Mooi/ beautiful

When we were in Anchorage, we thought we were going to fly home from Seattle because we thought we wouldn’t have enough time to go further South, for example to San Francisco. But we went through Canada pretty fast, so we decided we would be able to make it to San Francisco after all and we were going to fly home from there. A nice city to end our trip and this way we could cycle the part of the coast we missed on our way up after all. But this time from the right side; from the North, so with a tailwind.

It took us a few days to get from Bellingham to the real coast. We stayed in the town of Seaside for a day and (re)calculated how long it would take us to get to San Francisco from there. We should be able do make it easily and even take it pretty slow. So we booked our tickets home.

But along the way we discovered that we had a lot of time to get to San Francisco and we could take it very easy and go very slow. It was pretty hard getting used to days of about 25 to 40 miles instead of at least 100 kms (60 miles) and many days off. But still a good way to end this trip, feeling like being on vacation. The road took us from Bellingham through Washington State and then into Oregon and North California.

The Oregon coast really was beautiful; very diverse with huge sandy beaches, rocky cliffs and sanddunes. We were told lots of times that the coast was beautiful, but we had heard that about many places before and it usually turned out to be a bit of a disappointment when we got there. But not this time, it really was beautiful.

Because of the short days and many ‘off’ days, we had plenty of time to look around and do some sightseeing. Cycling in Oregon was pretty easy; there were many hills, but not steep and usually not very long. We saw a lot of beach, but it still stayed beautiful. The weather was changing a lot; a few days of very good and sunny weather, then a few days of fog and then good weather again. Fortunately the wind did what it was supposed to do and blew from the North most days so we had a tailwind.

As soon as we crossed the Californian border, the hills got longer and steeper so it took some adjustment. In Northern Califonia are the Redwoods; gigantic trees that can live up to 2000 years and can get up to 100 meters (300 ft) tall. Even though many trees have been cut down a long time ago, there are still some forests left. Beautiful, impressive and enormous trees that make you feel very small as a human being.

We were happy with the shade the trees provided because it was very hot when we were there. The next day it was like being back in Mexico, because of the scenery and the heat. Unfortunately, it was over when we got back to the coast; together with us the fog and clouds arrived. That lasted for a few days and then the sun came back.

We cycled further South along the coast; San Francisco got closer and closer. The Californian coast is much drier than the Oregon coast. Very dry land and a lot of farming. California has had serious drought for the past years.

The very last night, we camped on Angel Island, a little island in the bay of San Francisco. We had a beautiful view on part of the city and the Bay Bridge. It was a weird day; the last real day of cycling, the last time pitching the tent and the last time of cooking on our stove. And all that with an almost view on the airport from which we will leave, on the other side of the Bay Bridge.

It was also the end of cycling because the next day we took the ferry to the city and we only had to cycle to Erik and Lindsey’s house, where we had stayed in May and fortunately could stay again. On October 16th, exactly 22 months after we left Ushuaia, we arrived at their house. Now, there were only a few days left before going home.

Now, those few days are also over and reality starts striking. We cycled some kms through the city those last days, so our final km count is 28.558 (17.745 miles). Almost everything is packed and the bikes are in their boxes. Tomorrow (Wednesday Oct. 22nd) we fly home from Oakland airport, 22 months and 11 days after we left our house. We hope to arrive in Amsterdam on the 23rd, at 9:00 pm local time.