Today is between Florence, Oregon and Portland We were going tp continue up the coast to Otis and then inland But nature decided otherwise

Florence to Portland by way of Otis -- 167 Miles Plan-B! and I do not mean the morning-after pill There are times to struggle against the odds and times to surender to discretion. We woke up to a very gray sky.  Just a few minutes later when we emerged to go get breakfast, we found it raining rather hard. We were planning on heading up the coast quite a bit farther so we checked the various weather reports. Rain, rain, even more rain and wind as far as the weather eye could see. Maybe the coast is not such a good idea. How about we head due east toward Eugene and go north to Portland That way even if it is still raining, at least we are on a wide, straight road. This means sacrificing some great planned stops.  Oh well. And, with the rain, photo ops are not frequent. Shooting from the back seat in the pouring rain is not good for the camera nor the photographer.

Comfort Inn Florence is just north of Highway 126 We gassed up and headed east bidding a fond farewell to water-logged Florence

rain, rain, go away Highway 126 starts in the middle of Florence and heads east It goes along the Siuslaw river almost at water level.  At times seeming only to be about ten feet above the river level. Then through some beautiful forested areas and over a number of ridges Winding, twisty, narrow, rainy, hard to see, impatient traffic behind me. Under normal circumstances, this is a wonderful ride. It is just 66 miles but is estimated under good conditions to be an hour and a half. It took us considerably longer, nearly twice that It was raining hard all the way.  The windshield was coated with water on both front and back. Being cold, mid 50's I had to keep my helmet visor open to keep it from fogging up Both sides of my visor was wet and running and my glasses got wet on both sides as well.

When I was packing for the trip, I decided to take my rain jacket but not the pants. Most of the time my chaps are sufficient to keep my bottom half more of less dry Alas, my chaps are home, I meant to pack them, but my memory sometimes is a little errant. My jeans, my legs, my butt and several other parts of my anatomy got pretty soaked and very cold. About 30 miles eastward, about half way, there was a little shopping area so we stopped. A Dairy Queen and a Subway and I did not feel like ice cream. The Subway had some coffee and a little chicken dumpling soup. A few miles south of where Highway 126 enters Eugene is Latus Harley-Davidson of Eugene Maybe I can get some more rain gear and slip into some dry Levi's while I'm there This used to by Doyle's Harley-Davidson and I did not really like the folks there. Not friendly, not helpful, a shop with bad vibes.  Latus is just the opposite.  A real improvement They had a canopy out front with room for Bela and the trailer.  How nice. I asked about a rain suit.  The nice lady showed me some and then said she would check the clearance rack She came back with a pair of rain pants from a broken set, $63.00 Hmm, a whole suit for almost $200 which would be redundant in the jacket or a bargain pair of pants. A no brainer stroke of luck.

Next door is a saloon kind of place, McShane's Carol and I had stopped there once before and found it to be a bit outlaw, but good food. We had lunch there and it was good. We missed the Tuesday tricycle races by a day. They have all sorts of tricycles in the rafters as part of the eclectic decor.

Heading up I-5 was very, very bad. There were stretches of heavy rain and there was very heavy traffic On mile post 182 there was an accident which backed up traffic to stop and go for about 8 miles Then more rain and more traffic. There is a familiar rest stop and the rain let up for a while When we go into Portland itself, it was rush hour. About 14 miles or truly horific traffic with much worse stop and go and cars weaving in and out of lanes because of the spaghetti freeway system with the myriad of bridges and intersecting routes. Boy, I sure would not like to live, work or commute here.

Finally, we arrivved at Best Western Inn At The Meadows 1215 N Hayden Meadows Dr The room is wonderful.  Huge and very nice. We will be enjoying this for three nights.

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