Tour De La Dead V2

55 miles

My friend and I started to pack things up around the same time, and there was a bit of tension in the air. I told him the reality of the situation: if he wanted to leave, the next major airport was in San Francisco. He would have to stick it out until then. Who knows, maybe by then he would be used to the lifestyle and want to continue the trip.

Once we left Pacific City, we took the old 101 route. It was much less busy, and the hill climbs were gentler. There was a nice descent where we didn’t have to pedal for about 10 minutes. We had about 25 more miles before we got to Newport. There were some large climbs, but the view over the water was great. At this point, we had about 9 miles of downhill that led directly into town.

We had to go over a sketchy mile-long bridge with no shoulder and busy traffic. We eventually got to the state park where we were spending the night. I asked my friend how he felt today, and he said he was final on his decision—he wanted to leave. I asked when he wanted to go, and he said tomorrow. I was honestly shocked but had to respect his decision.

I talked to my mom, and we came up with the idea that we would meet up in San Francisco and drive the rest of the way to Denver. I called two of my friends, and they were both surprised but had faith that I could make it to San Francisco. They said no one back home would be disappointed if I didn’t make it to Denver. I thanked them both and went to bed soon after.