January 23
Drove over the hills to the beach yesterday. Where US 26 intersects 101, on the left coast the best coast, we usually turn south a little ways to Cannon Beach but today we turned north to investigate Gearhart, beach town little bit north of Seaside.
Seaside has the large hotels and attractions and fancy main drag and a flavor similar to Crescent City, just below the surface a dark underbelly of dinge.
Keep going north past the franchises and “treasure” shops and there is Gearhart with almost no commercial activity. Upper scale second or third or fourth vacation homes for the Portland “elite” I hear.
There’s a post office, bakery, cafe, and a Mcmenamins on a golf course swarming with unmasked scurrilous heathens. Much quieter than Cannon Beach; more spread out and roomy. Plentiful parking and easy beach access with acres of dunes to meander with a straight shot north to the mouth of the Columbia and south to the mouth of the Neawanna.
Tossed in the fat BOB prototype modeled after the Coast Kid’s design. Swing arm is a sturdy brace of perforated angle steel with a kite buggy wheel hanging off the back end on a 20mm bolt. Tire is run near flat the carcass providing enough support for the lunch box. Maybe with use as flexibility increases it may need a few more PSI but for now it spreads out and floats nice across the top of the sand. Makes a good platform to haul treats and layers and collecting the flotsam and jetsam.
Making way…on a grand day seeing the new sights on the tide flats with the fat bikes.
