.
We pulled off before the bridge to take some photos.
Pano of the bridge.
Going across the bridge was not too bad. It was windy, but less once we were on the flat part. There were plenty of cars, but not usually coming from both directions at once. Most gave us plenty of room. The worst part is the if hill at the end. However, today was great because they were doing construction work, and there were flaggers. They were kind enough to let us up and over while keeping the cars stopped. Flagger actually told me to take my time! It was a lot less stressful.
The construction was right at the beginning of the climb.
Bridge facts.
Once we got across the bridge, we were officially on the TransAm Route, but only briefly, because we needed to go to Fred Meyer in Warrenton to get more food (panniers are so heavy again). We went over theYoung’s Bay Bridge.
We spent probably 45 minutes wandering the aisles of Fred Meyer, deciding what we wanted. Doug even got a new watch! It’s hard not to get too much food when there are so many choices. We restocked up on veggies. It’s nice having two because we can split stuff.
It was noon when we left Fred Meyer. We decided we would have lunch in Seaside which was 8 miles away. At first, the Prom in Seaside was pretty deserted. But, as we got to the touristy part there were more people. Talked to a couple from Minneapolis at the statue of Lewis and Clark.
Doug and the bikes with L&C.
After Seaside, we pulled into Cannon Beach. We stopped and saw Julie, who owns the quilt shop. I always stop and say hi when I’m riding through. Julie told us about the stairs that go down to the beach right in front of Haystack Rock. We rode there, and Doug walked out to the ocean. It’s his first time at the Pacific. He saw the couple we had met at Seaside.
Doug walking out.
I stayed on the stairs, because I didn’t want to get sand in my cleats.
Just down the road at Tolovana Wayside, we rode down on the beach to dip our rear wheels in the Pacific (so much for not getting sand in my cleats).
Tolovana bun bun
A guy took our photo for us.
At the Wayside, we also had a snack to fortify us for the remaining climbs (and to eat some of the food so we wouldn’t have to carry it up those limbs). Then it was Arch Cape, and the tunnel.
Doug getting ready to push the button. This tunnel is uphill, and equally as deafening as the other one. Cars are supposed to go 30 mph when a cyclist is in the tunnel. Didn’t seem like too many followed that rule.
We got up to the viewpoint that looks down to Manzanita. From there we didn’t have too far to go to get to Nehalem Bay.
View spot.
We arrived at 6;45 after riding 58.5 miles, our longest day so far (I’m sure we will break that). It’s after 11:00 now, and I need to go to sleep. Oh, and of course, it rained going up the long climb, and this evening. Word is it’s going to be nicer the next couple of days. I’ll be happy when Junuary is over!
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