**Annoying Apple Alarm sound**. It was 6:45 on Saturday, and the weekend was officially off to the races. The motto for this weekend? Work-hard, play-hard. The top priority was whipping out 800 Range bars, but the highlight would certainly be an evening of camping, and catching a few waves surfing the Oregon Coast on Sunday.
After a quick breakfast and several shots of espresso, the work part of the weekend began. It’s not easy making the best high calorie meal replacement bars available. First I had to load empty six-pack boxes, and a few other odds and ends into the truck. After arriving to the kitchen (9:00AM), the production line had to be set up before the rest of the staff arrived at 10:00. By 10:30 bars were flying off the line, one every 10 seconds or so. By 4:00 all 800 bars had been finished.
Floors were swept and mopped, garbage was taken out, and the now full six-pack boxes were loaded back in the truck. It was quickly getting closer to the “play hard” part of the weekend. After dropping product back in Vancouver, and grabbing dinner with my parents (thanks for your help!), I headed back to Portland for a quick pitstop.
With kitchen clothes swapped for boardshorts, and surfboard in hand, I swung by my buddy Kyle’s place to pick him up (8:45PM). Soon after we were cruising towards Pacific City, quickly realizing that the forecast had not made light of the rain we would see over the next 24 hours. It was a slow and EXTREMELY dark drive, but we rolled into Pacific City just before 11:00, in time to catch the tail end of the Snow Skate Surf afterparty.
We called it a night around 2:00 and pulled the tailgate on my truck closed as rain continued to come down on the coastal Oregon town. I was very grateful to have the truck canopy instead of a tent (this was the canopy’s inaugural voyage). After briefly wondering if we’d be awoken by a police officer in the middle of the night (our parking spot was marginally legal) I drifted off to sleep.
Rise and SHINE. We got a relatively early start Sunday morning, partially because of our questionable parking situation (gotta be smart about being stupid). After hitting a local coffee shop for some pre-surf grub, we suited up and chuckled at the sometimes ridiculous scene that is PNW surfing. It was June. It was MAYBE 50 degrees. It was PISSING rain. And we were about to jump in an ocean that was hovering around 50 degrees. YEW!
We were pleasantly surprised at how the surf was shaping up, and we immediately eyed a left at the far north end of the beach. The paddle out was surprisingly mellow for a 10 second period, and the waves were holding up pretty well, with 3-5’ sets rolling in like clockwork. It was my first time rocking the mouth mount for my go-pro, and I felt exceptionally kook-ey. Even more so than normal. But now I have video footage of my mediocre (but improving!) surf skills to share with you.
After surfing for ~2-3 hrs and having a blast, we headed in to crush some Range meal bars, before heading out for a second session. It’s amazing what a high calorie meal bar can do for a day. We left the water stoked on the waves, but quickly bonking. All it took was one meal replacement bar, and we could get back on the water! A lot of people think of Range bars as mostly backpacking food, but the truth is they’re perfect for so much more. In this case, they’re the best food for surfing.
The second session wasn’t quite as good as the first, with the swell dying down quite a bit, and the rip current cranking up to 11. We opted to call it a day shortly after. A quick drive back to Tillamook brought us to Dutch Mill Cafe which was unbelievably good after ~3 hrs of bobbing in the ocean. All in all a phenomenal weekend. This is livin!