Coasting through Oregon
Crossing Washington by bike took surprisingly little days and we were excited to see what Oregon had to offer! After crossing the gruelling 6.5 km bridge with a steep ending we entered Astoria. A quaint little town that is the decor for many movies we have never seen. We did not know what to expect the first night at Steve’s house, but it was an experience we will not forget. We were welcomed by him and Chris, who restored most of the old, for American standards, houses on the hill. We could sleep in the carriage house adjacent to his home, as Steve’s house was already full of cyclists. Everybody contributes to dinner and with Pascale and Johnny (aka the Saddlegroovers) and Spanish couple Pak and Tere we enjoyed a delicious Indian curry. The hippie vibe, the selfless way Steve makes his house available, his open mind, humour and enthusiasm made it so inspiring!
The Astoria bridge 
Steve is the man!
Coffee & Craft Beer
Chris gave us a ride to Portland the next day where we stayed for the weekend. A cool city with ample opportunity to try one of the hundreds of coffee shops and craft breweries. How does anybody get work done here? But one of the main attractions is the Voodoo Doughnut shop. A strange experience to wait in line for a doughnut. Roaming around the largest bookstore in the world, Powell’s is a lot of fun. However, we are shocked by the number of homeless people around Portland though. A phenomenon we will devote another blogpost to.
Migration Brewery 
Voodoo DoughNUTS
Making the best of rainy days
After Astoria we were off to Tillamook, a dairy town, where we surprisingly met Hunter and Charlie again at our host Bruce on the countryside. He went out of his way to cook vegan burritos and we even got a bag of cookies on our ride out! The Oregon coast is infamous for its rain and over the next days we get our share and are forced to stay in motels and cabins, but make the most of it sharing them with Hunter and Charlie. Good fun! Pints of beer, for those who could show ID, relaxing in the jacuzzi and pizza to top it off! On another night it was so foggy, that when we reached a campground in Winchester, we found out we are in the middle of a large marina the next day!
Foggy roads 
Charlie tests Whike 
Misty rocks
Awesome coast and sleepy towns
When the weather is good though the Oregon coast shows its beauty. Rocky high cliffs, black sand beaches, huge sand dunes and long stretches without too much human activity. When we can we get off Highway 101 for some pretty and quiet side roads. Away from the coast there is beautiful farmland and dense green forests. Most of the low rise towns are unimaginative though. Riding through you meet a stretch of auto part and DIY shops, then a medical weed dispensary, a shopping mall with Safeway, Walmart and Starbucks, a strip of chain motels and some restaurants. Then the same thing in reverse when you leave town. Double D’s on the Rocks has a sign outside that you are welcome to bring your gun as long as you can appropriately use it if needed. The motels look like they had their best time in the fifties. But still there are some gems here, like a Nepali lunch in Lincoln City or a nice dinner at Spinner’s in Gold Beach.
Oregon coast beauty 
Dinner @ Spinner’s 
Relaxing! 
Rocky coastline 
Arch Rock 
Lunch on the beach 
Pacific City
Camping fun
The abundant national park campsites are great as well. It is fun to make campfires at night and this is also necessary if we like to stay up after 7pm. And there are more amenities like warm showers and electricity that we were not used to up north in Alaska. At Harris Beach, we are plagued by racoons at night, clawing through our food bag. Although the bears are a bigger threat in the north, racoons did more damage to our stuff. They are fearless creatures!
Otter Crest Road 
Playing with fire
Before we know it we pass Brookings, our last stop of our ten days in Oregon! Up next is the Golden State, California!