Day 67 – Sympathy Votes at the Last Chance Saloon
Day 67 (July 6th)
Distance 87.45 miles
Last night I arrived at a campsite that didn’t have a hiker biker rate, so they wanted $18 for no showers no nothing. I said let me go cycle down the road, pitch my tent for free in the woods and then I will have a think about your $18.
As I was cycling down I came across an RV park but it didn’t say if they took tents as well. I popped in and asked and the lady said I could pitch up on the grass for free. Fluke central over here!
Today’s journey was standard to be honest, the closer I get to the finish the longer the cycling takes I think. I made it to a big city called Eugene but went straight through it like a rocket, the more miles I do today the less I have to do on my final day tomorrow.
I continued to pass towns until the sun set, at which point I was ready to pack up shop for the day. I didn’t get to the next town, triangle lake, until 10:30pm and it was now pitch black. Interesting fact, this town was named after its lake, its triangular.
The one shop in town was closed and there was no sign of a campsite. I was like mannnnnnnn the next town is 14 miles away and it could be the same situation there. I started cycling again and kept an eye out for a place to lay my head that didn’t have Blair Witch Project written all over it.
30 minutes later I came across a private campground sign. It didn’t show up on my map but it said “camp” and I was low on options. I walked half a mile down a dark, rocky road and at the end I clocked some white marquees/tents.
I found a bloke sitting outside so asked him if there was an office to check in, he replied telling me that the whole site was rented out by his group for the week.
There was so much space and I could have easily stayed out of their way.
I had no choice but to go on a sympathy offensive as it was 11pm and I was fucked if I was pedalling anymore tonight.
I said “oh that’s a shame, perhaps there is a car park down the road I can sleep in, not to worry I’ll find something”.
I started to pedal off slowly after pissing about with my panniers (stalling activities) and just as I thought I’d have to pedal away from a perfect camp spot the bloke called out to me. “Wait, as we are renting this place we can choose who our guests are, you can stay here”.
I have never used offensive tactics like this to get a place to stay and I would never recommend it, but mate there were only a few tents set up on all of this open space, I had to do what I had to do haha.
Turns out the bloke and his group were a church group on their annual trip, so thank them and thank god for the hospitality, I unrolled my roll mat and fell asleep straight away.
Tomorrow is show time ladies and gents.
Yours in cycling,
Dan