Rather chill day due to long rolling downhills however, I was severely slowed down by the headwinds which were present most of the day. Forests neighboring Mt Shasta quickly gave way to dry golden fields which were occasionally spotted with black cows. These oversized puppers are really cute - genuinely interested and curious seeing me pass by. 😊

Apart from that, the route was mostly taking me through quite uninteresting places in a close proximity of Interstate Highway 5 which I was actively trying to avoid. Unfortunately had to take it on a 12km stretch because there simply was no other route. Luckily the hard shoulder was like 3m wide so I had quite some safe space.

There was something unsettling about the villages I passed by today. I have already seen poor places in California but today there was more than that. Some sort of hostility coming from the houses and people themselves. Long lasting looks and not particularly friendly. Hard to describe the feeling but similar to the one when you feel sth is not right even though if you can’t put it into words. But hey I reached Oregon and crossed Pacific Crest Trail yet again. Plenty of hikers around thus evening is back to normal again!

Finally out of California! After 17 days of riding, 1919 kilometers and 28500 meters of elevation gain I finally made it to Oregon. 😅 This country is crazy big and the distances are truly mind boggling.