[ORRando] Best time of year for riding the Oregon Coast?

[CAEGo at aol.com]

Hello Dan,
 
I wanted to reply to your coast ride questions.  My husband and I rode  the 
coast to San Francisco in early September.  We found the traffic pretty  
busy most of the way, no matter if it were a week day or weekend.  The  
weather was fine, but we had one day of very hard rain when we traveled through  
the Redwoods. 
 
We camped in State Parks and followed maps we had from Adventure  Cycling.  
The evenings were very cold and windy by the coast.  We were  thinking we  
wished we had gone down in the summer as most of the way, it  was very 
chilly.  However, it seemed to get colder and foggier along the  coast the closer 
we got to CA and then into CA.  We also had more traffic  on Hwy 1, in CA, 
which has no shoulder and steep drop offs while climbing in and  out of the 
river inlets.
 
South of Gold Beach was the most beautiful.  If you were riding only  in 
OR, and staying in motels, I would think that would be an OK time of  year.  
If you were ending in Eureka, you should note there was a  fun festival on 
Friday night where they had  music in all the streets  and all the galleries 
were open for free wine and.  Most stores were even  giving out things....it 
was a lot of fun.  Lots of nice restaurants and  Brewery.  We just happened 
to get it that day so took advantage of that  night. 
 
Regarding the return, we took Amtrak back and it was fine.  There was  a 
station near Oakland that we rode to, but you could take a bus to a station if 
 one was not available....or ride there, as they follow I-5 ...sort of.
 
Amtrak will give you a box for your bike for $20. You have to pack it  up, 
with pedals off and handle bars turned, but not a big deal.  Our bikes  made 
it fine.  Just note that they did NOT have a pedal wrench and we ended  up 
taking pedals off for other travelers too.  The bikes go with luggage  and 
they are taken off at the end.
 
It is not expensive for the Starlight train seats, but we opted for a small 
 sleeper as the train left there at 10pm and we knew we would be tired.  It 
 was a very nice ride back.  If your wife did not want to drive, she could  
take the train down and meet you part of the way.  It was great  scenery!
 
Hope this helps!
Good luck,
Cheryl & Tom Edwards
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