Holy crap, I'm updating this thing!

After what seems like an eternity on the exceedingly hilly, windy, and green bordered US-29, I'm finally getting very close to the Arlington and DC area. Unfortunately, it looks like the weather might be crap while I'm there, so that sucks a lot. Seems to happen that way a lot, whenever I get somewhere I really want to explore and see up close. Oh well, fingers crossed on that one, as I'd really like to visit the National Cemetery and, of course, the whole Capitol Mall area.

As for the Tour in general, it has been pretty rough riding lately. Endless hills here on the long stretches of the "Piedmont" of the Appalachian mountains. It has been exceedingly hot and humid for the past month or so, and the winds have not been following their seasonal paths, leading to my feeling like someone has a high powered blow dryer in my face most of the time. Still, I've continued to meet a lot of really good people who have helped me out in a lot of ways, which has always been one of the few things that always boosts my mood.

I had to replace my rear rim in Greenville, SC. The hub and spokes were still just fine, but the rim had seen too many potholes, pavement seams, expansion joints, etc. My kicking the bike over a few times over the Tour probably didn't help, either, heh. Anyway, got a good deal on a new version of the same Mavic Open Pro 700c rim, so that was cool. Still feels like I've been spending money like it's going out of style lately. Oh well. I'm less than 2 months from the end of the riding portion of the tour, so I have that to look forward to! I'm thinking of looking for a quick and dirty p/t job of some kind in Boston, as I'll be there for a month, and I'll have a lot of otherwise "free" time to myself, while my friend there is at work and not available to be my tour guide to the city, ha. I'm by not quite "broke," but knowing me and my work ethic, my time in the city will feel much more productive to me, even if I'm only able to earn just enough to cover my travel expenses of Amtraking back to Cali.

From here it looks like: DC, to Philly, Jersey, NYC, Connecticut coast, Providence RI, central Mass, then Vermont, New Hampshire, way the hell up into NE Maine, then back down the coast to Boston, hopefully finishing in late July or sooner. I'm starting to have mixed feelings about being "done" soon, but I'm still mostly stoked for that. Envisioning my rolling into the park where I plan to "finish" is a great motivator, and something I think about a lot as I drift off to sleep in all these random places.

In the mean time, I'm trying to stay focused and motivated through all the weather challenges that seem to be the central bane of my existence while on Tour. People seem continuously surprised when I tell them how jaded I feel about the Tour, and how much I long to be done with it. Yes, I tell them, I will miss some things about it, eventually. But, I still find it difficult to not come off as rude when I explain to them that there is simply no way for them to know what it's like. 373 Days, I tell them, you just can't know what that's like, how it changes you. The sense of gratitude it has cultivated in my mind and the way I view my life. Though I know they mostly mean well with their comments, they'll just never get it. Similar to how someone told me that today's ride was "all downhill." I'm sorry, but any time I hear someone say that, even as a joke, I kind of want to scream. Not at them, but just out of general frustration, haha. I have to stop people from telling me about the terrain I have yet to encounter, as I like going into it blind. unless there is a bridge out, or a road turns to dirt somewhere, I don't want to know! Trying to explain this while being nice has been a significant challenge for my social engineering skills, heh.

Sometimes

When I take a drink of water from certain glasses, and go to tip the glass back down, the water splashes me in my eye and I drop the glass in shock and make a mess. Other times, this doesn't happen.

In other news, I'm leaving for Houston on Friday morning, hoping to beat the next storm there. The storm they got last week dumped over 5 inches of rain in some parts of the city, as well as nickel-sized hail. The next chance of rain is a 20% on Sunday, which means rain. Since I got to Texas in late November, any chance of rain has turned into rain. Back home if it was 30%, or maybe even 40, you'd probably get some clouds, then  nothing. Texas? The "drought state" lately? Hell no. 10%? Rain. 20%? More rain. Haven't found a CS host in West Houston, so it looks like I'll be praying for the drought to come back just for a couple months...

Negative, you say?

I'm so fuckin sick of people who have zero experience with long bike tours telling me how I should be riding, where I need to be, what I need to pack, and why I shouldn't be afraid to head North this time of the year. Are people really that ignorant that they think Chicago is warm right now? That the roads won't be frozen for the next 2 months? Oh, just go to "X" city instead, huh? Yeah, that's only like thousands of miles out of my way, but of course, I'll just fuck up my entire route and go do something else so I finish in fuckin Nebraska. How about this, shut the fuck up and let me do my thing. Don't like it? Tough shit, deal with it. Do it differently if you want, but fuckin do it yourself, and stop telling me that I'm wasting my time, just because I don't drool over every minute of it. You spend 7000 miles on the road first, then maybe we can have a rational conversation about motive, attitude, and dedication.

Auld Lang Syne

New Year's Day, 2012. Before I had a chance to poke fun at the idea of it being yet another year in which the world is supposed to end, I am sent a /. article about how the 2012 apocalypse has been debunked by the Dutch, and that the new date is in 2220, if at all. Crumbs!

In more relevant news, this year does actually hold some significance to me personally. Today is the first day of what will more than likely prove to be one of the most challenging years of my life to date. Not only the physical, though that will be at the forefront of the list of obstacles I will face, but also the mental, emotional, and motivational. I will shiver. I will overheat. I will sweat, yell, and cry. I will curse people I used to know, and whatever part of myself I choose to blame for putting me on this path, which I so often regret. But, after whatever the rest of the tour faces me with, most importantly, this is the year during which I will finish. This is the year I will declare to myself and the world alike, that I have completed the crowning achievement of my lifetime, to date. Though, a few things need to happen first...

When the current winter, southern leg of the trip ends, I will begin heading North, towards the great Lakes. North, a word which, in my mind, has not just come to denote a direction, but has come to denote cold, wet, frozen roads. Numb fingers. Chapped lips. Damp clothing. Through the Midwest I will travel towards this area where, in my head, I picture as being frozen for half the year, ha. But, as I have done for the past 32 weeks, I will improvise, overcome, adapt, and continue on.

Thereafter, I will head into the heat, humidity, summer rains, and giant insects that I have been told await me in the Deep South. The cold, I have experienced, but this muggy, clinging, wet heat is something I've never experienced, and have had it described to me by other cyclists as simply "sticky." Though comical to think about, I'm sure it will not be pleasant. I am ballasted by the notion that I have also been told that the people I am likely to encounter there are just as amazingly friendly as all the other people I've been meeting.

Then the penultimate turnaround, to begin my third and final run North, more or less along the length of the Eastern Seaboard, bound for Maine. Aside from the finish line, this is perhaps the leg of the trip I am most eager for. Plantation and colonial history. Mossy trees hanging over fog frosted graveyards. Beaches, harbors, the smell of the sea. The origins of the US, and the most densely populated stretch of land I'll go through. The ocean of accents likely to flood into my ears. Looking, for the first times, across a different sea from the one I grew up next to. One which sits on my opposite shoulder while heading North Along its shores. One which looks out towards Africa, and not Japan. The visiting of a landmark I have wished to visit since before I dreamt of riding cross country.

Then, finally: The home stretch. The last, and shortest leg of this journey of mine. I have actually already mapped the route I will likely take from the tip of Maine, south to where I finish in Boston. I picture myself as riding with little concern for pace, the weather, or the constant logistics which help me govern my path. It will be a sprint to the end, where I will hopefully find the sense of accomplishment I long for. I try not to think about, or look at pictures of exactly where the actual riding aspect of the tour will come to an end, as I would prefer to see it all for the first time when I actually arrive, but I think it will be pretty awesome.

All this will happen this year, 2012.

Playing Catch-up

Ha, so I've been more than a little lazy about updating this. Between my apparent need for lots and lots of sleep, and my having been following MotoGP, Moto2, WSBK, House, and Dexter...I got distracted. That said, I should probably offer an apology right off the bat to the people whose names I can no longer recall. Those of you I've met across my travels deserve better than that, and I regret that I wasn't a bit more diligent about remembering or recording the names of the wonderful, helpful, kind, charitable, and awesome people who have supported me in many different ways thus far.

Today begins the 26th week of my tour, making me just about 6 months in. Kind of hard to believe when I don't think about it too much, but when I start to go back through all the 14 states I've been in til now, it feels like it has been a long time since I left home. I got to see my younger sister a couple weeks ago though! She bravely made the arduous drive out there from back home in California, and we got to camp together for a few days and hang out. It was really nice to see a familiar face, family even.


I have been considering how to catch back up as far as this blog goes, and after thinking about it, I think I am going to do a summary for each state, hopefully nothing too droll.

Washington: July 22nd: After I got to Caitlin's house in Bellingham, I immediately felt out of place, haha. For brevity's sake, she and her housemates are wonderfully kind hippies of both genders, who were great fun to hang out with. After the night there, I set off back down the I-5 to find the WA-20, AKA North Cascade Highway. After getting on the new road, I actually had a decent tailwind for most of the day, for the first time on the whole tour! Upon climbing a bit into the Cascades, I found a place to camp for free, got to take a shower, and met another bike tourist, who started telling me about a biking couple I had met back in Big Sur, CA. Turns out he met them the day after I did, LOL! Th next few days were intensely difficult, filled to the brim with hot weather, huge endless climbs, and very narrow road. Winthrop, Twisp, Okanogan, Omak, where I met a nice older German couple, then on through the desert, over "Dysentary Pass" en route to Grand Coulee.

There I met Kort and Gloria, who invited me to camp at their place. Gloria made me breakfast, I killed a day in town, as it was too hot to ride, we 3 had dinner together, then I set off for a night ride to a rest station between Creston and Rearden on WA-2, which as it turned out was surrounded by coyotes. Onward to Spokane, got my first new rear tire, and headed to the Bowl and Pitcher state park, where I was mistaken for a ranger, invited to a wonderful BBQ/picnic/party, and got to meet Teri and Robert, who were the most gracious hosts I could ever imagine meeting at a campground! After camping for a few days, I set off for Idaho!

Idaho: August 3rd: Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, camped in Cataldo where I met Megan and her husband, who were in the process of moving, and also camped in Cataldo. They made me hot food and we talked too late into the night. After not getting trampled by a moose I was warned about, I set off to summit Lookout Pass, which lies on the ID/MT border.

Montana: August 5th: Western Montana. I made it over the pass and pushed a huge, hot day to get to a rest station in Quartz Flats where I spent the night. Another miserable day to get to Missoula, where I almost quit. I was so burned out on the construction zones, and the endless heat. After arriving at the ACA HQ, enjoying my free ice cream, and talking to some people about why I wanted to quit, I felt a little better. I took a couple days off here, as I found a hostel there run by a nice guy named Dave, who let me camp behind the hostel for pretty cheap. I met some real characters while I was there, namely Peter, and other biker, traveling from Iowa to Yakima Washington, just for fun. We talked a lot about biking and other stuff. Along with Rory, an ex-pat Brit who, for a brief time, went to the same high school as I did, albeit years before I did, we hit the bars one of the nights and had a great time. My ears hurt afterward, but since I don't drink, it was a cheap night for me. Thunderstorms prevailed most of the time I was there, and followed me for quite some time. I made it to the Gold Creek rest area where I ate rehydrated chicken slurry that, while delicious, looked like vomit. From there I pushed to Butte, which really proved its name to me that day. Spent the day in a Starbucks to wait out the heat, then pushed to the top of Homestake Pass, my 1st Continental Divide crossing, where I slept in the back of a flatbed trailer filled with traffic cones.

The next day, I headed for the Lewis and Clark Caverns state park to see some caves! A single 3.22 mile, Cat 2 climb to get to the caves, but it was worth it. Back at the campground I met a youth crew of the MCC, who were a lot of fun to hang with. Another T-storm, but it didn't rain. Slept in the giant stone picnic shelter, and headed for Bozeman the next day. A very dull, hot, and not fun ride. Did I mention I hate cycling? Found a coffee shop to hole up in for the remainder of the day before I got in touch with McKenna, who gave me directions to her and her sister's place. Upon arriving I asked if there were any parks I could stay in, and they invited me to just stay with them. Awesome! I got to meet all the other housemates, and people who were just crashing there for a while, haha. Everyone was incredibly fun and nice to me! We went floating on the Jefferson, jumped 30 feet from a bridge top into the fast water, to parties, Music on Main, and generally just had a good time.

I spent 2 weeks in Bozeman waiting on mail that got lost and I had to have forwarded to Billings, like a month later. After cleaning the whole kitchen at the house while everyone was gone, I headed to my next host's place, Dan and his housemate James, which is also where I met Andrew, a fellow CS'er. Dan, Andrew, and myself did a 4am sunrise hike to the top of the Bridger Bowl ski area, which was amazing. After a few days at Dan's, I headed off for Yellowstone! Took me a day and a night to get down there, a night I spent at Specimen Creek, under a pine tree, with mice running over my bag...

Wyoming: August 18th? Yellowstone was rad, despite running over a huge rock on the way there. I met a family from Australia, the father of which went to Poly! I also met Alex, another fellow biker, also from AU. We rode together for a couple days and camped at Canyon Village for a night, where we got grape-sized hail and a lot of rain. Saw tons of the thermal/water features of the park, then headed out after spending my second night in the amphitheater, from where I watched an amazing thunderstorm light up the night. Headed out of the park, along the lake, I saw a grizzly, which was neat, but I didn't stop, since dying from bear attack doesn't seem like it'd be a quick way to go out... Mailed home some postcards from Fishing Bridge, where they do not sell stamps! Summoned the strength needed to get over Sylvan Pass, got as far as Newton Springs rest area, where my night was again filled with thunder and lightning. From there I made it to Cody, had a sidewall blowout, fixed it at Walmart, then stayed with Jim Pollock, the very nice father of a nice family I didn't get to meet in my brief time there. He reminded me of my own dad in so many ways, it was bizarre, but we got along great and talked about cool guy stuff. Got a late start the next day, only making it to Powell. Another night at a really nice, new rest area in town, the pushed a century to make it to Billings...

Montana, again: Late August: En route to Billings, I met a couple LDS missionary girls at an ice cream shop type drive-in...thing...place. We talked for a couple hours about my trip, saw a gigantic spider under a soda machine, then rode the last 30 mi to Billings, where my hosts Rob and Carey offered to have me come over a day early. Celebrated my 25th while staying with them, got my lost mail finally, and learned about bagpipes. They were really awesome, and even baked cake for all of us! The rest of my time in Montana was miserably stressful, very hot, and not worth continuing to lament.

North Dakota: Another 2 day state, and I hated it a lot. More desolate scenery. Darn good traveler stop in Bowman though, and more wonderful people, gotta admit. It was hot, windy, and boring here. There may be other parts of the state that are far better, but I only saw wheat and dirt, ha.

South Dakota: Identical to ND, til I got to Sturgis. Met some really nice people there, and the ride from there to Rapid City was actually not too terrible. There I met David LaPorte, who is, (and I've confirmed this with other people who have stayed with, him, who I then stayed with in SLC, lol) quite possibly the nicest guy I've ever met. I got to meet a lot of his friends too, while staying in his dorm room with his roommate Erik, at SDSM&T. So fun!!! We went cliff diving at Hippie Hole, made a communal dinner, and generally just had a lot of fun! Looking forward to maybe hiking the AT with David someday, maybe! After 5 days, I reluctantly said my farewell and headed into the Black Hills. Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse were rad, camped in Custer, then back into...

Wyoming, again: Only good things about my 2nd and last time through WY was the people I met. More generous souls who gave me food, cash, encouragement, water, shelter, and were great help! Lusk, Douglas, Casper, Alcova, a bitchin bicycles-only TeePee campground that was FREE, near Lamont. Finally into Rawlins after several more CD crossings, where I met Damon and Roxy, the amazing Australian biking couple who were on the ACA Great Divide route. Mad props to them for that! We met up by chance at the McD's there, and spent the next day and 2 nights resting up and camping in parks and gazebos. They are hilarious, and super nice! We went shopping at the Mennonite discount grocery store in Rawlins, battled sprinkler systems in the park, and totally skimmed free hotel continental breakfast! After saying farewell, I stayed another night in the Gazebo, then rode out towards another middle of nowhere rest area along the I-80, Green River, Lyman, and Evanston, where I CS'd at Mauritzio's house. He is an awesome Army guy who was a lot of fun to hang with for a night, and really saved me from another night in a park, lol! This was my last night in WY, and the next day I made it into...

Utah: September 30th: Promptly got a flat as soon as I left Evanston, just by the state line. Fixed that and booked it to Echo, UT, with a downhill tailwind, only the third time of the tour! Got to the rest area there where I was planning to camp, got some maps and talked to the nice lady there about the terrain and Utah in general. Somehow managed to rock like 80 miles or so to get to Kimball Junction, where I stealth camped an overpriced RV park, and let a guy use my phone to Onstar himself back into his locked H3. Woke up to ice all over my stuff, warmed up in the McD's and started over the Parley Summit area to begin my epic awesome bitchin cool descent into SLC! Hit 53mph on the way down the I-80 grade and passed a few trucks, lol!

At this point I had made arrangements to meet up with Sandy, my soon-to-be riding partner, but she was about 18 days behind my schedule, so I had a lot of time off in SLC, which was great. I read 5 novels: Anathem, The Instructions, Carte Blanche, Shut Your Eyes Tight, and Half Past Dawn. Met a lot of cool people while hanging out at B&N, got my bike worked on for super cheap, though I had to ride 30 miles r/t to the REI there. Did some people-watching at the Gateway Mall. All told, I stayed with 5 different hosts: Kara and Bucky-Great young couple who met at Burning Man! Travis-Rock climber extraordinaire and fellow adventurer. Aliska and Nate-Greeted my arrival by running from unearthed backyard beehive, lol! Brian and Jamie-A marathon running couple who took me to a great night at a local pub called Squatters and taught me cool stuff about marathons. Audrey-Free spirited climber girl who rides a moped, yeah! Then Travis and his housemates Sky and Steve again, but by then I had Sandy with me too. Everyone was so gracious and awesome to hang out with, and I look forward to being able to go back and acknowledge all these people in a huge list someday, maybe in a book...

October 19th: From SLC, Sandy and I rode to Provo. Here it became very clear that we would be taking non-interstate roads for a while, haha. Stayed with Christine in Provo, she made us breakfast, and we were back on the 89 for the rest of boring Utah. Some more cool places to camp, but more hot weather during the days. We fought a few righteous battles against some really intense winds, sometimes while climbing. It was gnar! After week or so we made it to Mt. Carmel Junction where Sandy opted to go west to Zion, whereas I had already made plans to meet my sister at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. My night in Kanab was my last in Utah, and of course, we had a huge T-storm that night...

Arizona: Fredonia rest area was a great place to sleep. Climbed the entirety of the Kaibab Plateau to arrive at the North Rim. My sister and I camped both rims over several days, then I met back up with Sandy and her 2 newfound partners, Richard and Gina, in Flagstaff. Reluctantly had to drop a lot of coin on staying in a hostel in Flagstaff, as it was thunderstorming and snowing for 2 days. We had a lot of fun meeting people from around the world, and eating lots of food. Sandy split off with R&G to go down to Tucson and take the southern route to our next planned meetup in Lubbock, Texas. I still needed to check CO off my list, so I set out from Flag on the I-40 east. Winslow, Holbrook, Lupton, then food poisoning. First night was the worst, but started to get better after that.

New Mexico: This state is a lot like AZ, but seems to have some more foresty areas. Still not quite off the CO Plateau though, so elevations are still rather high. Due to weather concerns like continued snow storms, and the fact that I was not feeling up to my normal level of performance, I hitched a ride with an awesome driver named J, who kindly put my rig in his truck and helped me get through a corner of NM and over the one huge pass that lies on the CO/NM border, Raton Pass, which was still inundated with snow. I feel really bad about "cheating" for this part of the tour, but since I ended up getting back on the bike and riding as far north as CO Springs, on the off chance that I might get to see a friend who lives here, the mileage to Lubbock will be the same as my original route of only touching the very bottom, SW corner of the state while en route through the length of NM. Still, sucks that I had to take a ride, but riding while sick is crappy.

Colorado: On the I-25 North the whole time en route to Coloado Springs. Nausea pretty much totally gone at this point. Half of it was open, flat, snow-covered fields, the other half was hilly with some ravine-looking features. A lot of snow still on the ground, and sometimes a little still falling. It gets down to freezing by sundown, so not a lot of time to stay up and do stuff. Good thing though is that coming up past Trinidad, Aguilar, and Pueblo, there are several DOT rest areas, which I cannot tell you how nice they are to find and stay at! Slept on the carpeted 2nd story balcony of a condemned apartment building in Fountain, before getting up for the last 20 miles or so to
Colorado Springs. I got kind of lost in the city and had to backtrack South on the interstate for a bit, but then I found this cool place called the Coffee Exchange on Tejon st. Really nice place. They had great food, free wi-fi, and a nice seating area outside. I was planning to stay in a park, but my aunt Jenny got in touch and told me that her best friends lived there and that I could stay with them. Yay! I'm at Phil and Lorri's lovely home right now, and it's been wonderful to have such a nice place to stay with such amazingly kind and generous people! I leave tomorrow to head south, hopefully making it to Lubbock, Texas, in time to meet back up with Sandy, Richard, and Gina.

Hopefully this format is a little easier to parse, enjoy!

Goodbye to the Pacific, the I-5, and my voicemails...

I'm Camping at the Bowl and Pitcher State Park in Spokane, Washington. I am eagerly awaiting making it into Idaho tomorrow and finally being out of WA. Riding the North Cascade Highway, and the way south through Grand Coulee to Spokane has been miserable, with extremely challenging terrain, lots of heat, and mostly headwinds, despite heading SE.

Anyway, going back to where I left off last time, I met a guy named Martin while heading up the I-5 to Bellingham. He was also on a very long tour which had begun about a year prior when he left his home in Estonia to tour through western Europe for 6 months, before heading to the Canary Islands, the Carribean, and Miami, where he began a ~6 month tour of the US. He was on his way to Vancouver, BC, when we met at a McDonalds in Burlington. We talked for a bit before he headed out, then met up later at a DOT rest area where we talked more about our mutual dislike for touring, haha. Talking to someone else who knows exactly what I mean when I say it that way was great. Some people think it's all fun and lollygagging when you tour, and forget that towing 75 pounds of gear 60-90 miles a day is actually more like gruelling torture than any kind of fun. For me at least, the only real fun has been the neat places I've stayed, and all the awesome people I've met so far. The actual cycling component of the trip is really pretty crappy.

After we exchanged info and headed north at different rates, me determined to get to Bellingham ASAP, I began a frighteningly fast descent into town. I found the REI and finally swapped out my rear cassette to something with more hill-friendly ratios. I also had my spokes tightened, as they were apparently half as tight as they should have been, eek! I bought loads of freeze dried food in prep for being on the ferry to Alaska, since I assumed correctly that food on the boat was very expensive, and was able to leave my trailer and a bunch of stuff at the REI, things I knew I would not need while on the ferry, or in Alaska, since I wouldn't be staying in any one of the cities in Alaska for very long before getting back on the boat.

I got to the ferry terminal just before the walk-on passenger cut-off time and paid for my tickets, both to Juneau and back to Bellingham. I got in line to board the ship, slowly pushing my stuff forward as the line creeped on. The two girls ahead of me were wondering aloud why the line was moving so slowly if they weren't checking through anyone's luggage, to which I had to submit my half-joking theory that the longer they make you wait, with screaming kids all around, the more likely you are to get pissed off and head straight for the bar once you get onboard, thereby creating more revenue for themselves. This got some laughs, and so began my getting to know the group I have affectionately nicknamed the LSU Crew. Meredith and Victoria, the girls I had just met, were among a group of about 30 students from Louisiana State who were all headed to the college in Juneau for some summer courses. Naturally, while en route to Alaska, we all talked about why we were headed up there. After telling them about my tour they were pretty shocked, as are most people, but if nothing else it always makes for a great conversation starter. We made it onboard eventually as everyone began to explore the ship a bit to get a feel for where everything was. Soon, I set to stowing my stuff, taking pictures, and trying to find a wireless signal before we left the harbor. I was pretty giddy about the idea of going to Alaska, and my first time on a big boat.

Our first stop was to be Ketchikan, and not for like a day and a half, so we had lots of time to kill. There is something odd about the atmosphere on the ferry that seems to make everyone just want to sleep all the time, which is at odds with the fact that once we were far north, there was only about 6 hours of darkness. Among other things, this led to spending a lot of time in the bar/lounge, lol! The first night of the 3 it took to reach Juneau, technically the Auke Bay Terminal, I wandered into the lounge to see what it was like, and saw most of the LSU people there already. Regardless of my not drinking, it was the most entertaining place to be for me, so I found Meredith and Victoria, said hi, and so began the funnest boat trip I've ever taken!

I was introduced to like 20 new people that first night, and though it was a joke when I met 3 Katherines, though I think they all spell it differently. We talked some about my trip and why I would do something so crazy, where all of them had grown up and come from, what they were studying, etc. it wa a hell of a lot of fun and everyone was so incredibly nice to kind of adopt me into their little groups for the duration of the trip. Over those 3 days we all spent a lot of time in the bar, apparently making one of the bartenders really mad. There was not exactly a mob of all 30 someodd of us at all times, but when in the bar it was at least a dozen, or more if one of their teachers was drinking with us too, lol. Of course, my drink for the weekend, as always, was ice water with a cherry, which the bartender remembered the whole time I was in there. I took the liberty of shooting some pictures of everyone in the bar one of the nights, much to the delight of all who saw them. I have since hosted them online for all of them to copy at their leisure, and have received many thanks for giving them another way to remember the fun times on the trip.

We all spent a lot of time on the upper decks watching active displays of sea life, and soaking up the occasional sunny hours. I ate with some of the groups a few times, spilling HOT lasagna all over my lap at one lunch, which was more than a little embarassing, lol. After we ended up waiting for our breakfasts for an hour, and the LSU crew needing to get to class onboard the ship, which was held in the bar FYI, I delivered our food by wheeled cart in the middle of class, and more or less sat in on their classes for the day after we all ate our late breakfast during the class. I cannot stress how nice it was to have people to hang out with over the course of what might have ended up being a very boring boat ride. Everyone was so friendly and funny and just awesome! If any of you read this, you have my sincerest thanks for making my trip up there so much damn fun!!  :D

I slept in when we arrived in Auke Bay, my major stop, preferring to sleep til the last minute before I had to get off the ferry and head into the Alaskan summer rain. It was about 6am or so when I got outside and headed for the bus terminal in Auke Bay itself, which would take me and my stuff toward Juneau. I saw the Mendenhall Glacier, lots of trees, and lots of clouds, ha. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and almost foggy near the Glacier, so the pics are few and less than ideal. Th sense of scale of the scenery is hard to grasp, but seeing it in person, even through the rain, was incredible. Obviously I saw a lot from the ferry itself, but traveling along the base of these huge snowy mountains was different and awe inspiring. I will admit to spending much of my time in the Juneau/Auke Bay area inside Safeway, using the internet to download MotoGP races, lol! I did explore some while I was there, but the constant rain made me think more and more that although it was cool to go there and tour around a little, getting a small slice of what it's like there has made me want to plan an entirely separate, non-bicycle based trip back up there someday, which made me feel less bad about only being there for a short time.

The night I caught the ferry headed back to Bellingham, WA, it was about midnight when the ship arrived. While waiting at the terminal for a few hours, I met Jack, and 50 something from SE Australia who was doing some world travel. He was an awesome guy and we shared some good travel tales, and talked about my crazy trip. I learned a lot about Australia that I didn't know, and got some good tips on some places I now want to visit when I hopefully make it down there someday. Once onboard I was lucky enough to land a reclining chair space in the Solarium, which is the glass top, heated, partially enclosed deck on the aft end of the ship, basically where everyone wants to sleep, as most people don't want to pay for a cabin. Over the whole trip I stayed up pretty late most nights, partly to help me sleep later than 6am, ha. Editing/taking pictures, journaling, and without the LSU Crew, spending a lot of time watching anime and motorcycle races on my laptop. They have a recliner lounge onboard that shows movies so I watched a couple I hadn't seen. Secretariat had the place pretty full so I sat on the floor in an empty space next to the two girls who would end up making the return leg of the trip much more interesting and a lot of fun.

Taking a step back though, in case you haven't from the pictures on the FB page, I only have one pair of pants with me: my fatigues. Also known to most people as "camo pants." When I was packing for this trip, aware that space and weight are at an absolute premium, I looked at my closet and thought "what are the most durable clothes I own?" Well, all my t-shirts were the same quality, so I simply chose my favorite. For pants, the decision was clear: fatigues. I have had this pair since middle school, they still fit, and are in excellent condition even after years of use. Granted, it does make me feel like a weirdo to wear them so often while off the bike, but it is what it is. Those of you who know how I used to dress on a daily basis in the years before I left to start this tour, can hopefully fully appreciate how odd it is for me to dress like this nowadays, ha!

So, I think it was on the second day headed back to Bellingham, I was ascending the narrow stairs up to the Solarium when, upon reacing the landing at the top of the stairwell, the girl ahead of me turns and compliments me on my pants...I may or may not have blushed. Usually such a comment from an attractive young lady would have been made in jest, or perhaps even out of ridicule, but it seemed it was sincere. I said thank you and proceeded to offer a brief explanation, similar to the one I just offered you, as to why I was always wearing them. This began a long, splendid conversation, though partially, unfortunately, ruled by my motor-mouth (I hadn't even had any coffee!  :/   ), but also the making of this awesome new acquaintance, McKenna.

She and her sister Haley (I'm so sorry if I spelled it incorrectly!  ;D  ) had been who I was sitting next to while in the movie room the day prior. We chatted about where we were from, my bike tour, travel, school, weather, all kinds of stuff. Sometime into this, my manners came back to me and I introduced myself. Eventually her sister came up and I met both her and the 2 other fellow travelers, Chris and Louie. After introductions and a brief explanation of my trip we all talked and hung out for a while. McKenna and Haley were headed to Montana for school, Chris was eventually making his way back to Minnesota, while Louie was, if I remember correctly, just hanging out in Bellingham for the day before heading back north on the ferry towards his home. Again, I had been blessed with meeting new, incredibly awesome people while on the boat, so cool! Later that day, in search of food, we headed down to the dining room to see about dinner. After waiting around, killing time for over an hour (The arcade!!!), and a false alarm of a ready table, we were finally seated for dinner, and of course, more great conversations. After sharing food, stories, and our respective destinations/travel plans, (but not before McKenna and I discovered we share the same favorite book(!)) we set off for the lounge where we was treated to live music, singing sisters, and Haley rocking out on the guitar! Good times, indeed. After a truly great night of getting to know these fine new fellows of mine, we all retired to sleep until the next morning, bright and very early, when we were approaching Bellingham, our final stop.

Waking a couple hours before our arrival time, we said our groggy good mornings and regrouped to seek food. After finding out that the dining room would not be open that morning we headed to the cafeteria where I ate probably my 20th and 21st bagels since I had started my ferry journey a week prior. After packing up we all met up on the car deck where I had the pleasure of meeting the final member of our little troop, Charlie, the fluffiest dog I've ever met, and a very well behaved pup, considering the hectoc, loud environment that is the car deck upon disembarking. Eventually the four of them drove off the ship, I walked, and they found me again near the terminal driveway. We somehow managed to fit everyone's stuff, all 5 people, and Charlie into the car as we headed into town to drop people off, a service for which I am eternally grateful.  :D  Along the way, as everyone's phones were coming to life, I was apparently stored in a phone as "Loren camo pants," despite my protests, haha!

We dropped Louie first at a coffee shop, then me at the REI so I could pick up my stuff and start the ride to my hosts' house in Bellingham. After exchanging contact info, donating half of a huge back of sugar smacks to their long drive, and making sure I had all my stuff, I bid farwell to my new friends. I say farewell instead of the usual goodbye since, in keeping with their infinitely kind demeanors, all 3 offered to meet up again along the rest of my trip when I was to pass through their respective parts of the country. Big smile on my face even as I type that. I'll be so stoked to see a familiar face or two!

While waiting for the REI to open I killed most of the day at the Sbux across the parking lot, doing more mapping, trip research, and getting in touch with my CouchSurfing host, Caitlin. Once I left REI I had some errands to run in town, like the bank, and the Verizon store in the mall off I-5, just north of Bellingham center. The bank took no time at all, but the phone thing took forever. I had to switch my account to pre-paid, huge PITA, made easier only by the fact that the people who were handling it understood that I was not in a rush, so they were getting it done right...for the most part...I just found out that I was apparently misinformed with regards to my voicemail setup, and have consequently lost all my saved voicemails, 20 or so I had saved over the past 6 years, really special ones from dear friends, funny ones, happy birthday wishes from family, etc. I'm fucking livid, since I even asked about that and was not told they would be lost in the conversion. Now there is no way to go back and get them. Very displeased...

Anyway, I'm too pissed to keep typing so I'll have to pick this up again soon to cover from  leaving Bellingham to wherever I am when I have internet again...TTFN.

Vampires, ferries, and Fireworks

Timeline is a little tweaked...As I post this I'm actually in Auke Bay/Juneau, Alaska...

Port Angeles, Washington, stayed with some awesome CouchSurfing hosts. I did a 2 day excursion to Forks, the Twilight Capitol of the world, so that I could fulfill a promise and mail off a few postcards. The ride was abhorrent, haha. Some areas were pretty, but most of it was just tree-encompassed, grueling uphills, and long slight downward slopes. I battled a stiff headwind 90% of the way there on Friday, and the same damned wind on the way back, Saturday, which makes no sense to me, but oh well. It was "only" 60 miles one way, which looked simple enough on a flat map, but the topo views would convince me otherwise. It also took 3 pieces of French toast, 2 eggs, 5 english muffins, 1 Payday candy bar, 3 bananas, 1 cup of coffee, and about 2 gallons of water to get me back to my hosts' house. I stopped at the store on my way back and then devoured half a pound of Chinese-chicken salad from the deli, 3/4 of a loaf of french bread, 2 cinnamon rolls, drank most of a 1 liter chocolate protein shake (64g whey/soy blend) which I used in place of milk so I could eat 3/4 of a huge box of Cocoa Rice Crispies. I was still hungry, but I knew I needed to save some food. Fortunate for me though, an anonymous couple who I can only assume overheard me talking about my trip with someone else, paid for my breakfast in Forks. Thanks again, that was a really nice surprise.  :)

But, I digress, back to Eugene, land of microbreweries, natural food stores, and lots of bicycles. It also happens to be where my friend Ian calls home, which was awesome. Hanging out with a fellow devoted cyclist and outdoorsman was a lot of fun, and he was gracious enough to have me stay with him for a couple days. Used most of my downtime to eat and sleep in, as well as doing some mapping and figuring out where I'd be staying in Portland. My last night at Ian's place we feasted on some delicious chicken tacos that he cooked, which was way cool. Still getting used to having people cook for me, but it is indeed pretty rad.

Leaving from Eugene I made it a bit over 100 miles to the Badlock rest stop off I-5, and made it there dry too, which was a big blessing. A nice place, with lots of trees, good lighting, and nice people. In just a few hours I met a lot of really nice people who wanted to follow the trip, and a sweet little older lady who wouldn't take no for an answer when she insisted I accept the dollar she wanted to donate to my trip.  :)  I found one of the buildings toward the rear end of the park that was closed, so I set up camp there, knowing it was going to rain, which it did, quite a bit. Got up in the morning and was scolded for having camped there, so I ate in a hurry and caught a break in the rain that allowed me to book it towards Portland along I-5, in the wet, during rush hour...

Stopped at a Starbucks just south of Portland and got in touch with my next CS host, Kristin, who got back to me in a flash and kindly agreed to host me for a couple days. After arriving at her awesome apartment in Portland and chatting for a bit, I got cleaned up and got to relaxing and taking in the view. I explored a bit later, taking the super cool aerial tram up the to hospital campus above the city. They have a little grassy area near the base of the lift where they keep goats that eat all the weeds so no one has to go down there and mow under the cables! So cool! Back to the apartment, did some mapping. Got a great night's sleep on the comfy couch and took most of the next day to go explore the city. Took the aerial tram again for fun, read at Powell's Books for like 5 hours, got some food, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed riding the streetcar system that takes you all over the city.

Kristin cooked a wonderful salmon dinner one of the nights I was there, thank you very much! I'm finding that I've grown to like fish after all, so long as it doesn't taste fishy, heh. The morning I left and set off toward Lewis and Clark state park was a rough stretch of I-5 that seemed to go on forever. Finally made it there and found out that all the hike&bike areas in WA are 14 dollars! I decided that was way too rich for my tastes so I camped on yet another picnic bench that night...Got up the next day to head to Tacoma, where I was planning to take the ferry to Vashon Island. Scrapped that upon further review of my route so after 80 miles, I illegally rode over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which, thankfully, did not fall apart. Camped at Goodman middle school in Artondale. Slept great, got up the next day to ride up 30 miles to Bremerton where I took my very first boat ride EVER to Seattle!

Once I got to the ferry port at Bremerton I assumed I'd have to stop, get out my wallet, tell them where I was going, etc. I saw the booth and turned off my mp3 player just in time to have the guy lean out the booth and ask if I was going to Seattle. I yelled back that was correct and he waved my through and said "Hurry, it's about to leave!" I raced down the ramp towards the boat as they were preparing to leave. The parking controllers waved me where to go and we were away, already moving before I had parked my bike. I was a little freaked out, ha. After I got my bike situated I talked to some other cyclists, then headed up to the passenger decks to snap some pictures. It was about an hour long ride but it went fast, and was a lot less scary than I thought it would be, so long as I didn't think about how deep the water was. We made it to Seattle and I disembarked with the horde of other bikes, heading to the first Starbucks I could find. After asking another cyclist, I found one just up the street from the docks. Parked the bike, got out my laptop and set to work looking for a last minute couch in Seattle. I did eventually find one, but not before I met a guy named Blake.

Blake was on a solo motorcycle journey that started in Vermont a month prior. He was also hanging out at the Starbucks and we got to talking about motorcycle stuff, and traveling in general. We got to talking about where we were staying and he offered me to crash with he and his friend who had put him up in the best Western down the street. I thanked him and said if I didn't find anything else that I'd be stoked to have a place to stay. 4 Hours later or so, Blake and his friend came back to the Starbucks and we got to talking about how to smuggle me into the hotel. Turned out it was as simple as walking the bike in, waving the to desk clerk, and taking it into the elevator up to the room, haha. Now, imagine fitting 3 guys, a bike, and my trailer into a small hotel room...It was pretty snug, haha. I crashed on the floor for the 2 nights we were there and it was awesome. Blake and I are both on VERY tight budgets and were eternally grateful for the amazing breakfast room at the hotel, eating ourselves more than full on both days, and taking extras back with us.

Watching the fireworks in Seattle for July 4th was pretty rad. Didn't really do much else while in the city, but it was nice to relax. Tuesday afternoon I headed out on another ferry, across the sound to Bainbridge Island, beginning the 50 someodd mile ride to Kitsap Memorial State Park, where I had the lucky fortune of finding an empty building to sleep in, due to a more or less unlocked log cabin type structure, used for large parties and such. That night I got a call back from my next CS host in Port Angeles. E said she'd be happy to have me stay with her and the fam. I was very glad to know I would have a place to stay. I left Kitsap headed for PA, mostly along the 104 and the 101 West, a direction I'm not used to seeing printed on the US-101 signs. I almost got hit by a dear while about to merge onto the 101, which was pretty gnarly. It continued running across the highway and in front of a Prius, narrowly avoiding another collision. The rest of the ride to PA was really pretty tough, with lots of hills and lots of headwind. I finally arrived at the McDonalds where I used the wi-fi to check my emails. I called E back and got directions. Once I arrived I was welcomed in, met Mike, and told to make myself at home, shown my ROOM, and told to eat anything I found in the house, haha. We immediately started talking about the tour, and Mike's similar touring experiences in Germany and neighboring western EU countries. It was pretty rad to find people to stay with who were also into outdoors stuff! E is a bigtime surfer who has lived all over the world, and she knew exactly where I was from when I told her about Morro Bay.

Mike and E were setting off for a big walk so I jumped in the shower and got cleaned up a bit, which felt great. I ate second dinner before we all enjoyed home made mango pie with vanilla ice cream. At this point I felt pretty spoiled, haha. Called it a pretty early night at around 1am and passed out, sleeping in til about 9 or so. I used most of the day to blog some stuff, then went to the grocery store and explored a bit. Ate lots of food, hung out for a bit, then got rested up for my ride west to the edge of the US, and Forks! E said I was welcome to come right back after my 2 day out and back to Forks, which was totally rad. Including breaks it took me 7 hours to make it to Forks! It was VERY hilly, windy, and not fun. After completing my obligatory tasks in town, getting some food in me, and chatting with a nice Swiss couple about places they should see while driving down the CA coast, I retired to my stealth camping site at the back of Forks elementary school, lol. Shortly before dark, a police unit stopped when he saw me throwing away some trash. I assumed I was in trouble and was gonna get the boot. He asked me what I was doing, where I was coming from, the usual stuff. I told him my wallet was near my bike, in the alcove, but gave him my info and waited while he checked it out. He came back and we talked a bit about my bike tour, where I was headed, all that. I showed him my ID and he was a lot more chill when he saw that I really just had my bike there and needed a place to crash. He told me to have a nice night and to stay warm. What a cool officer! I was relieved to not get kicked out. Bedded down for the night and managed to sleep OK.

I left the school in search of hot food, stopping at the Forks Coffee House. After eating and filling out my postcards I was ready to leave when I was informed that some lovely older couple had already paid for my food when they left. I can only assume they overheard me talking about my trip with someone else and decided to do something very nice for me. Happy as could be, I mailed off my postcards, had a nice talk with the shop owner, and headed East back to PA. The ride back only took 5 hours, despite having a headwind for about half of the ride, which had me pretty pissed. Getting back to a grocery store and E's house cheered me up some, as I arrived to find her dogs had treed a large raccoon in the backyard. Entertained for hours, and fed by the tons of food I got at the store, I waited for E and mike to get home from picking up their daughter from volleyball camp. We all went to bed pretty early, I spent the whole next day mapping out the next 2 months of the tour, and was then treated to amazing turkey burgers and a really fun game of Scrabble! It was a very close game, and according to Mike E is a bad loser and an even worse winner, haha! I won, barely, but was mainly just super stoked to find such gracious hosts with whom I got along so well. After exchanging contact info and saying goodbyes the next morning, I spent all day monday riding back the 101, then the WA-20 towards Port Townsend. Took the short ferry ride to Keystone at the south end of Whidbey Island, then rode the length of the Island up to Deception Pass State Park, where I have been camping for 3 days. Only hours ago did I get my tent finally dry enough to pack up, after enduring 14 hours of Washington's finest rain...Ugh. Next I will ride the 45 miles to Bellingham where I depart for Juneau, Alaska! Hoping for good luck with the crew, as it is apparently a case by case basis as to how they deal with and charge for bicycle trailers...I'm really hoping they charge me the regular bike fee and let me take the trailer on as luggage, since I couldn't find anywhere to store it in Bellingham. Either that or I'll have to figure something out at the last minute...