Once I left Eugene, which is a surprisingly nice city, I followed the McKenzie River the entire day. The road, McKenzie River Drive, rolls through several small river towns and is lined by thick woods and wildflowers. It is realitvely flat and has some great vistas of the river and the white water rafters floating by.

About halfway through the day, I was beginning to become complacent and my mind was wandering. I got used to passing tires, hub caps and trash on the side of the road, so when I would see something in the distance, I'd think nothing of it and swerve out of the way. Well, at one point, I started to apporach a big coil of wire that layed betweeen me and the traffic. When I got within 10 feet, I realized it wasn't wire, it was a coiled snake probably 3 feet long and an inch thick. I swerved out of the way and watched him watching me pass by.

Since I'm following a pre-defined, mapped route across America, I figured I'd see people along the way from time to time. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be as social as the Appalachian Trail, but confident it wouldn't be completely lonely. Today I came across 6 people. Early in the morning I passed an old guy riding west with a full bike and an American flag. Later in the day, I cam across a couple that were riding to New York. They're travelling with another couple and were riding at a similar pace with me. I'm sure I'll be playing leap frog with them for quite some time.