I had planned to take 2-3 days to reach Charleston. My plan was to avoid Portland, cross the Columbia at Longview, and cut out to Tillamook. Then spend a couple leisurely days riding down the coast. However, I sort of put out of my mind that the Seattle to Portland bicycle ride was on its last stretch to Portland and was also crossing at Longview. I followed bicyclists through town, and then just as I started up the Lewis and Clark Bridge for the ride into Oregon, the traffic came to a stop for the convenience of the bicyclists. This bridge is pretty steep, and once traffic started moving again, we were inching up the bridge. At one point, a huge RV ahead of me slammed on its brakes, causing me to do the same. Finally I rode down the other side and proceeded on. Down the road I went with hundreds of bicycles all along the shoulder. And lots of them not on the shoulder. I kept applying that cute little Kawasaki horn to tell them to stay where they were.
At Deer Island I stopped for gas, and to change from my leather jacket to my textile one. Looking at the map, I discovered that I had taken the wrong turn getting off the bridge and I was now headed back to Portland! Along with about a million bicycles! I decided not to turn back and proceeded down highway 30. Back onto I-5 south of Portland. I was finally free of the bicycles, but the temperatures were starting to rise and it was well into the 90's by this time. Finally I pulled off south of Tualatin, parked in a McDonald's, and spent about 2 hours inside eating lunch and cooling down. I napped for about a half hour on the grass there, drank an iced coffee, and felt ready to go on.
I thought I might stop in Salem, because it was still so hot in the valley, but I felt okay so I went on. The next consideration was Albany, but my brother lives there and I didn't want to run into him, so I moved along. I figured I would cut to the west south of Albany and spend the night in Corvallis, but when I got to Corvallis I just kept going. I was on my way to the coast! It was still pretty warm out, but as I started over the coast range, it started to cool down. The last few miles down to Newport, it was definitely getting cooler. As soon as I entered town, I felt the wind hit me. I got gas and decided not to go over the bridge that day. Newport was a good place to spend the night. It was so windy that it was hard to walk down the street for dinner! I found a room at the Econolodge. The lady at the desk told me there was a good place right outside my room where I could park my bike semi under cover. Poor Max..it was his first night out in the open!
The next morning, the wind was gone and we moved along down the road.