The morning of Day 8 in Boise was bitter-sweet. Julian is heading back to Canada and we will definitely miss his jokes, stories and above all, his friendship. Sasa and I both agreed, we could ride with Julian any time and anywhere.

On the other hand, this morning marks a new phase of our trip. The days of dust, rocks, and mud are over. Now, we are heading to the west coast to follow where the Tween Peaks TV show was filmed. The first season of this iconic TV triptych was released in 1990 when Sasa and I were in our mid-twenties. Sasa and I didn’t know each other back then, but both of us were big fans of the show.

We decided to get to the coast of Washington State by riding through northern Oregon and spending a night in Bend. After breakfast in Boise, we loaded our bikes, hugged Julian goodbye, and started riding west. It was very smokey as a result of local wildfires. Throughout the day, the smoke was slowly clearing up, while the landscape changed rapidly. What used to be curvy forest roads, slowly transitioned into a desert with endless straight roads, no trees, and mid to high 30’s temperature.

No matter how fast we go, with all of our vents open, we were cooking inside our gear. That painful experience lasted for several hours until we finally reached Bend.

The way we were welcomed in the Oxford hotel in Bend, immediately erased all the bad memories from the desert ride. The moment we stepped in, we were offered a glass of champagne.

Champagne normally tastes great, but having a glass of properly chilled Champain after many hours of cooking in the riding jacket, pants and boots, was an entirely new level of greatness. The bellboy took us to park our bikes in a special spot and the concierge, Sierra, was absolutely amazing with good advice for food and drinks. Not to mention that the room was fantastic too. If you ever go to Oregon, forget Portland, go to Bend, and stay at the Oxford Hotel – you won’t regret it.

Also, Bend is a wonderful town to visit with unique architecture, lots of lovely shops, and good restaurants.

After a “dinner” at 5 Fushion sushi restaurant, we went to Crux Brewery to eat and have some beer.

The ride from Bend to Seaside (a lovley town on the coast of Oregon) offered some great scenery, such as Mt. Hood.

However, it turned out to be more hot than the day before. In the crazy heat, I started habitually and unconsciously looking at the temperature gage on my display every few minutes. Every time I looked, it was 39C. And, every time, I hoped to see at least one degree less as a promise that the heat would finally start to give up. One of the last times I looked at the temperature gage, it was still 39C, but when I lifted my eyes, I realized that several cars, including Sasa’s bike, were lined up bumper-to-bumper, fully stopped on the highway. I didn’t have time to stop safely. I was trying to avoid hitting Sasa’s bike on the right side and the ongoing traffic on the left side by using the width of my handlebars to gauge how much space I needed to squeeze through. In a moment of madness, I didn’t account for the fact that the panniers are wider than my handlebars by a couple of inches. This resulted in my right pannier hitting Sasa’s left pannier and turning both boxes from a perfect orthogonal shape into abstract pieces of art.

The impressive thing is that we both kept our cool. Sasa looked at the box and said, “It’s just a box.” He wrapped it with a few bungee cords, and we were back on the road. Well, I kept my cool too, but I was pissed inside. I made a terrible mistake. I decided not to replace my pannier as a reminder to always keep my eyes on the road.

When we finally arrived at Seaside, we dropped our luggage and we decided to go downtown to see the ocean and to find a place to have dinner.

The Seaside beach was wide and endless, with many people setting up BBQs for a fun evening with their families.

We had a quick bite in one of the local restaurants where my salmon tasted good, and Sasa’s tuna, judging by his facial expression, tasted like an old shoe. After that, we went to Hop & Wine Bottle Shop and Tap Room. 

There, among a few tables with smiling faces, was Justin playing the guitar and singing. It was immediately obvious that he was good, but I wasn’t paying much attention. That was until he started to play Coldplay. He got my full attention at that point, so much so that I asked him to join our table and play a few more songs just for us.

This place had a decent selection of wine, which triggered that part of my brain that makes me BS forever about wine regions, varieties, etc. I guess Sasa got tired of all that talk, and at one point, he suggested we switch from beer to wine.

I ordered a very nice bottle of Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon. This got the manager’s attention. His name is Leo. Leo was such a fantastic guy that it only made sense to share this special wine with him. Well, Justin got lucky, too.

While having wine with us, Leo would often disappear for a few minutes to visit the next table, have a few word with them, and come back to hang out with us. At one point, I asked him who those people were. Instead of explaining, he simply asked Sasa and I to join his family at that table. That’s how we got to meet Melo, Angelica, Violeta, Alberto, and Wayne.

We had an absolutely amazing time sharing wine and lots of laughs with all of them for a couple of hours. What a wonderful bunch of people. Towards the end of the night, Melo said, “You guys are coming to my home tomorrow for a real Mexican breakfast.” Initially, I thought he was joking, but he was dead serious. We gladly accepted the invitation.

When we showed up at Melo’s house the next morning, Alberto was outside waiting for us. Melo welcomed us into his home where we got to see Leo, Angelica, and Violeta again. Also, we met Melo’s lovley daughter and son.

The whole family participated in the preparation of breakfast, and it was authentic and delicious. During breakfast, we also had a chance to hear Melo’s life story of coming to America and building multiple successful businesses. He is now a very successful businessman and very proud of it – rightfully so. We also had a chance to hear Leo’s story of becoming independent, his passion for soccer, and how it impacted his life.

While getting ready to leave, Melo broth out a big bag of Mexican coffee as a present.

As we were living Seaside, heading to Washington State, I kept hearing in my brain Sasa’s comment, “Meeting people like Melo and his family brings me hope in humanity.” It was an honor to meet this wonderful family, and I sincerely hope that our paths will cross again.

To get from Oregon to Washington, we had to cross the magnificent Astoria-Megler Bridge.

Our overachievment in beer and wine the night before resulted in more than the usual number of espresso stops. During one of those stops, I convinced Sasa to take a few minutes and try to repair our panniers as much as we can. Sasa agreed, and he asked me to hold his bike tight, not to tip over while he was fixing the box. The tool of his choice was his right riding booth. Just picture Brice Lee with a deadly leg kick. That’s what Sasa did to his pannier multiple times. Naturally, I didn’t want him to “fix mine too”. To my surprise, the box started slowly taking the original shape, and in a few minutes, it was hard to say that anything happened to it. That was a magic touch, well, a magic kick.

Sasa is still debating if he wants to repair his pannier or buy a new one. If he gets a new one, he said, he will give this one to Olja to use it as a planter for her favorite spring flowers.

A couple of hours of riding brought us to the first Twin Peaks site in Washington State. And, this is where Sasa takes over with his exceptional knowledge of everything related to this TV show.