After waking in Roslyn with the tent covered in  ash, we decided to head to Mount St Helens to see the queen of volcanos. For those that weren't around then, on the 18 May 1980 the whole side of the mountain bulged and then blew, with the resulting ash cloud taking 15 days to circle the globe. It's an amazing and iconic site, with swathes of trees still blown from the blast. We went down into one of the lava tubes, all sparkling with a silvery shimmer and a constant temperature of 5 degrees. Quite a thing to walk down.

So, if you're wanting a spot in the boondocks to pitch up, always ask at a gas gas station or offie - the kids always know of good spots! This one was a fab place near the fabulously named Cougar in the national forest, surrounded by pumice from past eruptions. As the parks boards say "great campsites are found, not made".
Alas, this one had a fairly tricky exit for the bike, cue drop number 4! No harm done, other than to pride.
Rode down the 503, a bonkers winding road, so huge fun for James, whilst Imogen enjoyed the trees, some of which are already starting to show their Autumn colours.  After some wildlife watching and seeing a nutrina, we happened upon an airplane museum at McMinniville, which housed the Spruce Goose - Howard Hughes's all wooden war time boat plane. We were given a private tour as it was nearly closing, so we were sneaked in, what an incredible sight, and great to be shown around by an expert.

We were now heading south down the coast road, stopping at Depoe Bay to see grey whales right up at the shore -  what a place to have a picnic! It was Labor Day weekend, so the world and their dog were out camping. Yes, that meant we were scherdumpered once more for a sneaky spot. Just as it was looking like no chance, we were flagged down by a chap, with Imogen thinking there was something wrong with the bike, but no! It was our saviour for that evening, a family who invited us to share their camp spot. What a great night, making 'smores round the campfire and enjoying the company of Norman, Marie, Tina, Jo and others who arrived after a game.

Most of Imogen's knowledge about the US has been culled from reading Bill Bryson, so it was a real treat to be welcomed by such a lovely group of people to have PB&J sarnies and chat about life. Glorious.

The fires through Oregon were getting pretty  bad, making for more "Bike Riders of the Apocalypse" scenes. We headed towards Crater Lake as we had been told it was the most unmissable site in the US. Hmmm. We rode through a pumice desert, which was pretty cool, especially as ash and orange smoke was obscuring the scene. Well, the only way we could see the lake was to walk down, a "strenuous hike" according to the blurb, for Brits read "a steepish toddle". Yup, one of the most beautiful deep ice blues you are ever going to see (apparently) didn't quite happen. We sat cooling our feet in the water whilst scoffing choccie bars - dark Milky Way & Snickers, the joy, then looked at pictures of what is should look like if it wasn't obscured by smoke. The warning for air quality was "hazardous to health, do not go outdide". Hey ho.

After a stop at the Oregon Caves, where we were allowed in after answering the question "have you ever been in any cave at all outside the US?" (ans: errr, yeaas?) As the caves are currently free of the White Nose Fungus that's destroying the bat population, they're being hyper careful of clothing coming in with spores. We then carried on with the serious business of nature by heading to the Redwood  National Park, via our first sighting of brown pelicans on the Pacific.

We were rescued again from slight camping disaster, spots we had seen had a LOT of fresh bear poo, by two bikers on BMWs, Adam and Alex, who let us pitch in their space at the  campsite AND bought beers! Kudos, gents. We reciprotated by sorting them out with breakfast, Alex's Hostess cakes from the gas station do not make a healthy start to the day!

The redwoods really are incredible and no picture would do them justice as you can't get it all in anyway.

It's quite humbling to be amongst such wondrous trees. Rode along the Avenue of the Giants, stopping at Founders Grove for some particularly spectacular trees, some over 340 ft tall.

The Hwy 1 is still a crazy route, this time with the Pacific fog rolling in, which at least provides some respite from the heat. Stopped in Point Arena for a bite to eat and found a Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance shop. The owner used to hand out copies until the cost proved too much. Apparently Persig came through on his journey, and as Imogen is currently reading it, an emergency (black, to hide the grime) t-shirt was purchased.

The PieRats went large by hitting San Fran. Obviously over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was pretty much enshrouded in fog, then the usual things of City Lights and Haight Ashbury, similar to London's Carnaby St now, but it's of course 50 years since the Summer of Love, so it had to be done.

The difficulties of finding free camping spots in California can't be emphasised enough, our last one turned out to be at an SVRC site, but it did mean we chatted to some bikers who told us about the amazing back road to Yosemite. Called Mines Road, it's all parched hills and tight corners - even better, there's a cafe at the end (The Junction) that did incredible food, with huge portions that did us for the evening too.

After a day spent in Yosemite, we hit Nevada, with much easier camping to be had, pitching up overlooking Nellis Air Force Base (aka Area 51) watching the most amazing lightening storm, or most likely, aliens landing. Disappointingly the black mailbox has been taken down but the Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel is still going strong and Hwy 375 still cool. We did more tourist stuff, admiring Zion and Bryce National Parks, and enjoying the most amazing star gazing.

We found one of the best roads - Scenic Byway 12, outstanding riding through 1.9million acres of red and white sandstone and scenery that changes at every turn. A must do for any biker.

After visiting the Grand Canyon and Mounument Valley we got our kicks on Route 66, where we bumped into a fellow Africa Twin rider called Rick, who not only invited us back to his homestead for the night, he gave us the contact of one of the best bike mechanics around who was able to look at the bike in Vegas. What a fantastic chance meeting! Rick also got us a new back tire at cost and his son helped us change it in his garage. Awesome. Tony Berluti was a total bike don, sourcing and fitting bearings, so we're all set for Mexico.

We made base 20 miles from Vegas at Lake Mead, so we rode the Strip, with quite a few admiring comments (yes, really!) and managed to not spent a cent! We spent our last few days cleaning our gear - question: why did we wait 3 months to wash the sleeping bags?! and generally getting ourselves tip top, finishing our amazing time spent in this country at Joshua Tree national park. Our last night we chanced across an RV park in El Centro, with a pool and a Jacuzzi, so we drank Californian champers and enjoyed life!

We've loved the US. The people have been wonderful, genuine, helpful and friendly and it has been just the most glorious riding through some of the most unbelievable scenery. After 3 months on the road and our 90 day visa waiver about to expire, we wave a cheery goodbye to this diverse country and we wait to see what Mexico offers!