Once again, another #coffeeneuring challenge is here! This challenge is from October 10 through What’s that, you ask? I’ll let Mary of Chasing Mailboxes DC (the admin!) explain:
Essentially the challenge boils down to this:
- over the course of 7’ish weeks,
- ride your bike to 7 different places,
- at least 2 miles round trip each time,
- drink 7 cups of coffee (or similar), and
- take 7 pictures (or other documentation) as proof of your coffeeneuring.
I have a habit making my first ride of the Challenge special, whether it be riding to an obscure lighthouse on the Columbia River, or on a camping overnight. It’s a good way to keep the enthusiasm up, especially as autumn wanes. And coffeeneuring is just that much harder this year due to COVID. I don’t want to go to an indoor location, so that means either coffee shops with outdoor seating, grabbing a cup of coffee and then going to a park, or making my own coffee outside. I’ll most likely be doing a bit of all three. Any of these outdoor options get tougher as the weather gets crappier. But I’ll just concentrate on the now. And for now making my first coffeeneuring adventure in an epic setting was in the plans.
Emee and I decided to head out to the coast again, and again to the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington. Yes, we had just been out there in August for my birthday. But it’s a favorite spot of ours, and in this year of curtailed travel, now’s the time for tried and true destinations. We rented a cabin in Cape Disappointment State Park at the southern tip of the peninsula for Wednesday October 14 and Thursday October 15. We’d have a few days to chill. And we brought our bikes, too. Since we’re still in Three Speed October, of course we brought our three speeds! Emee had her Raleigh Sports, myself I had my Raleigh Superbe. And also of course: we brought the coffee kit.
Thursday October 15th was truly a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the temperature mild (about 62F/17C), the breeze gentle. We loaded our three speeds and headed from our campsite (which is a bit inland) to Benson Beach. With a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean and of Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, we laid down a picnic blanket and I started the kettle on my Trangia 27 alcohol stove. We had some ground coffee from Stoked Roasters in Hood River and prepared it with the tried and true method: pour over.
We spent some time hanging out on the beach on this lovely day. Emee figured out that the sand nearest the water was pretty packed, packed enough even for the skinny-ish 26″ x 1 3/8″ tires of British three speeds! We rode south on the beach for a bit, then turned back inland and headed back to the cabin. It was a nice 4.5 mile loop.
The rest of the trip was all about getting pizza in Astoria, seeing waterfalls in the Coast Range, taking a hike in Leadbetter Point on the north tip of the peninsula, watching the sun set, and scaring off the numerous bold raccoons trying to get our stuff. It was fun, and we’ll be back to the coast again. And I still have six more Coffeeneuring rides to do this Challenge before I earn the patch…
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