08-22-09

We rode our bikes north through town and to the beach, then walked them along the beach, looping back towards home.
There were two women from Washington with their SUV stuck on the beach. We offered assistance, but there wasn’t much we could do. The back wheels had dug deep into the sand, one so much so that there was about a 1’ gap between the top of the tire and the bottom of the wheel well. The suspension was extended to it’s limit and the wheel was at a crooked angle to the rest of the truck. They were on the phone with a towing company, so we wished them, “Good luck” and went on our way.
The beach was intense. It was extremely windy and loud. The waves were the biggest I’d seen. They must have been 10’ high. They crashed with tremendous force into the sand splashing water high into the air. Sand blew out of control in the wind, around rocks and over drift wood, shifting and changing the dunes. At times it felt like the skin was being sand blasted off of the backs of my calves. There was nothing to hide behind. I tried in vein to block the wind with my bike. The sand blast effect was less on the wet the sand, closer to the ocean, but then the sneaker waves would get me if I got distracted. I’m starting to reflexively jump and run for higher ground when startled by an unusually loud crash.
I found more and bigger agates then I had in the past. I guess the big surf shakes things up. I’m still not exactly sure what I’m looking for, but these seem almost big enough to be worthwhile.
Our outing was only about 4 miles long, but we got a great work out pushing our bikes through the sand and struggling in the wind.
Corey broke his bike chain again. Fortunately we were mostly uphill from home. So far he’s had good luck breaking his chain where he can mostly coast home.
He showed me Himalayan black berry bushes that were bursting with big, bright, juicy black berries. We picked and ate them on the side of the road. I think I need a bucket.