Honeyman SP to North Bend, OR - 43.7 miles

It was still raining in the morning and I waited until a lull to get packed up. I'm getting to be pretty good at cooking my breakfast just outside the tent door! It was a pretty late start, though. There were brief little moments of sunshine early in the day, but it soon turned to a steady downpour. It became an unending battle. Headwinds, crosswinds and huge gusts of rain. It was all I could do sometimes to stay upright. Moving forward and staying on the road were my only thoughts. I stopped for lunch in Reedsport and enjoyed a brief respite. Back on the road it only got worse. The rain poured from the sky in an unending, relentless downpour with the wind battering me from every side but the back. All I could do was keep my head down and my heels churning. Pretty soon I realized I couldn't feel my hands or legs from the knees down. I was cold, wet and felt very alone. After crossing the north side of the North Bend bridge on foot, I could finally feel my feet again, but entering into town, I realized that trying to make it another 15 miles and then setting up my already wet tent in the downpour was foolish. I found a very cheap motel and the receptionist had to help me fill out the form because I could hardly hold the pen. I was shaking with cold and once I got Camille into the room, turned the heater on full blast. It was a pretty miserable day. It was wonderful to be warm and have a dry roof overhead.

-from Gold Beach, OR