I tend not to take rest days, but when I do I enjoy them a lot. I started a trip down the Oregon coast by riding from the Portland Amtrak station out to Fort Stevens outside of Astoria. I wasn't in good enough shape, and after two days of riding (which weren't even that long) I needed a day off to recharge. It was a nice relaxing day in a nice spot. I did have to ride to Fred Meyer for food, but it was only a few miles. When I started my "real" tour the next day I felt much better and never needed a rest again until Brookings, where I had to line up a rental car to get home the next day.

Last summer I rode for three weeks. The only rest day I took was the Fourth of July. Two nights before I was in a campground where they put reservation cards on the posts by the campsites. Virtually the entire campground was reserved over the Fourth. I decided to play it safe. When I got to Walla Walla on the third I got a motel room for two nights. It was a little boring, and I prefer camping to motels, but it was alright, and I didn't have to face not being able to find a campsite.

Two summers ago I rode across the Northern Tier, from Omak to Glacier National Park. I stopped at a campground on Lake Pend Oreilles in the panhandle of Idaho. It was a place I went every summer for two weeks when I was a kid. I decided to take a rest day there and relax, check out some of the places I remembered, go swimming, etc. That was my only rest day on that trip.

I've always thought I would take a rest day if I woke up to a horrendous rainstorm - probably find a motel room if there weren't any services close to the campground. Lucky for me, so far that hasn't happened. I guess it's because I almost always tour in the middle of summer. Knock on wood.