Eugene to Florence: Guarda! Firenze è d'oro !

83 mi, the BIG day.

Today started very poorly. Pat actually slept outside. Yesterday I almost had to take Pat to the emergency room because of his allergies, and it turned out that what ever he was allergic to was coming from the room we were sleeping in. Poor guy.
My breaks have been worn down to the skin of their teeth. So i switched them out w new pads but seriously screwed up something because they were either wayyyy too loose or rubbing. I was frustrated because it was very hot and we were already running late on what we thought was supposed to be a big 72 mi across the hills to get to the coast.
At breakfast a bike shop bro saw our touring set up and asked us about our trip. I told him we were doing hyw 126. He said "oh, you don't want to do that" and offered me a slew of directions that would lead me to hwy 36, which was a much safer alternative. I was a bit agitated because I've read a ton of blogs about 126. People say its a little hairy but there's always a shoulder. So i dismissed his advice and we headed east towards 126. I was uncomfortably hot, grumpy, and brake-less.
Right before we were going to turn on to the road that would bring us to 126, i heard myNannan, "Sam,  I don't usually use this word, but you are being stupid." Nannan is right, i thought, so i unclicked from my pedals and low and behold, I was next to a bike shop. We went in and the dude fixed my bike for free, so I bought a map and a new pair of sunglasses. He gave me the same advice about 36 over 126 and this time I took it seriously. It required us to go about 15 miles NORTH, which, if you haven't been paying attention, is THE WRONG DIRECTION!!! I hated biking north, and it was uphill and the wind was blowing us back.
After a grueling 1200 ft climb we reached Triangle Lake, and it made all the unfortunate events leading up to it worth it.



I did this




The second half of the day was much easier, but still difficult considering one half was 40+ miles. It was beautiful though; our traffic-free highway snaked around a river flowing from the lake. Really good smells.



As we approached florence we could feel the ocean looming. It got cold real fast.
The ocean was exciting, but so was seeing 101 because we are gonna spend almost the rest of the trip on it.



Tonight we are staying with another couch surfing homie. Spider, 67, is a nam vet who has build his own solar panel supported house in the middle of the woods. He's one of the raddest people I have ever met, and his house is beautiful.

I am exhausted so I'm going to bed.
Sam

Not so PP moment of the day
When ordering a 10 dollar glass of single malt whiskey, the waitress asked Pat if he wanted it neat. I saw the baffled look in Patrick's eyes and quickly covered for him. After sparing him some embarrassment, i quietly explained some whiskey terminology to my good wanna-be snob friend.