Day 15 (May 4): Florence, OR-North Bend, OR -- 44.8 miles biked

Miles biked: 44.8 (682.5 overall)

Time on bike: 3 hours, 49 minutes, 29 seconds

Maximum speed: 28.9 mph

Roads taken: 101 South.

Places stopped: McDonald's in Reedsport (for cheap, unhealthy breakfast), Umpqua Lighthouse State Park in Winchester Bay (for the half-decent view), gas station in Lakeside (to briefly escape the rain and buy a blueberry muffin), visitor's center in North Bend (to find out where the library was), the library (to do lots of blogging and other computer work while the wind and rain went crazy outside), my new friends' David and Tauni's house (for the night).

I woke up Monday morning in a very peaceful setting. That was far from the case at the end of my ride (keep reading).

I awoke at my esoteric campsite around 6, with the birds chirping around me and no rain falling or wind howling. Good riding weather, I thought. After about 46 minutes, I was on the bike headed south toward North Bend.

My goal was to reach the city, catch up with my blog entries at the library during the afternoon, and then bike another 12 or so miles to a state park west of the small town of Charleston.

That agenda, of course, didn't stick.

A little before 10, I was pulling up to a Shell gas station just outside of Lakeside when the intensity of the rain picked up about 17-fold. I had gotten in a good two and a half hours of riding, covering more than 30 miles. And I felt I deserved a little respite -- both for my legs and from the rain.

So I sat down and started ruffling through my old receipts (a method I've adopted in tracking how much I'm spending). I was about to look for a small snack to buy when I casually mentioned to one of the attendants that the weather didn't look too good.

Her response? Around 11, the area was supposed to get 50 mph winds.

That sent a tremor through me. Two days earlier, gusts of probably around 35 or 40 mph had compelled me to get off the bike and walk it. I didn't want to ponder having to deal with winds in the 50s (the only time I've ever really gone up against winds that strong was when I was nearly blown off Mt. Washington, 6,288 feet, last August).

I looked at my watch. It was 10:29 a.m.

So I quickly bought a blueberry muffin, stuffed it in my front-left pannier and headed back out into the rain.

I pushed it for the next 12 miles toward North Bend with one goal in my mind -- get out of this monsoon, get to the library.

But before I could reach the city, I had to go over the famous McCullough Bridge. Not only that, I couldn't ride over the bridge. There isn't enough room for bikers.

Not only that, it's a mile long.

Not only that, the sidewalk on which to walk is about 3 feet wide.

That, to put it bluntly, was not one of my recent enjoyable 32 minutes (day-after time estimate).

I walked to the left of my bike, holding onto it tightly with clasped fingers. I had to be sure of two things -- that I didn't accidentally step too far to the left and stumble in the way of a logging truck; and that I kept control of the loaded bike, especially on the downhill section of the bridge.

About a 50-yard stretch was even trickier, because some form of construction narrowed the walkway to about 2 feet. At one point, the rear panniers bumped against the side paneling and I had to stop and regroup.

But I made it off that bridge, vowed to never walk over it again, realized just how wet I was, blessed my oft-used raincoat (it's actually on loan from Dad) and headed toward downtown North Bend.

A nice lady at the visitor's center directed me to the library, and I was there within roughly 6 minutes. I then spent the next 4-plus hours shifting between available computers, blogging the past four days of my trip in addition to a few other Internet duties (nothing dirty, that's a promise).

I should give a shout out to the North Bend librarians, who were very helpful in allowing me to hog so much time at the busy Internet stations. Every librarian I've met, in fact, has been of great assistance thus far on the trip.

Anyway, throughout the afternoon I checked the weather through the library's windows and the result was always the same -- steady rain, gusting winds.

Around 5, I decided that I needed to take some form of action. I couldn't sleep in the library, unfortunately. I walked outside and immediately concluded that there was no way I could safely bike the 12 hilly miles to the campsite.

That left staying in North Bend as my only option. And that's when serendipity struck. As I was calling motels, trying in vain to find something for $30 or so, a man noticed what I assume was my frustrated face as he was walking out the door.

He turned back and asked what was up.

After telling him my situation, he volunteered to drive me over to the nearest motel to check its prices. He also asked a couple of his friends with space at their places if I could crash with them. All of those options fell through -- the cheapest hotel room was for $39 -- and just like that the mystery man, David, was saying I could stay at he and his wife's place.

I still can't thank them enough. Because of David and Tauni's generosity, I found a warm place to spend the evening and night, I was able to change into dry cloths and Tauni made a great, delectable dinner to feed my constant appetite.

Not only that, David is from northern California and is an adventure enthusiast himself, so he got on the computer and pointed out a whole host of cools places along my route. He also showed me some interesting hiking options. (Of course, my memory is weak and I can't think of everything he showed me, but I'm sure I'll remember some things as I go through particular areas.)

I crashed on their futon Monday night while the wind continued to howl outside the window. Yes, I was quite glad to be sleeping indoors.

And to have a pair of new friends.

Hopefully one day I can repay the favor.