Hey look it's the Pacific Ocean, awesome!!!

Beach, Beach, and more Beach.

We woke up this morning and something had changed.  Physically, the road was no longer taking a toll on our bodies.  The scenery was beautiful and all but we just felt as if we had seen the same Pacific Ocean yesterday and the day before that and the day before that.  Our enthusiasm for cycling 60-70 miles a day had seemingly evaporated overnight.  This sentiment had infected our whole group.  Jet was beginning to express some uncharacteristic aggression toward us and even bit Julie on a few occasions.  Rightfully we deserve any grief he gives us.  He has been a sweet loving dog as we toted him around America for the last 32 days.  So we decided we were going to do anywhere from 70-83 miles a day to reach the end as soon as physically possible. We started by lightening our load for the third time this trip. Typically we carry around 2-3 days worth of food and decided we would only carry breakfast and then eat out for our other meals. We broke camp at 630am, ensured Jet was worn out prior to putting him in his doggie trailer and sometimes were on the road well before 8am.  We actually stopped being the last people out of camp! We heard from other cyclist "it's all flat roads after San Francisco" and anticipated the rest of our miles to come easy.  I even texted my cousin telling her how easy the rest of our journey would be.  Let me just shine some light on these false statements.  If you are a cyclist and are reading this, know that the roads from San Francisco to Santa Barbara are the epitome of hills.  This segment of the trip was by far the hilliest of the entire trip.  It was a constant up and down for what seemed like days on end. Although the views don't get any more thrilling than they do along Big Sur.  We crossed over several historic bridges unsure if we should be excited that we crossed on something so old or terrified that it would collapse on us. You know because for some reason it can hold a car but not two cyclist and a dog. Despite a relentless leak in our sleeping pad, no pillows, the lingering scent of our sweat and a broken tent, we slept better the last few days of cycling than we had in the past month.  While sitting around camp chatting with other cyclist, Matt and I were often awarded the "best" tan lines.  After being made fun of consecutive nights in a row I called my big sister to see if she could pull any strings and come defend me.  After all she is the only one who can pick on me.  I sent her a picture of my legs and she replied with "Wow that's awful.".  The next day we were determined to fix them.  We changed into our beachwear, ate lunch at Pismo Beach State Park and set off to work on our tan lines. The further south we cycled, the less dog friendly things tended to be. This only compounded our desire to be finished as most of our remaining camp sites were state beach's where Jet was no longer welcomed to chase the waves.  No wave chasing for Jet meant no relaxing walks on the beach for us.  The more miles we put under the tires the more places and things started to blur in together.  We are not exactly sure when it happened but this trip had fairly quickly turned into a 9-5 job.  Punch in, cycle, punch out, sleep, repeat.  When we reached what we decided was our final destination it seemed as though it was meant for us to stop there.  We found a dog-friendly beach and three intact sand dollars! Like a child I lit up like it was Christmas.  Honestly, Matt found all three of them but he kindly pretended to not see them between his feet so I could claim them. We were so excited to not be on our saddles anymore Julie started doing cartwheels and drawing in the sand.  We have literally and figuratively come a long way since setting out on this little fundraiser of ours.  We had a great time, met some interesting people, and got to see some amazing country.  Most importantly, with the help of our "sponsors" we were able to raise over $8,200 for cancer research.  Obviously we were well short of our goal but we feel that we put our best effort forward.  We would like to thank those that followed us on our journey and also our sponsors that helped us along the way.  For those that still wish to donate, our crowdrise fundraiser page will remain open for a few weeks if there is any money burning a hole in your pocket.  Well we

got 99 problem's but a blog ain't one!  Peace beaches.

Thanks again, 

The Swallows 

Jet on a morning run.

Daaaaang!

Trying to convince Jet we're almost done.

"On the road again..."

Jet taking a break out of the sun.

The endless hills we climbed.

Matt checking out a bridge we just crossed.

Big Sur, CA

Working on my tan lines.

Elephant Seals

Hearst Castle

Cali is not dog friendly.

A dog friendly beach!

Matt dismantling our bikes :-)

We are done!!!