California Baby!

We are writing to you from Trinidad, California today over a hot cup of coffee in some hippie joint called the Beachcomber Cafe that came highly recommended by some hippie lady we met at the grocery store. The rest of the bike ride down the coast of Oregon took us alongside some the most scenic stretches of Pacific coast we have seen yet. We ended up pulling off and setting up camp on the beach the night after the oyster joint and fell asleep to the waves crashing against the shore as we hoped the tent was pitched high enough to stay dry when high tide hit later in the night.

The next day was a very relaxed day and we took our time biking through various construction zones and feeling good with about 50miles under the belt, we pulled off at a hiker/biker site in a lovely state park just outside of Winchester Bay. A fog horn in the distance kept a suttel but present background tune in our head.

We woke up the next morning to mist in the air. As we hit the road it progressively turned to rain. We had decided the night before that we were going to put in a big day and we were determined not to let the rain get in our way. As we rolled into Coos Bay, Kenton got his first flat of the day, the culprit this time being a small bit of glass stuck in his tire. All fixed up we continued on the wet and winding road. Looking at our surroundings it definitely felt like what I imagined Oregon would be. Within 20 minutes of the last flat, once again Kenton pulled to the side of the road to repair another. At this point our end destinaton felt further away than when we started the day. We continued on and put our heads down for a bit and got some distance behind us. Around 6pm the weather started to clear and our goal came in sight. The last miles of the day felt surreal. The sun was out and the ocean view was unbeatable, we rolled into our site at around 8pm cracked a beer and relaxed.

Alex's birthday couldn't have kicked off better, with a full pound of bacon and a bunch of eggs all wrapped up in a tasty sundries tomato wrap... Oh, not to mention there wasn't a cloud in the sky. With our bellies sufficiently greased for the day, we started our slow trek on to Brookings, the Oregon/California border town and destination for the day. With only one quick stop in Gold Beach to make some quick phone calls, we were soon picking up 'supplies' in Brookings before 4,our earliest arrival yet. Some more birthday and father's day phone calls were made, and we proceeded with dinner, a campfire and some beverages shared with Alabama Paul who was also on a bike trip down the coast. It was Paul's first bike touring trip and he was rocking a front suspension mountain bike towing a toddler trailer with his supplies... our first thought of that set-up was what people thought when they passed him as he was careening down one of those big Oregon hills with the 'baby on board' sticker on the back of his trailer.

Our entrance to California was marked with devouring all of our fresh produce as we thought that it would be confiscated at the agricultural inspection station as you enter the state. We were waved on through without question and picked up some state maps in Crescent City that would direct us to Redwood National and State parks. The bike ride through the big redwoods was amazing and we were able to soak it all in as we climbed the biggest hill of the trip so far with 1450 vertical foot gain over about 2 miles. What goes up comes down, and the ride down was an exhilarating one. We detoured off the 101 and ended up taking a scenic route through the redwoods which took us right by the state prison, Camp Alder. The road was open to bikes and hikers only, as torrential rain and landslides had washed out large portions of it and it was barely even passable by bike. We cruised into Elk Prairee State Park and enjoyed the best free camping of the trip so far, as the booth was closed and there was no box to deposit the 5 dollar hiker/biker fee, we will be sure to pay for two nights next time.

Going to go check out a few sights here in Trinidad that we promised the hippie lady at the grocery store we would and then will be hitting the road and hopefully make it past Eureeka!