The Portland-Eugene leg of the trip is hopefully our last major stretch of freeway we attempt. The Sherpa is not a freeway king and the freeways are just boring with way too many cars. Headwind going down I-5 was even worse than the first day making our journey that much slower. When we finally took our Harrisburg exit, the north-bound wind made it so we had to lean way over to stay vertical.

We met up with Sue, Tom, and family, so great to catch up with them again. They graciously offered for us to crash there for the night. Then we took off to Springfield to meet Chris and Danielle and their cutie little daughter. Chris started up gaming/comic shop in Springfield and it looks great! Lastly we went to Pizza Research Institute in Eugene to see Jake, Allison, and Paige. It was rad catching up with so many people from what feels like my past-life and to see them all doing so well.

Monday morning, March 3rd, we went to Wandering Goat for coffee and to REI for a backpack cover for Emily. My pack has been somewhat successful in staying dry with a poncho tied around it, while her garbage-bag setup has been lackluster. This new Osprey cover did not do any better.

Driving from Eugene to Florence was quite the welcome change in roads. Windy and single lane with lots of mossy forests to look at is much better than car after car. The rain kept pretty steady the whole way until about 10minutes away from Florence we had an intense downpour. Ignoring the puddles forming in my shoes and jeans soaking through, I find riding in the pouring rain to be really exciting. We stopped at Fred Meyer in Florence to dry off a bit and grab lunch. Emily had the brilliant idea to warm/dry her gloves in the hot-chicken case.

Now we’re down by Coos Bay, occupying a Yurt in Sunset Cove Park. Spoiled by an electric heater we’ve strung all our gear around to dry. We did sneak our way through some private property to a secluded beach to run around and toss a Frisbee for a bit before coming back to the yurt to break in our MSR Whisperlite International stove that can burn unleaded gas, made a lovely top-ramen and chicken-sausage dinner. Attempting to trek down to the Redwoods next.