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By Michel, July 27, 2009 4:21 pm

Our next stop was in a state park with redwoods. There were several impressive trees on the way, and we particularly liked the Avenue of the Giants (about 25 miles long), highly recommended. We finally got to know how it felt to be a Star Wars Ewok!

Also, we rode past Hobiton (with no hobbits to be seen though).

Redwood tree: looks tall... IS tall!

Where's Waldo?? Ah, the blue spot next to the tree!

The redwood tree is probably older than Michel (about 2000 years older in fact!)

We first stayed at the Big Lagoon campsite and slept on the beach (the actual campsite was full). There were many birds on the trees next to us, and they made sure to crap on us on the way to their tree. Gilbert thought it was raining, but we quickly realized the rain was white and a bit sticky – not so rain like as we would have preferred. After that we kept watching the sky with fear, as birds would align in military formation and fly over us. That didn’t stop us from enjoying a good beer and see an awesome sunset while having dinner.

During the night one of the animals (probably a bird) made bear like sounds, which we didn’t find that funny since we had heard that a bear and her cub were in the park. Maybe the bird poo protected us?

View of Stone Lagoon (north of Big Lagoon)

Total distance: 1491.3km

Next up was Redcrest, a small town with very friendly people. The only cafe in town had closed 45 minutes before our arrival, but they opened it again to make delicious double-paddy burgers for us. The RV campsite also had a hot tub (jacuzzi) so we were finally able to warm up as we were hoping to in Crescent City. We had one of the best nights of sleep amongst redwoods.

Distance covered that day: 125km

Total distance: 1616km

The Hwy 101 went a bit inland from there on, so it got hot and nice. Next to the road we got to see some more Elk.

Wild elk grazing just south of Prairie Creek Redwood State Park

We stayed at the Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area (SHSRA). Right in front of the entrance of the park there is a coffee shop with awesome blackberry sundaes. The park is next to the Eel river, so we were able to swim in the water pools, and Michel’s snorkel and visor became handy to see the various fish species. After a hot day, the water pools were just what we needed.

Distance covered that day: 90km

Total distance: 1706km

The SHSRA park was at the foot of a big hill (the Leggett Hill), so the next day we wanted to leave early as we had no clue how hard the climb would be. Michel’s bike got a flat, and after checking out the water pools once more before our departure, we headed up the mountain on a very hot day. After the mountain, we reached the coast and our not-so-much friend “the fog” came to greet us (and the temperature went down again).

Coast engulfed by mist

We rode till Mendocino, a town where many movies have been filmed (apparently over 60), and decided to stay and share a bottle of wine with John, another biker. We stayed at the Russian Gulch state park (with the fog).

Distance covered that day: 96km

Total distance: 1802km

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By Michel, July 27, 2009 3:54 pm

The fog quickly became our uninvited companion.

It’s not very pleasant to put on bike shorts in the morning and to realize they didn’t dry after having washed them the evening before (it’s cold enough already!).

The lady at the entrance of the Sunset Bay State Park told us it had been foggy “for the last four days”… but a few days later we understood she really meant “for the last four days, and the four days before that, and basically all summer long it will be foggy”.

She assured us that Sunset Bay had awesome sunsets, and we have to agree: imagination surely is a powerful thing.

At the campsite we met with Ian, who’s traveled Canada from east to west and is now heading south (maybe to San Diego?).

Dinner was short and quick, we wanted to go to bed early and start riding early as well: we realized that leaving late in the morning (sometimes afternoon) meant arriving at sunset and thus not really having time for ourselves or to enjoy the place we arrived to. Furthermore, our legs (and bums) were tired of riding, and we hadn’t found a comfortable feeding pattern (too much, not enough, too often, not often enough). It was slowly taking a toll on our stress levels, and we were becoming cranky.

The simple solution we found (although it took time to implement it) was to wake up and leave earlier: that way we would have some more resting time in the afternoons to relax, read our books and enjoy, a nice reward that improved things considerably.

Distance covered: 139.7km

Total distance so far: 1303km

Next, we rode through Gold Beach, and stayed at the Hunter Creek RV Park. We were pretty cold, so we decided to do laundry and stay with the dryers while having tea. The camp site was in front of a big rock that was supposed to look like a turtle (not sure about that one). A lady who came to the laundry room explained to us that most hippies moved from California to Oregon, and that Oregon was a much nicer state to live in because “the state did more for its people” and because it wasn’t so money oriented. We’ve heard that a few times over the trip, the funny thing is that none of them want to move from California either. We left early the next morning.

Distance covered: 100km

Total distance so far: 1403km

Lighthouse in Bandon - another funny city name for francophones.

We surely didn’t expect the Oregon coast to be that cold in summer. Somehow we had thought, for some silly reason, that it would be really warm. As the days went by the fog and the wind made sure we got that false idea corrected.

We stopped at Crescent City, had one of the best pizzas ever at King Pizza, and continued a few miles to a camp site that ended up being a “primitive camp site” with no hot water… so we decided to bike back to Crescent City, and stay at a Motel that advertised having a sauna (after all we were really cold). The sauna was … cold. Disappointed, we went to sleep and prepared for the next day.

Coast near the border between California and Oregon

And… the next day we made it to California!

After twenty something days...

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By Michel, July 27, 2009 2:49 pm

We met up with Evan (Team#2 member) at the Newport library a day before our departure, and we decided to coordinate a Team meeting two days from then: the next stop would be at the Jessie M. Honeyman State Park, famous for its dunes! (the campsite is close to Florence)

Seals on a sand bank (just south of Newport)

On a windy hilltop (cool temperature in spite of the clear skies)

At the Jessie Honeyman Memorial State Park

The dunes that inspired Frank Herbert to write the Dune novels

Having our last breakfast with our Californian friends

The dunes were indeed huge (probably miles in all directions), and there was a lake with warm water. We realized we were a bit late within our schedule so we had to up the pace by quite a bit if we wanted to make it on time to San Francisco. We had our last Oregon breakfast with our friends, and from there on we would have to focus on distance.

Distance covered: 89.5km

Total distance so far: 1164km

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By Michel, July 27, 2009 2:48 pm

After the night of beers and wine, the morning was quite the slow one.

Despite not having drunk that much, our bodies are these days tuned to absorb all nutriments which implies being lightweight cheap drunks. For the first part of the trip we decided to be less ambitious (Team #2 joined us on that concept). The houses we rode by on the coast were pretty cool, some were perched up on top of cliffs, others right by the water at almost sea level, but all seemed to have a beautiful view.

Michel admiring the sky

Houses on the Coast

On the way we saw a cow giving birth (well, just the start of it, we weren’t sure how long it would take so we continued).

Our brains felt really slow, despite the relatively easy ride, and it seemed the environment was in tune with us: in order to get to Cape Lookout, we had to ride through Netarts. We thought it was a pretty funny name, and it seems some other people thought that too…

"OLD NETARTS RD" got its spelling corrected.

Priceless introduction to the town, no?

Despite the fun and the easy ride, we arrived in a slightly deteriorated state… We were hoping to have a nice hot shower, but the campsite had a water-preserving system that would vaporize the hot water on you (rather than just letting the water flow out), so showering had an unintended cooling effect (the vaporized water would hit us already cooled down).

Michel decided to make a delicious raspberry+strawberry+rhubarb+honey jam, and we had a calm dinner with the gang. We made rice with corn hot sauce and celery.

Team#1 and Team#2 decided to take it easy and rest that evening.

Distance covered: 80.6km

Well rested, it was time to take the road for Newport. We had heard it was a very nice town, and were were hoping to take a rest day there, maybe surf a bit (if it worked out). It was a pretty long day, since there were >700 feet (214m) overpasses. We stopped to eat a disappointing chili burger (it was small and dry), and because of the hill we ended up drinking several liters of liquid that day.

Part of the ride didn’t have a shoulder road, but once we reached the coast again (and the beautiful view), we were treated for a while with a dedicated bike lane (yes!).

We went past a camping ground (where Team #2 was planning on staying) that had a huge and awesome beach in front of it (Beverly Beach), but we decided to go past it, all the way to Newport.

Scenery near Newport

As we got closer, we entered the fog region. It got cold (quite cold actually), windy and very foggy (it was hard to see with our glasses, so we had to take them off for part of the ride). We were so cold that we decided to stay in a Motel that night (and the next one), and going surfing was definitely not on the ToDo list anymore. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and their portions were so huge that even two hungry bikers were not able to finish them (it was enough for a full lunch the next day!).

The next day we went to the library to use the Internet for a bit, but we were only allowed to use the computers for an hour and a half (and they were extremely slow). We wanted to get ahead on the blog (we are still behind schedule after all), and while looking for an internet cafe (there are none), we bumped into the Beer One store. The lady at the counter allowed us to use her store computer to update our blog (she was very nice!), and we got to drink some delicious beer while at it. It’s a great place to hang out, with good music, comfy couches and tables, and a huge selection of wine and beer.

A few beers also had funny names…

Drinking beer in Newport (look carefully at the name of the company... it will probably appeal more to French speaking people)

More interesting beers...

A closer look at the brewing company logo - for the non French speaking crowd, "teton" means "nipple"

The breakfasts we had at the Newport Cafe were really good (Crab Eggs Benedict and Oyster Omelet).

Distance covered: 113.5km

Total distance so far: 985km

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By Michel, July 27, 2009 1:50 pm

The evening was a lively one… we were up till 4h30 a.m. (or maybe a bit more), sharing stories, drinking wine and beers, and making a huge dinner meal.

Enjoying a nice, warm fire

Enjoying a nice, warm fire... again

Enjoying a nice, warm fire... again and again

At some point it got really cold and we ran out of fire wood, so we had to do a Penguin-Circle in an attempt to keep warm (it worked pretty well).

Having a good time (after the fire...) despite of the cold

Good times.