After a last evening together in Portland with my hiking friends from Mount Saint Helens I left the next morning for the Oregon Coast. So far, I had been intermittently been camping out or staying with people along the way. That was about to change. The Oregan coast is almost littered with fellow cyclists. One might think that to be nice, sharing like experiences with like-minded people. On the other hand, now I am just one of the bunch following the coastline down south.. I went from seeing 1 biker a week to more than 10 every day. Along with the many bikers came a change in accommodation. State Parks are my new way to go by now. For $5 you can stay at their campgrounds, and more importantly, have a hot shower. I figured that the cheap camp spots make up for food items, since most of them are a lot more expensive than back home: a small jar of peanut butter for example costs 4 to 5 bucks and a loaf of bread the same! The currency conversion does not make up for that..  

Many bikers on the road travel in groups or in pairs. One of the bikers that traveled by herself was Wren, a 25 year old girl who was carrying a lot less gear, compared to me that is:-). I have noticed that I am carrying the heaviest load of all the bikers I have met so far. Of course, I am continuing my journey in South America and for that I will need some additional stuff. But I also carry a bit too much. This will be very hard to believe for Margit, but I actually brought a little bit too much clothes with me..I guess I still have to figure out less is more with respect to gear.. Anyway, she was looking for a community that is self-sustainable with anything from growing their own veggies to for example having their own water supply. Apart from being self supporting she, as she put it herself, "wanted to be part of a tribe" and hoped she could find it in a community like that. Of the people that travel together, I kept bumping into two guys biking together: Nick and Daniel, two friends who live far apart now (Oregon and Tennessee) but used to live both in Bend, Oregon. I found them somewhat peculiar at first, but even if I wanted to, it was difficult to shake them off:-). All of us are heading down the coast southward and the distance we are covering each day turns out to be the same. It is through these encounters that I got to know them a bit. Daniel, being the older of the two is definitely an extravagant guy. Aged 58 he gives a whole new meaning to the word womanizer. Having cycled in many countries around the world, his bike got stolen 3 times in different countries. The loss of each of these three bikes could be attributed to the faith he put in women he had never met before but thought he could trust..subsequently, some guy who obviously had ties to this particular woman, took off with his bike, panniers or valuables..Although he certainly can be blamed for some degree of naivity when it comes to women (and bikes) it sure did not influence his mood in a negative way (from what I could tell). A very optimistic fellow indeed. And knowledgeable on many topics. History and geography had his specific interest, providing some good stories for around the campfire.

Now Nick was a different type of guy altogether. Aged 30, he works as an arborist (pruning trees) in Tennessee. For his work he has to climb up trees 40 meters high. Born and bred in Tennessee, but having lived in the state of Oregon for 8 years, he is quite critical on his home state. First of all, he claims that Tennessee is home to the fattest people in America. To prove his point he showed me a picture on his phone of a rocking chair, especially designed for fat people. Apparently, you have furniture stores that specifically cater for large people. Although it did sound funny to me, in fact it is rather sad. Yesterday, as we were sitting around the campfire in one of these State Parks we noticed the pine trees over our heads to have many dead branches. Now Nick had made comments before on hillbillies and rednecks (on which I will elaborate shortly), but hippies were the focus of this story on forests and logging. And this is how I learned a bit about the biology of trees. He said that instead of saving forests, hippies should rather be blaimed for their demise. This was his rationale: trees that are standing too close together (such as the ones in the State Park) are competing for light, and by doing so, will not develop much foliage. Now when the pine beetle enters such a forest, the individual trees will not have sufficient pitch (sap) to push the beetle out again (apparently strong trees can). As a consequence forests become infested with these pine beetles, and in summer, when forest fires are common, these weakened forests are susceptible to burn down completely. Healthy forests can withstand these fires often since mostly only the lower strata are affected (the brush). Hence, by protecting all trees (as many hippies do), the quality of the forests goes down. They need to be either left alone in the first place, or, whenever people have moved in (which is often the case), they need to be managed properly: cut certain trees so enough space and light is left for the remaining trees. He concluded his story by saying: "I have saved more trees than all those goddamn hippies will ever save!" Now Nick might not be the most subtle arguer, he certainly had a point. And it was very interesting to hear his stories and experiences. Fortunately it is only a small step from forests and hippies to hillbillies and rednecks. I have to admit, I did not know that there was a difference in the first place. But there is. Apparently, hillbillies are people up in the mountains in Tennessee, many of which are of Irish descent, and they just want to be left the f* alone. Rednecks, on the other hand, are just plain ignorant. They never leave their home town and can't hink for themselves. In other words, they are "deutchbags" (which is not a very nice word translated literally). To finalize my inquiry on the state of Tennessee, some words on biking in Tennessee. Nick told me that, whenever he goes out cycling, he brings out a semi-automatic pistol tied to his chest (?). Not to defend himself against bears or pumas or whatever wildlife one might encounter on the road. No, apparently it is common for people in Tennessee to throw bottles to passing cyclists, so you are better off having some sort of defense just in case.. Well, all these stories on Tenessee have certainly aroused my curiosity (in a freaky way maybe) to visit that state one day!  

So far, I have camped out at least half of the time, either in the wild or on a camping. In Washington State I found it often difficult to find a suitable camp spot, since much land is privately owned. And when you are faced with signs like the one in the pic section, you think twice before pitching a tent.. When I camp out in the wild, a typical day looks like this: I wake up between 6 and 6.30 and start packing my stuff in the tent already (step 1: put my contact lenses in!). Depending on the weather I either have breakfast at my camp or, in case it is too cold, I jump on my bike until I find a sunny spot. Breakfast consists of powdered milk and oats/mixed cereals and usually some instant coffee. Between 10 and 11 I usually stop for coffee with a muffin or nuts and fruit. Lunch entails wholemeal multiple grain bread (quite difficult to find at times) with avocado and peanut butter. In the afternoon mixed nuts/cereal bar and some fruit. And at night, I swap between easy-to-warm-up baked beans or a bit more elaborate and healthier dinner like pasta or couscous with veggies and olives. Mm..jammie!

To conclude my story on the Oregon coast, I will say something about the landscape. Many people visit this stretch of coastline for its scenery, and they are not disappointed. Despite the fact that for quite some distance the road does not follow the actual coastline, where it does, the many different rock formations and long stretches of sand dunes together with marsh lands, rivers and creeks easily make up for it. Granted, the weather has been fabulous so far: in the past 5 weeks I have only had one day of (some) rainfall. Good karma seems to continue for me..  

I enjoy writing these stories and I love reading all your replies/comments!  

Beso y hasta la proxima.

Total distance so far: 1850 km

Average distance: 70 km/day