Stoked about SoCal
Getting back on the road after a relaxing 2.5 weeks road trip is hard. Especially when it is raining cats and dogs, you have to take numerous detours and end up in rush hour traffic to the coast. Luckily this was over compensated by all the good things in SoCal. From famous sights to seeing ‘old’ friends.
Leaving SF 
Dutch wind energy!
After waving Matthijs’ parents goodbye in San Francisco we left late and got ourselves into a bit of despair. It turned dark, we still had a big hill to conquer, no battery and an endless string of cars passing by on a road with no shoulder. To add to the scene, it was pouring and we were soaked to the bone. We could have had a better start after our ‘holiday’, but nevertheless made it to Half Moon Bay and treated ourselves to a hotel to warm and dry-up! After a pizza this terrible start tasted a lot better, luckily. The next day a fresh and cloudy ride to Santa Cruz followed to get us to Jacob & Victoria’s house. A lovely couple that hosted us on their couch and served us a delicious pasta. We have a lot in common with this cycling couple and really enjoyed hanging out. The next day turned out to be stormy and we ended up staying another day in Santa Cruz. This gave us some time to check out the vibrant coffee scene and catch up on some writing.
Lunch spots not on TripAdvisor 
Cloudy days fog away
Vegetarian meals in California
Having the time and a kitchen at hand made the chef in us surface! We cooked a vegetarian couscous with soyrizo for our hosts. Since we entered California we took on a vegetarian/pescatarian lifestyle. We really enjoyed our vegetarian meals and found it very easy to find tasty vegetarian options everywhere. We will write a seperate blog on our veggie experience and how this has an impact on green travel/ lifestyle.
Sailing away
Leaving Santa Cruz we had the excellent conditions for sailing and got up to 30km/h without pedaling! Unfortunately the scenic highway 1 was closed just after Big Sur and it looked like we had to cycle an alternative route. Therefore we took the route to Salinas, where we were hosted by Jerry and Sue and went for a Chinese dinner. We woke up to the news that the highway opened up again, LUCKY US! So we sailed our way to Monterey/Pacific Grove and spent a great Saturday night with Kevin. Starting off with a Kentucky mule cocktail, the evening couldn’t have gotten much better. But the two pastas and all his amazing bicycle and hiking stories made it a splendid night! Never expected that a question about a large pink Ganesha (Indian elephant god) in Kevin’s house would lead to a remarkable story about Nirvana. How some people are just too interesting to say goodbye to! Therefore it was made easier to just part ways when he accompanied us cycling out of Pacific Grove.
Kevin’s out of hand collection 
Admiring the coast
Big Sur
The rolling hills provided us with an excellent view of the Big Sur coastline. There are just no superlatives doing this landscape justice. Trust us, it’s magnificently beautiful. Especially on a bicycle when you have more time to enjoy, feel every hill, hear the waves and smell its fresh air. We met cyclists Andre and John at the Julia Pfeiffer State park and had dinner with them at the campsite. Wow, these guys are toughies! Youngster Andre was just pushing limits by travelling ultra light, taking only the bare necessities. No hot food or any comfort, but still loving it! It was great to share the bikepacking experience with these guys as some things of our trip can only be understood when you know what it is like. Fun times!
‘Digital nomad’ 
View of Bixby Bridge
Contrasts make our trip so special
After more sunshine, splendid coast sights and a soft breeze we arrive at the fire station where Murdock lives next door. It is the kind of contrasts in our overnight stays, experience on the road and the people we meet that make our journey so special and enjoyable. Murdock surprised us with a spare room which was completely decorated in SF 49’ers memorabilia. From wall decoration to bed linen to toilet seat cover and mat and much more! We were treated to a big pasta dinner and learned about being a firefighter in California. Astonishing how wildfires torture Californians every year and this season it was particularly devastating. The whole of Paradise city burned down taking many lives and creating a major health hazard for the smoke filled Bay area. Also Malibu took a big hit and we witnessed this on our way further south.
Droning 
Julia Pfeiffer Burns
Making some miles
The next few days we take in some more miles to make it to Santa Barbara for a little 5th month anniversary celebration! On the way we are hosted by cyclist Seth in Morro Bay who cooks a healthy shrimp and asparagus dinner. Next to cycling our whikes through los Osos, we also take a ride on a christmas bear on the way ;). We arrive at Don and Mary’s house in Nipomo and learn they have been cycling in the Netherlands! How nice to share stories and provide them with more tips for their next Dutch ride with their granddaughter coming spring. We were treated to a 5* dinner and breakfast and were completely refuelled to take in a rainy 103 kilometer day to Refugio state beach. Having to fix a puncture along the busy road we considered ourselves unlucky. Andre had even more bad luck with multiple punctures and arriving in the dark! These small miseries were all forgotten when we saw sunrise from the magnificent beach!
Riding the Oso 
Breakfast of champs 
Refugio state beach 
Morning walks
Santa Barbara
A short day got us to one of the best fish tacos in town for lunch. Afterwards we had good fun trying to hit some balls at the baseball court with an automatic pitching machine! Santa Barbara has a very nice and cycle friendly downtown and we learned that the yearly holiday parade would be held that night. Funny to see the marching bands with colorguards go by as well as the karate kids, inflatable Christmas characters and acrobatic groups. We celebrated our 5th month anniversary at vegetarian restaurant Mesa Verde and went to red pianos for some cheeky beers, singalongs and dancing! Great night out all together.
Loungin’ under palm trees 
Hit it!
Famous postcodes and show-off boardwalks
After Santa Barbara we camped in Oxnard to make our way south to one of the most well known beach towns; Malibu! Unfortunately we found it in a terrible burned state right after the forest fires that destroyed 616 houses, killed 3 people and blackened 100,000 acres. The gap between rich and less rich was apparent here as we learned that the most expensive insurance companies hire private firefighters to protect your property. Some houses where completely gone while the neighbor’s house was still in tact. A bizarre and sad sight.
Malibu’s horrific fires 
On the road
The Malibu boardwalk was still in tact and our bicycles made a weird looking appearance between the glamorous looking people. While eating ice cream, we checked out people and they checked out our bicycles, haha! In the end of the afternoon we rode the bicycle path along the famous Baywatch beaches and got the feel for the lifestyle here. Luckily we scored well on the thumbs-up and ‘cool ride’ reactions and felt like we kind of fitted in.
The city of Angels
From Santa Monica we parted ways with the beach and diverted into LA to reach our hosts in west Hollywood. Eric, Tamara and Otto are a warm family and we were happy to be part of Otto’s 8th birthday where we could add to his dinosaur collection! Tamara provided us with inspiring ideas for our sight seeing so that we didn’t get stuck too much in the tourist traps. We enjoyed the variety of food at the farmer’s market and scooted our way to the stars. The electric scooters were the ideal way of transport for us as it was clean, quick and easily accessible. Jakoba was a little under impressed with the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, as all the tourist stores and fast food joints along this strip make the experience a bit more tacky than anticipated when seeing it on tv. Nevertheless we had a great day as we also visited the La Brea Tar Pits museum. A very unusual sight as it is hard to believe that they excavated over one million bones of ancient animals out of the tar. Some of the remains are more than 50,000 years old and they excavated among others several mammoths and 2,000 extinct sabre-toothed tigers. The evening was filled with watching the big screen, this is Hollywood baby!
Hollywood 
Sparkly palm trees 
Ancient species 
Santa’s electricity bill
Long time no see – meeting friends 🙂
The next day we leave Hollywood and cycle for 56 kilometers through the city to reach Long Beach. Wow, these cities are immense and we are happy to arrive at Margot, Wes and León’s place in the LBC. Jakoba and Margot lived together in London and it was such an overwhelming experience to see each other again here. How both our lives have changed since we last saw each other in London, being single and enjoying the party lifestyle! Things have changed for the better and we enjoy catching-up, playing with León, going for yoga, sipping coffee, sharing delicious meals (Margot, you are a chef!) and doing a photoshoot on the beach. The best time we have together and we really cherish sharing experiences!
L-O-V-E 
Lucky boy! 
Sun salutations 
Rad times 
Leon, mon petit cheri
We even managed to meet-up with Jakoba’s uni friend Hanna (who lives in Mexico city now) and her friend Genevieve for a day as they were swinging by Venice beach for a long weekend. Amazing to feel at home, surrounded with friends, being on the other side of the world. With Hanna and Genevieve we check out famous Venice beach (yes, this is the Baywatch scene) and its canals (not quite like Amsterdam). We enjoy a very nice meal and a few drinks together before we head back ‘home’ to Long beach. It actually truly felt like home and we were more than sad to leave Wes, León and Margot behind, but we’re sure we’ll meet again in another place and time! Some friendships just keep their spark even though you don’t see each other often. Luckily we’ll get to see more of Hanna when we continue to Mexico city.
Looking for the Hoff 
Uni-friends united!
The ride south from Long Beach is a beautiful one with bicycle paths along the beach, passing through multiple famous (surfing) spots like Huntington and Laguna Beach. At the latter we treat ourselves to a sea side cold mocktail and camp some 15 kilometers further on Dana Point state beach. A beautiful sunrise gets us up early to continue our way to Del Mar, where we are invited by Scott and Wendy to enjoy the Bay Healthclub for an afternoon. What a treat to relax and refuel the mind with some meditative yoga. We felt reborn when we got out and were happy that we still had some time with Scott and Wendy the next morning. Inspiring to find out that both of them dedicate their working live to social causes, from building affordable rental housing to running Father Joe’s villages, a large shelter for homeless people in San Diego. Later that day we meet Greet (Matthijs’ parents friend) for a coffee and Armanda (Matthijs’ former colleague) for lunch. This week is filled with greet meet-ups and we need to switch focus to gear up for the next stage of our trip: Mexico!
Surf dude 
Whike dude 
So much drama leaving the LBC
San Diego – getting ready for the rough roads
From Del Mar we cycle into San Diego where we are hosted by bicycle fanatic family Chris, Alyssa and Eleanor. Chris gives us a ride to the best bicycle shop in town where we can order some extra 20 inch tires and get disc brake pads. The next few days we relax, check out Balboa park, eat in Gaslamp district downtown, do some wedding movie editing and a lot of bicycle maintenance. We really enjoy hanging out with Chris and his family and cook them a vegan ‘boerenkool’ – Dutch traditional meal which is basically mashed potatoes with kale, bacon and sausage (for which we found vegan substitutes). Not sure if this will convince them to ever come and cycle in the Netherlands, but we will sure be happy to host them in Amsterdam!
‘Boerenkool’ dinner 
Balboa Park
In the ‘caravan’ to cross that border
We cycle out at 7am being accompanied by Chris, Eleanor and her cycling buddies on their way to respectively work and school. We re escorted on the best possible route through San Diego downtown to take a ferry to the Coronado peninsula. A beautiful and easy road to get to the PedWest border with Mexico. As media had been reporting on teargas used against a raging migrant caravan and the US army being present at the border we expected a long wait and potentially some trouble. Unlike our expectations, the crossing went super smooth and within moments we were on Mexican soil; let the adventure continue!
Cycling crew 
Borderline