It doesn't take more than a few listens to the Pedalshift Project to know I pine for the state of Oregon... pretty much on a daily basis. You always hear about people who move to Oregon... well, I was the damn fool that moved away.

That's why I try to get back as often as I can, and when I do I try to get myself and a bike out to the coast and soak in a few days or more of bicycling and camping down the Oregon coast. There are few places with a better reputation for bicycle touring, and fewer still that measure up to the hype.

In the summer of 2016 I was a grizzled veteran of Oregon coast bicycle touring. I'd done it as a part of the full Pacific Coast in 2014 plus as a part of two trips to San Francisco the year before and after. But this time, I didn't have the time to do the whole thing. Sure I could have banged out miles but this time I wanted to go slow and savor the central part of the coast... Tillamook, Pacific City, Newport... places I think about when I'm dreaming up other tours. Places that I compare almost every tour I've ever done to.

This trip was shorter, more relaxed, and probably more fun than some of my other adventures. Just goes to show you don't need to escape for weeks on end to really escape.