Reasons 2423 - 2753

When we left Reedsport we had a long day ahead of us. We planned to travel almost 83 miles to Port Orford, which seemed manageable even though much of the Pacific Coast Highway is very hilly. We were making pretty decent time when it started to rain. The two of us pulled over and got into full rain gear: Helmet covers, rain jackets, rain pants and shoe covers.

Before we geared up I had my jacket strapped down with the same bungee cords I used on the top of my rear rack to hold down my dromedary water sack. When we started riding again, I neglected to pull the bungee cords tight again. Within a couple miles one of the cords fell down beside my back wheel and got caught up in my disc brake. Before I even knew what had happened the cord got pulled so tight it snapped in half and broke one my spokes. The broken spoke clinked around and got my attention. I pulled over to take a look. While I was waiting for Collin to realize I was missing and come back I pulled out some duct tape and taped the loose spoke to another one, so it wouldn’t clank around.

The two of us figured we were a little more than ten miles outside of the town of Bandon. We figured that my wheel would stay true long enough for us to get to town and find a dry place to tinker with replacing the spoke. We got back on the bikes and tried to take it a little bit slower, just to be safe. Collin got a ways ahead of me once again.

For a brief moment I took a glance down between my legs at my wheel to see how it was holding up. At the same time I swerved just to my right. My front panniers hit the guard rail. Both me and my bike went flying. The fall is mostly a blur in my mind because it happened so quick. I can’t really say how exactly my body and the bike went, but as soon as I was on the ground I got back up. I knew that it was dangerous for me to be sprawled out on the pavement even if most of me was on the shoulder.

I stood my bike up and looked for Collin. Immediately, I felt really nauseous and super faint. I sidestepped my bike and put my hands on the guard rail to brace myself, then turned, and sat on the edge of the rail and put my head down. I passed out.

At the same time as I had fallen and picked myself back up a nurse named Andrew pulled over onto the shoulder directly across the two-lane highway from where I was. He was sitting in his truck, texting and then looked over and saw me coming to and then sitting down on the pavement. He rolled down his window and called out to me to ask if I needed help. I was only vaguely responsive. So, he pulled his truck around to my side. At this point, Collin came back. The two guys loaded the bikes, bags and me into the truck and started to head to Port Orford. We had previously set up a host for the night through CouchSurfing.org.

Being an experienced emergency room nurse, Andrew figured out pretty quick that I had a concussion. He wasn’t sure how severe it was, but he was good about checking in with me periodically and staying calm. Having a concussion is super weird. I felt more exhausted than I’ve ever felt in my life. But, I knew from taking first aid that it was really important that I force myself to stay awake. I didn’t have the energy to process hardly anything that was going on, so I kept my eyes open by just staring at the back of the passenger seat in the truck and partially listening to the guys chatting. At one point, Andrew asked Collin, ‘Your friend’s not normally this slow is he? He’s not special or anything is he?’ It took me a little longer to respond than normal, but I laughed and interjected that I wasn’t special. Then the guys continued chatting super casually.

I was super out of it, so I don’t remember a whole lot after that, but eventually we got to the Sejlund family’s acreage in Port Orford. There was a deer hanging from a tree in the front yard than Jan had shot earlier in the day. And, Betty rushed out of the house to come greet us. I can only imagine that it must have been a bit of a shock for us to arrive the way we did. This is especially true, because we were actually the Sejlund family’s very first CouchSurfing guests.

Betty was really great about getting me inside with the help of the guys. I could hardly stand, let alone walk in by myself. Betty helped me get my shoes and jacket off and helped me get to the couch. I felt so completely weak, helpless and vulnerable, possibly more than most any other time in my life. I started to cry as I flopped over. I didn’t even have the strength to pull my legs up onto the couch so I could lay down. Betty came over and cupped my face with her hands and calmly told me it was going to be okay and that it was okay to cry. That gesture was so significant and lovely. I really needed that to be assured that I was going to be safe.

Over the next several hours I continued to will myself to stay awake, and the others helped out. After a certain period of time, Andrew was convinced that my concussion was only mild and he thought it would be okay if I slept for a while. I was out cold for a couple hours before being awoken for dinner.

Andrew was in the middle of a road trip to Eugene, but was kind enough to stay the night with us at the Sejlund’s. He didn’t come right out and say it, but I’m sure it was mostly because he wanted to be able to check on my condition, and know I was going to be okay before he took off. He’s such a quality guy.

Collin, Andrew and me.

Betty, Dillon and Jan.

The next day the Sejlund family, Andrew, Collin and I went for a great walk on the beach. We had a lot of laughs and Andrew took lots of pictures.

Andrew continued his journey north later in the day, but not before we coaxed him to pray for me and Collin. We also got to pray for Andrew, and it was actually a really powerful moment.

Collin and I intended to continue on the next day, but when I attempted to replace the broken spoke on my rear wheel I discovered that I didn’t have the right tools to get the job done. So, we stayed with the Sejlunds one more day. Jan drove us into Bandon to the South Coast Bicycle Shop. The owner was really great about giving me a bit of a bargain on some used tools and showing me how to do everything.

It was probably for the best that we didn’t leave the second day, because I still wasn’t fully recovered. But, after the third night, Collin and I took off and made our way to Harris Beach State Park. One of the great things about Oregonian and Californian state parks is that many of them have special sections in their campgrounds for hikers and bikers. And, they also have a super cheap rate of five or six bucks per person if you’ve hiked or biked into the camp.

Crossing the border from Oregon to California. Believe it or not, the first song we heard right after crossing was California Gurls by Katy Perry blasting from a Hummer.

We foolishly thought that the next day was going to be fairly manageable. Google Maps claims that the distance from Harris Beach to our destination, Orick, California is just short of 67 miles. The route takes you along HWY 101 through Brookings, Crescent City and through several different national and state redwood parks. What you can’t really see just from looking at Google Maps the way I did when planning is that before getting to Orick you must climb two different hills that are both over 1200 feet.

Partway through climbing the second hill I started to get a headache and become faint. This was frustrating and nerve-wracking for both Collin and I, because we had been warned by Andrew about watching for these symptoms from my concussion. I couldn’t really think straight and had to rely on Collin to decide what we were going to do. We had some pretty tense moments trying to figure out what to do next. It was already after 5:30 and we knew we only had around an hour of daylight left. We were both convinced that I shouldn’t really be riding, but after exploring some other options I forced myself to go on. Somewhere up that last, stupid, huge hill I ate some food and had a bunch of water and felt quite a bit better. But, by that point if was long after dark. Riding through a forest park, with no source of light aside from your own tiny bike lights and the lights of the occasional vehicle blazing past is pretty intense. We got to the top of the mountain, strapped on our headlamps over our helmets for extra light and ripped down the other side, reaching high speeds.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, or so they say. We blazed down that winding hill pretty quick. Collin had taped his flashlight to his front rack and it came off somewhere along the way and he actually ran it over. When we got way down the mountain a California Highway Patrol car pulled over in front of us. At first, we both thought we were in some kind of trouble, but the officer had actually found the flashlight. He returned it to Collin and told us how glad he was that he found us safe and riding along instead of crashed in some ditch way back where the light was.

We were so desperate to get to our host, imagining warm showers, and clean beds to sleep in, maybe a meal like we’ve experienced before. When we arrived, it was well after dark, but it was only around 9:30. We were welcomed kindly by our host, Steve who we had found on CouchSurfing.org. He seemed like an accommodating, sweet guy, but the more he showed us around the more we were sketched out and kind of wished we were at a campground instead. Steve has a school bus in his yard that he’s converted into some kind of living space. We never got to see the inside of it, because it was taken by other guests. Instead, Steve suggested we spread out in his sauna room.

Steve's yard, including the bus and weed to the left of Collin.

Oooh, hot tub.

Yes, that's a half-empty aquarium with cigarette butts and other garbage in it. You can't see them, but there's a variety of bugs on the floor.

This room was part of a large shed, part of which housed a somewhat grimy hot tub. The other half of the shed held two goats that must have been getting frisky at one point in the night because they made sounds that I’ve never heard goats make before. I couldn’t even bring myself to take a look over the half wall because I was afraid of what I heard. Anyway, I was so exhausted that I laid a tarp down in that tiny, creepy sauna room and slept in there. Collin just couldn’t do it, so he pitched his tent in the yard next to Steve’s marijuana plant. I don’t want to seem ungrateful. Steve really does seem like a decent, kind guy. But, after such a demanding, exhausting day we were definitely looking for just a little bit of comfort, not sleeping in a filthy mess. In the morning, we booked it out of there as soon as we could, hoping that our next hosts would be a different story.