Tillamook, OR

Sixth consecutive day of riding has begun and we're finally feeling lke we're ready for an off-day. We crossed into Oregon by a ferry yesterday morning and reached the Pacific coast by night. Saw our first sunset while climbing the steep cliffs on the ocean; the views here are amazing and full of good energy, which is definitely useful for climbing the mountains that are getting taller and steeper the farther south we go.

At the end of the first day, when we left Seattle, Tomas and I ran into Joe, a recent college graduate from Alabama, who is doing a Seattle to San Francisco ride on his green Surly bicycle. We've been traveling together since and it's been a blast. Joe's experience working at the college restaurant is proving quite an asset. Combined with Tomas's cooking skills, we're getting to eat better food at our campsites that we did back home in London. Chicken fajitas, Chili con Carne, Spaghetti Bolognese, you name it. We also make A LOT of food each day. We even got made fun of by some other campers when they saw our two-stove, three-pot, full-pannier-load-of-fresh-vegetable arsenal of a kitchen. But hey, when you're doing 70 miles in the hills each day, you can never really have too much food.

In terms of camping and cycling equipment, we finally feel like we have everything we need. We got some fleece fabric at a Walmart, so Tomas and I no longer have to freeze in our super-light sleeping bags. We also got some rain jackets, which have proven life-savers in the first two days of continuous downpour. The new bikes are working out well. Only one flat tire incurred by me and a few entertaining-to-watch falls performed by Tomas, who is just getting used to clip-in pedals. My Brooks saddle is finally wearing in and my bottom is feeling less pain every day. We'd like to send a big thank you to Steve and Jane at Bicycles West in Seattle for setting us up so well for the start of our trip.

As fr the next few days, we're going to pick a beach town for our day off and some some reading, sightseeing and , some of us, studying (Tomas is preparing for his level II CFA exam, which he is taking in San Francisco in just two weeks). We will then continue following Highway 101 with some scenic detours, all the way into California. We might do some surfing at some point also :)

My time at the library is running out - we'll post another entry as soon as we catch some internet again. Thanks for following and best wishes from sunny Oregon!