Day 14: June 3rd, Couchmageddon!

Although I slept great, Susanne did not…….and it was not because she was fretting about my Scrabble victory.

She was busy preventing a major international incident between Scotland and Australia. Shuttle diplomacy at its best, followed by a mandated solution by the United States. It was almost World War III. You should all be grateful to her.

Ok, I guess you need some context.

First and foremost, Sadie is queen of the world. We all report to her—and I advise you to remember that.

Well, the dogs have kind of sorted out their space in the trailer, or so we thought. Ringo would sleep in the twin bed at the far end of the trailer while Sadie slept on the couch, closest to us. Everything thing seemed fine. Until last night.

Evidently Australia (Ringo) decided that it was just too much to have to give up the couch every night to bitchy pushy Scotland (Sadie), so he steadfastly decided to stay on the couch. The US being, as usual, too absorbed with itself, thought nothing of it.

But then it started. Scotland just could not stand the fact that Australia was sleeping in its rightful spot. So she started pacing, and her nails made a racket on the floor.

Clickity clack clickity clack. Clickity clack clickity clack.

Up and down the trailer. Back and forth.

Susanne, being an outstanding Secretary of State, realized that something was up, while Roger, being an unqualified appointment to FEMA, snored away.

At first she tried to mediate by convincing Scotland and Australia to sleep on the couch together. That simply was not acceptable to Scotland. Then she tried to convince Scotland that the twin bed was far superior to the couch. This worked momentarily and Susanne returned back to the US (e.g., her bed) to resume her slumbers.

But then…..Clickity clackity clickity clackity.

Scotland would have none of the twin bed. Nope, no way. Australia had to go. This made the US very upset (and awake—the officials that are worth their salt, anyway). Troops were mobilized with some vague comments about “peace-keeping missions.” Finally the US intervened and forced (e.g., dragged) Australia off the couch and banished it back into the southern hemisphere (twin bed). Scotland righteously took her place on the couch. Australia decided he liked the twin bed better, after all.

And that, my friends, is how World War III was averted.

The park map had showed a mountain bike trail, so I got up and headed out for a ride about 7:30. It was cool and a bit foggy. I cruised down highway 101 for a couple miles to the turn off. Someday, I would love to come and do the whole ride down the coast.

The first couple of miles of the trail were quite easy and were similar to the hiking trail we had done the day before – soft forest floor. I did notice that the trail looked pretty lightly used as some sections were quite overgrown. One thing about riding in the pacific northwest is that when you are the first one through on a trail, you get a constant face full of spider webs.

I hit the loop fork and decided to go right. It quickly turned into a 20 degree climb up a rocky washed out trail with sticker bushes impinging on the trail. I think I could have managed either the 20 degree slope or the rutted set of baby heads, but the combination made the trail pretty much unridable, so I did a lot of hike-a-bike. It was exhausting just pushing my bike up the thing. I finally got to a section that was marginally rideable which boosted my spirits and slogged my way to the top. I debated about going down the other side of the loop, but opted for an illegal cut through on the hiking trail to the forest road. I didn’t feel like killing myself out in the middle of nowhere without cell service.

I cruised down the forest road until the fork that went up to the lookout. I rode the 2 miles up to the top and got a fantastic view. I cruised back down the hill and made it back to camp. It was a challenging 2.5 hr ride.

We had a late breakfast and then headed over to Yachats to take the dogs for a walk. We parked at Smelt Sands beach. It was the beginning of some famous trail called the 804.

The historic Yachats 804 Trail probably first served as a footpath for tribal people, later becoming part of County Road 804, which included the 7-mile stretch of beach between Yachats and Waldport at low tide. County Road 804 served as the settler’s route of travel between the farmland of the upper Yachats River valley and Waldport’s Alsea Bay until the 1930s and the completion of Hwy 101. The highway replaced the oceanside portion of County Road 804, allowing it to resume its ancient use as a footpath.

It was quite a nice path that moved along just above some rugged rocks with the ocean crashing into them. There were some very nice hotels along the way and one house that would have been spectacular to live in. 3 stories of glass facing the ocean – better have a big window washing budget though.

There was a guy fishing off of a rock that was pretty intimidating. Every now and then a big wave would come in and he would have to duck down to not get swept off the rock. I guess he knew what he was doing.

It was pretty high tide, so there was only one small section of beach that we could get on to let the dogs off leash. The ran around for awhile and then we headed back to the truck.

We decided to drive up to Tilicum beach and let the dogs have a good romp. It is an amazing beach that is about 10 miles long with a shallow slope and wide beach area. The sand is very fine grained and squeaks when you walk on it.

The dogs had great fun chasing each other. They sure play rough. Ok, my dogs do behave somewhat.

I will preface this next story with an apology to all my birding friends.

Ringo loves to chase the shore birds. Just absolutely full out run after them. Well, there were some crows hanging around the beach and Ringo sees them and just takes off after them. Sadie followed him.

Well, the crow being a crow and being way smarter than any stupid cattle dog, lifts up in the air and starts flying around Ringo and taunting him. Ringo gets apoplectic! How could a dumb bird do this to me! So he is totally focused on the crow hovering over his head squawking at him and not paying attention to the ocean when a big ole wave rolls in and hits Ringo, knocks him off his feet and washing machines him. He was shocked.

He shook himself off and then walked back toward us with his head down, sulking. He didn’t even look at the crow again which had landed just a few feet away. Ego bruised and ears full of water. His desire to chase birds seemed to be somewhat diminished after that experience.

After a good shake and a roll in the sand, the world was back to normal. It really was funny.

We headed into town and stopped at the “wine shop” which was a tasting room. They had a nice deck and so we did the tasting. The wine wasn’t bad, so we bought a couple of bottles to offset our tasting cost. Some ladies across the way ordered a loaf of their bread (which looked amazing) with some olive oil. They offered me a piece and I gladly took them up on it. It was super yummy. Very doughy and chewy just the way I like it.

wine