• Start: Lincoln City, Oregon
• Finish: Florence, Oregon
• Distance: 123k
• Elevation: 990 meters

It was a very eventful day today. It was a pretty long day with some hills so there was lots of planning and discussion before the day ever began. Necla and I were on cook duty today, but we did our shopping yesterday and hoped to be able to ride some of the day. Some people were a little anxious about the long ride so Bruce divided the driving into 3 segments to allow people the opportunity to drive and shorten the ride.

Bruce and Ellie took the first third and we met them on the far side of Newport just before the Yaquina Bay Bridge. Lovely country along this section. We are starting to see more of the rugged coast that I usually associate with Oregon.

Just before Newport I went off the route a little bit to see the Yaquina Head lighthouse that was recommended. It was a nice little lighthouse and there was some beautiful scenery from that vantage point.

That is were things got interesting. Dave followed me to the lighthouse, but turned around when it was clear it was further than anticipated. No one saw him again for the rest of the day. He missed the planned coffee stop and the truck before the bridge. And we were all getting a bit worried. But we went on reminding ourselves That David was an experienced rider and he would show up somewhere down the road.

Necla drove the truck for the second leg. That section was also quite scenic, but also quite fast and flat. Bruce and I both admired a couple of the many splendid bridges they have in Oregon.

We stopped for lunch in Yachats and to switch drivers again. It was my turn to drive this leg. Before I could not finish lunch we got a message that Dawn had a flat and couldn’t repair the tire. I hoped in the truck and went back to find her. I drove all the way back to Newport looking for Dawn (and of course the missing David as well). Didn’t see either of them. Turned around and drove the 40k back to Yachats. About 2/3 of the way back I found Dawn. She had gotten her tire fixed and was moving fine. Picked her up and drove on to Yachats to rendezvous with Diane and Jean. There we got a message that Dave was behind us 10k. But since I had just driven that rode twice we (wisely) decided that information was not reliable. We got Dawn back on her bike to ride with Jean and picked up Diane and we all headed for Florence. We finally got to Florence to find Dave patiently waiting for us – wondering why it had taken us so long.

Hopefully tomorrow will go a wee bit smoother.