Bikers unite

October 12
35 miles

I felt too awkward to offer the massage :-/ , but I did talk with the lady and her son some more. He mentioned a documentary called " alone in the wild" which I'm intrigued to watch and will when possible. I started off around 11 am. I really wanted to take advantage of the nice campground and take a rest day, but the forecast for the next week looked nothing short of bleak. 
I headed off and saw my first signs for Portland, which were tempting, as ive been itching to check it out recently, but bike trips make detours a little intimidating. Soon I was at cannon beach, which was a massively tourist litle town. It consisted of mainly 2 roads wrought with gift shops and restaurants. Oh so expensive. I wandered around to find the cheapest food possible and ended up getting a burger with tillamook cheese. Boy that's some good cheese I thought, oh wAit that name seems familiar! Tillamook jerky is my favorite jerkyin the world. The first and only times I've had it were from a random gas station in Nevada i've visited 3 times before. 
- I was driving through Nevada and was in desparate need of gas, pushing 400+ miles on the tank and with the light flashing. I turned off the Ac, radio, and started driving at about 40 mph. I roll into battle mountain Nevada andfill up at a gas station... 13.1 gallons. Not that impressive right? Max gas on my tank is 12.5. Out of appreciation for this gas station existing I grAb a 4x6 slab of jerky, and after tasting  feeling the wonderful texture, I grab 10 more slabs and continue to go back for more on every road trip. -
Anyway, get more people talking to me in town asking what I'm doing etc. It seems tons of people go on these touring trips. I'm on my way for two miles when I pass my first other touring biker! He's going the other way and I start waving my arms like an idiot out of my supreme excitement... And he ignores me. My heart sank. Are all tourers that callous? And RIGHT around the bend at a viewpoint turnout are 2 guys my age sitting next to their loaded bikes. Here I meet Justin and Patrick, who have been on a ride since July, coming from wisconsin. Jeeez! We share some stories but start out as a group. I'm scared as he'll. Wisconsin?!? These guys must have legs of steel. I spend the next 20 miles busting my ass keeping up, and they offer to let me stay with them at their aunts house in rockaway, Oregon. Yes! This is just the kind of thing I was looking for on this trip. 
We get the fixings for enchiladas and justin cooks while Patrick and I sit down to some cable tv. The weather channel revealed the coming apocalypse for the next 10 days. Lamenting progressing. His aunts house has small collection of 100 puzzles. You know, tiny. One is double sided, with the same image except rotated 90 degrees. Pain. We watch star wars episode V and part of VI till the storm takes it's toll on the cable. Justin is apparently so used to camping he slept on the floor next to an occupied bed. Haha yeeees