Hellooooooooo, California

As we packed up our gear yesterday morning, rain clouds drizzled on us a little but soon gave up and moved away to bother someone else. It had rained overnight so our tents were wet and refused to slide easily into their stuff sacks. Everyone also had wet shoes. Such is life. Our first stop of the day was a town called Bandon. I had hoped to visit their bike shop to get a new rear tire and Mike wanted to find some wifi in order to post the most recent blog entry. The bike shop was closed and wifi at the local coffee shop refused to allow our laptop to connect. However, Mike Sr had a cup of coffee and chatted to a lady who ended up offering us a crab quiche. Mike Sr. declined, on account of the group being two-thirds vegetarian. He then discovered that the spokes on his rear wheel were loose so both Mikes set about tightening them up. That done, we cycled 100 metres (meters for the Americans) down the road to search for new wifi sources. We found an open network at Tony's Crab Shack and stole their bandwidth in order to deliver important news from the road to you. You're welcome.

The weather cleared up and provided tailwinds as we rode south along a dramatic coastline. There will be many pictures of beaches, large rocks, and the ocean today. The thing about being on a bike tour is that the scenery tends to change very slowly: three weeks of grasslands, one week of mountains, then four weeks of forests, next comes three weeks of beaches and cliffs, etc. If you would like some variation in our photos, please visit a blog post from more than two weeks ago.

We stopped at a giftshop for a "walk-through safari" attraction at the side of the highway in order to acquire snacks. I don't know how a walk-through safari works when you have lions. Mike thinks it was more of a regular zoo. We peeked at a kangaroo through the fence. As we ate a nutritious meal of crisps and chocolate bars we saw a touring cyclist go past. We later caught up with her at a convenience store, then again at a grocery store another 10 miles down the road. Cyclists are usually to be found at any business that sells food. Miranda is from Australia and is cycling from Vancouver, Canada, to San Francisco, California. Best of luck to her!

In the evening we camped at a private campground in Nesika Beach. This morning we had a quick planning session to discuss taking a rest day. We were hoping to take a rest day on Tuesday but the stars have not aligned and we democratically voted to push the rest day to Wednesday in order to reach a town that has both a cheap motel and a grocery store. Technically, Mike didn't vote as he disliked all options equally. We began the ride with dry shoes and equally dry (and clean!) clothes as we had used the campground's laundry facilities the previous night. The sun was shining, though it was still cold in the shade. The day's ride was mostly on highway 101 though we took some quieter detours on occasion.

The big news of today is that we have entered California! We are all of 1.5 miles into the state and are camping between highway 101 and the beach. Woohoo for the final state.

Yesterday's miles: 53
Today's: 45

Henry the fish is made of trash

Rach keeping warm, helmet jaunty

Cranberries in Oregon

Leaving Gold Beach, I think

Enjoying the coast

Dinosaur says hi

Rocket man breaking away from the peloton

A career in the law... means you always tell the truth.

Shark Tooth Rock

Creatively-named Arch Rock

The last stretches of Oregon coast

We did not go swimming here

And now for something completely different: a rock in a field

Last state!

First sunset in California