Day 0 was really a 2 day road trip through northern California and the entire length of the Oregon coast. The first day I took the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco and drove up through Humboldt County, just past Eureka to Sue-meg State Park to camp for the night.

The second day was a longer but I was able to get an earlier start as I didn’t have to deal with picking up the car and packing up my apartment. The road out of California took me through Redwood National Park. As I crossed into Oregon I realized that this would be the longest I’ll have spent outside of California since I moved to America.

The Oregon coast is as pretty as the California coast, although 101 isn’t quite as pretty as highway 1, for longer sections it just runs straight through the forest instead of hugging the coast. I stopped for lunch on the beach and weathered the strong wind which deposited fine sand onto me as I ate.

And after a long day’s driving I arrived into Astoria, the first thing that strikes is how enormous the mouth of the Columbia is, and the bridge that spans it between Oregon an Washington. Astoria itself is a cute little town, and the views from the Astoria column are pretty amazing. I had considered riding up and starting from the top, but quickly vetoed that idea as I drove up the steep inclines.

Tonight I sleep in a motel, tomorrow I start pedalling!