It's clear that challenges are our thing. We'd already decided to bring an end to the U.S. leg of our trip, as good as it has been, leaving us about 3 weeks to get back to Los Angeles and catch a flight to our next destination, Mexico. Now we had to decide how we were going to manage it and how far to cycle without risking missing the flight. So with the expectation of an easy route down the coast we decided to try to make it at least to the north of California, to the Redwoods, for which we'd have to pedal at least 100km per day. With our minds set on the rest and relaxation we'd have after this big push we didn't think twice about it and decided to aim for San Francisco, where we would book a train that would take us down to Los Angeles.

Heading towards what we'd heard would be a lake worthy of admiration, we started to pedal well into the morning, every now and then enjoying the tasty blackberries that sprouted out of every nook and cranny along the road. Without over extending ourselves much, thanks to a fairly flat route, we reached our destination around mid-afternoon only to be turned away from the campsite on the lake... As always when this kind of thing happens, we got straight into solution mode and looked for the most realistic options nearby. So we found an area at the campsite which looked alright and asked the guy in charge if we could sleep there, and he accepted. With a space for the night we could finally relax. The lake is known for being in the middle of a rainforest and there are a million and one ways to enjoy it. So Rob opted for a little hike to see it up close and I chose sitting down on our folding chair and reading a book with my feet dipped in the warm waters of the lake till late into the afternoon. These moments really make life worth living! A while later, when Rob returned from his walk, he brought some news with him! He'd just bumped into a couple of girls cycle touring and had invited them to share our camping spot. Not long after, Hannah Jo and Beth Ann appeared with their best smiles and a bottle of white wine. What we didn't know was that this was to be the beginning of a great friendship, the Pacific Coast Party!

We awoke with our batteries fully charged and a plan worth getting up early for; hugging two of the biggest, oldest trees in the park. Even knowing that they were going to be huge they still managed to impress us with their massive circumferences from which it was possible to confirm their thousands of years of life and accompanying energy. Energy we made fantastic use of by giving them a equally huge embrace. We spent the day pedalling away and picking blackberries to sweeten the way until we hit our destination, a campsite that claimed to accept cyclists. While we hunted for the reception, which seemed closed, a couple of fellow cyclists surprised us as they passed by. At first we thought they were staying the night with us but they had greater ambitions and were so fast that they seemed like the hare to our tortoise! We finally sussed out where to put up the tent and soon after the girls from the night before rocked up. We spent what was left of the afternoon trading stories and getting to know each other. The next day Beth Ann would finish her adventure so we invited Hannah Jo to join our little team so that she'd feel a little safer, which she appreciated enormously!

It was the second time we had set the goal of cycling 100 miles in a day and we very nearly managed it! But we didn't count on the few inconveniences we'd encounter along the way, which would not allow us to reach our aim but would make it much more interesting. At the end of the day that's what it's all about! First of all we found the couple from the day before, although you can imagine how brief this encounter was given how fast they were, followed by another cycle tourist that shot past us like a bullet despite how heavily loaded he was. This made us feel like spectators in a cycling version of Too Fast, Too Furious. When we were half way into the day, all motivated about hitting a ton, we encountered a 7 mile stretch closed due to road works where they made us get in a pickup to get to the other side... But the rest was welcome and it was fun to talk to the workers (even if one was a right madam!). Just after getting to the other side we stopped in a little shop for a refreshing drink and Rob made me try a popular drink round these parts called Dr Pepper. I thought it was just another Coke brand but I'd describe it as a mix between coke and Red Bull. Wasn't really my cup of tea but I'm glad to have tried it none the less. Today was a special day though as we'd enter a new state!

We'd heard that to cross into Oregon we'd have to pass over a not so cyclist friendly bridge, and it might be best to hitch hike across. But as we're in adventure mode we thought we'd just go for it on the bikes. In the end though it was worse than we had imagined. At about 6.5km in length, with the final 2km at a great height, and of course with barely any hard shoulder to work with. Also, it's worth adding that this area is known for banks of fog rolling in off the Pacific Ocean and covering everything in their way, reducing visibility to nil. And that's not to mention the infestation of seagulls living under the bridge that end their days on the side of the roadway after meeting a sudden, traffic instigated end... Once we had headed out onto the bridge all these factors hit us at once and we had to thank pure physiology to be able to make it to the other side, since we were living off adrenaline. Without a shadow of a doubt this was in the top 3 most dangerous roads we had traversed so far: avoiding fog, gruesomely running over road-kill seagulls and even a ironing board. What the hell was that doing there! On the other side was Astoria, our first city in Oregon known for the filming of The Goonies back in 1985, which would turn into the adventure film of choice for many a household. We spend a while looking for familiar places before carrying on, ending up in a town on the sea front called Cannon Beach where we'd agreed to meet up with Hannah Jo once more. On arrival after such a long day we couldn't find anywhere to camp at a reasonable price, nor Hannah Jo fo that matter. So after a trip to the shops we managed to get hold of her and headed to a campsite where we hoped to spend the next 3 nights to recover and avoid the preceding days of storms.

Today was one of relaxation, but it worried us not having a plan to reach Los Angeles in time for our flight to Mexico. So we spent the better part of the morning looking into this dilema. In the end deciding to push ourselves to the limit over the next couple of weeks making at least 100 kilometres per day to make it all the way to San Francisco. Then take the train from there to the end of our stay in the U.S. of A. Hannah Jo had a friend to visit called Amanda and we spent that night together.

The weather front finally arrived with its unceasing pitter-patter of raindrops forcing us to spend the day inside the tent. In the evening we cooked up a curry for all four of us and were passing the time playing cards. Then out the blue arrived one of the guys that had overtaken us a few days before, a super nice Indonesian guy that would join our Pacific Coast Party. We welcomed in the night time telling scary stories in amongst the trees of the campsite with our raincoats on, only for it to end too soon as the branch of a nearby tree came crashing through the canopy, scaring the absolute shit out of us all!

It was time to get on the road again and we all got our act together early on to make a start for what would turn out, rather unexpectedly, to be one of the best days of the trip so far! Rob and I headed to a massive rock on the beach, the main tourist attraction in town, that had been turned into a marine reserve where you could see starfish clinging to the rocks at low tide as well as a multitude of birdlife smothering the thing. After, we carried on up the road hoping to have lunch at a famous oyster farm we'd hear word of and where we'd make short work of a selection of fresh seafood. Absolutely delicious! There the four of us met up once more: Hannah Jo, Michael from Indonesia, Rob and myself. Forming the first incarnation of the Pacific Coast Party team. With a fun vibe in the air we headed to the next tourist destination, the Tillamook Creamery, famous the country over for its cheeses and ice creams. Sadly, on arrival we found a monumental queue that we didn't even consider waiting in. So we took off. At the end of the day we showed up in a town we'd heard nice things about only to not find a single place to camp. At least until, desperate, Rob suggested a car park by a boat launch ramp that looked the part and it turned out to be an amazing place to camp without standing out too much! This was probably to be our last night together, so we got some local beers in and enjoyed a night of laughs interspersed with shooting stars falling form the sky.

The next morning, while we packed up the tents, a couple of ladies said hello to us from their garden and congratulated us for finding this little hiding place. After breakfasting over beautiful views of the river and enjoying the hustle and bustle of the birds amongst the morning mist, we left town and loved the road as it carried very little traffic and pass through a wood whose trees sheltered us from the sun. As expected, we ended up separating from the other guys as the afternoon went on then Rob and I started to look for where to camp that night. We chanced upon a place that looked perfect, an abandoned baseball field in town. But of course, soon we found out that other people had thought the same thing and it was clearly their more permanent home... So we took off towards a campsite in the outskirts of town where we felt a little safer getting some shut eye.