Day 50: Oh Canada!!

Today is the last day.  Sounds crazy.

Since we would have to wait a while in Sumas for our ride back to Seattle the plan was to sleep a little later and get on the road a bit later than usual.

That didn't happen at all.  Everything was packed up and we were headed for the road right at 7 like just about every day.  Rick came out to say goodbye and get a pictures of us with the bikes.  I told him that his place was perfect for what we needed.  He was glad to hear it as he said he has spent time worrying about whether there is other stuff he ought to be doing for folks.  Truly a great and generous fellow.

Today would be straight to Sumas which meant finishing the rest of the Centennial Trail and then cruising up highway 9 to the border.  It looked like the route mostly followed valleys through the larger hills and shod be fairly flat and fast but it was hard to tell exactly from the map.

The end of the trail

After the trail ended we hopped on highway 9.  On the weekends this road is full of sightseeing traffic and folks on motorcycles.  It is actually one of the best motorcycle roads in western Washington.  Fortunately, today was Monday and there was very little traffic.  There was not always much of a shoulder but with the light traffic it didn't really matter.  The road was smooth and rolling which made for great riding.  Soon the road opened up into one of the valleys and the view was great.  Lots of little farms and mountains, a great backdrop to the final day on the road.

Snowy Mt. Baker…happy to not be riding in that snow

With very little traffic and flat rolling roads mixed with some growing anticipation/impatience, the riding began to pick up steam and we were covering ground at an increasing rate.  While we didn't get to see a Welcome To Washington sign, we did find a welcome to the last county of the trip sign.  Fortunately we were in Washington and not Southern California so it wasn't going to take three days to get across the county.

A little hop for the last county of the trip

I am not sad that we are finishing up on the flat roads but the mountains have been nice to see today.  Some of the most northern Washington Cascades are pretty rugged and covered in crazy amounts of snow year round so seeing them from a bit of a distance is better than experiencing another June blizzard up close.

Northern Washington in all its glory

With a bit of downhill, I had pulled ahead a bit up the road but when I saw another quaint general store, I had to pull over for another cool drink (the first of the day).  I still am not sure exactly what is the allure of the general store, maybe it is some kind of romantic throwback to a past history that I have never experienced but always imagined.  There is never a cowboy or sheriff inside but I always go in looking anyway.  At any rate, the next time you are passing a general store, stop and have a look.  It i stun to see the weird mix of things that reflect what is the same everywhere (beef jerky and cold drinks) and what is unique to each location.

Acme General Store?  Come on, you have to stop here.

Sarah chose not to stop at the general store and went cruising on by instead so I was behind a fair amount by the time I finished gulping down my drink and getting back on the bike.  I was just in time to get to stop and meet a nice fellow enjoying his work day stopping traffic.  We chatted a bit and he explained to me that most folks in cars are idiots and he doesn't trust them so he wondered if I would be willing to let them go by and follow the last cars through the construction.  Sounded reasonable to me and it gave me a nice empty stretch of road for half a mile or so.

He knows you're an idiot

At this point I was well behind and it was looking like I would be finishing the ride to the border on my own.  Not exactly how I planned to finish but it would be fine.  It was a good thing that the route now just followed highway 9 and I didn't need a detailed map or directions.  I was riding pretty quickly and I realized that I would be done in less than two hours.  It was a bit strange to think that all of the riding had come down to jet a few more miles.  I was looking forward to being done but I was really enjoying the riding.

The interesting thing about the last week or so is that with the mountains behind me and the roads flattened out, I have had no trouble recovering overnight and I can now ride strongly through the day without being exhausted.  It is a pretty great feeling considering where I was a year and a half ago.  It also makes me greet the prospect of finishing with mixed feelings.

I slowed my riding a bit and was extra conscious of looking around to take in the scenery.  I pulled over to grab a quick drink from my water bottle and a bite of a snack.  As I was getting ready to ride again, Sarah came rolling up from behind.  I was shocked to see her as I figured I wouldn't see her until the end of the ride.  Apparently she had stopped somewhere after she left me and had now caught me again.

With several hours to go before a ride was to meet us, we pulled into a Subway that looked like it had wifi. The plan was to catch up on some blog writing and kill some time not far from he finish.  We were now within 15 miles of the end.  Unfortunately, after getting a sandwich it turned out that we couldn't connect to their wifi.  I still had some writing I could do but Sarah was growing more impatient so we were back out on the road soon.  Our plan was to find a place in Sumas with wifi and kill the hours waiting for her boyfriend to arrive to give us a ride.

The road led through a tiny town before Sumas and I was getting excited about seeing the border soon. It was here that I started reflecting back on what was near the border at he start.  There were lots of indications that we were near a border and tons of border patrol agents cruising the roads.  Here, there was nothing to indicate that we were within a few miles of the border.

Closing on the border so the restaurants must be…Mexican?

That's Canada over there, can't you smell the poutine?

Arriving in Sumas I found a large welcome to town sign.  After missing out at the Washington/Oregon border, it was nice to have one here.  There would be nobody to see at the finish line but I was giving a little cheer inside just the same.

Finish Town!

At the border I saw the Canadian flags and was excited to be finished.  It wasn't really anti-climactic but there weren't any fireworks either.  On the way through town we saw that the restaurant in which we planned to wait was closed.  Unfortunately, Sarah was ending the day with no patience and did not want to wait in town.  She made up her mind to ride to Bellingham and have her boyfriend meet her there.  I was not at all excited about the prospect of riding another three hours rather than looking around town a bit. Ultimately she took off and took her ride with her leaving me at the border to find another way home.  Not exactly the ending I had hoped for but not the end of the world either.

I contacted Julie and she agreed to pick up my car and drive the couple hours to the border from Seattle and pick me up.  An inconvenience to be sure but at least I would get to see her a bit earlier.

End of the road…and a bit past

As I was leaving the border sign and heading back into town, I was flagged down by a US border guard.  He had seen us riding from the direction of Canada but had not seen the arrival and thought we may have crossed in the wrong place.  I explained that I was just taking pictures at the border at the end of the ride.  He told me that the sign was not the border and the border was actually indicated by the large unmarked pole a few yards south of the sign.  I said thanks for the info and prepared to be on my way as he was preparing to make an issue out of it.  He quickly realized that there wasn't actually an issue and went back to what he was doing.  Apparently these were not the bicycle smugglers he was looking for.

I quickly found a spot in town with open wifi and used it to search for  palace to get something to eat.  I stopped at a local burger place (for a veggie burger).  While inside, a Canadian couple returning from a holiday in Saipan were very curious about my bike and trip.  We talked for about an hour and they were delightful to meet.  After killing a fair amount of time with the food and wifi I decided to head down the street to a cafe where I could get some good coffee.

As I pulled into the parking lot of the Crosswater Cafe, there was an older couple inside waving to me through the window.  I was in a pretty good mood and smiling so I figured they were responding to that.  When I went inside, the place was empty except for the three of us and they immediately started asking questions about the bike and where I had been riding.  I explained that I had just finished a border to border ride and they were very very congratulatory and offered whatever I was ordering on the house.  It turned out that they were the owners of the place and very friendly.  I was just there for coffee and so I ordered it and we talked for a while about the ride and camping and Crate Lake in the snow.

It has been pretty amazing to meet all of the great people on this trip and it was continuing right up to the very last minutes.  I changed out of my riding clothes and shortly Julie arrived with the car.  I had just seen her a couple days ago but it was still very nice to see her again.

I packed the bike and my tea into the car and we headed out.  She hadn't eaten yet and after driving all the way to the border with no notice to pick me up, I wanted to be sure she got whatever she wanted.  We stopped in Bellingham on the way back to get something to eat at a co-op that she really likes there.

The last hiccup of the trip happened when we were about 45 miles south of Bellingham and my phone rang.  I looked at the caller ID and then asked Julie why she was calling me.  Then I asked her where her phone was.  We had left her bag and phone in Bellingham and they were calling me (the last number she had dialed) to see if I knew how to contact her.  Fortunately, they would be open for a couple more hours so I turned around and we headed back north.

After retrieving her bag with all her belongings still inside (minus a small amount of cash) and grabbing another vegan carrot cupcake (the first one was so tasty) we were headed home again.

It was a late night by the time we got home but it was good to be home.  For the first time in the last 50 days I wasn't sure what I would do tomorrow and I didn't have a schedule.  I finished about a week earlier than I thought I would so I now have a bit of extra time before heading to Hawaii at the end of next week to begin sailing back to Seattle.  Hopefully that will take a bit less than 50 days.

Day 49: North of Home

Today should be the penultimate day of the ride.  The distance isn't super long today so we agreed to get a slightly later start and meet up at a coffee shop near my house.  As usual, there was no sleeping in for me but I'll take the extra hours to enjoy some coffee and hanging out with Julie.

A bit after our 9:00 meeting time, Sarah and Ferit showed up.  He was going to ride with us for part of the day before heading back to town.  We should see him tomorrow in Sumas for a ride back to Seattle.

Our route today follows two big local trail systems.  The interurban trail and the centennial trail.  The interurban mostly follows the route of early 20th century light rail corridors between what were then separate towns.  Today it threads through a pretty much much continuous urban corridor all the way north to Everett.

Great recycling program

We crossed back and forth over I-5 a few times on our way north.  I have lost track of how many times we have crossed over this road since Northern California.  Fortunately I haven't had to ride on it again since that last day in California. 

I-5 in behind a cage...like a trip to the zoo

Ferit was with us all the way to Everett.  Unfortunately for him that meant he was going to get all the urban start/stop riding and miss out on the rolling roads further north.  We stopped at a Jimmy John's to get a sandwich and check on bus schedules for Ferit's return trip.

Happy to have had more pigeon day's recently

After getting back on the road, we soon said goodbye to Ferit and look forward to seeing him in Sumas tomorrow for a ride home.  Ironically, it was almost immediately after sending him on his way that our route turned (and crossed I-5 one more time) and led to some great scenery.

Now there's some scenery

The second half of the trip to Arlington would follow great rolling bicycle roads alongside a river with very little traffic.  It was getting hard at this point to tell whether we had a tailwind or just a flat road.  After spending so long riding in the mountains, flat roads feel like a tailwind.

Cloud fingers or creepy tree hair?

After the river road, we arrived in Snohomish where we would pick up the centennial trail for the rest of the day.  This is a 30 mile multi-use trail for bicycles and horses.  It is relatively new and this was the first time that I would be riding it's full length.  It was a nice break from the roads.

Start of 30 miles of no cars

I have seen several lending libraries on this trip.  Some have been at stores, others at laundromats and still others in front of people's houses.  The greatest one is probably the one I saw today that came complete with passed seating.  It was conveniently located next to a plant exchange.  These Washington folks really know how to share.

Trailside library complete with cushioned seating

Before too much longer we were pulling into Arlington.  Another small town with a cute downtown leftover from days gone by.  Tonight we would be staying with another warm showers host so we stopped to call and let him know we were close.  After that it was a quick trip to the local market for dinner and then the last few miles to our destination.

Thinking of trading in the beast for something sportier

We met Rick at the entrance to his property just across the road from the centennial trail.  He had seen us riding by and came out to greet us.  Rick is another great person that has made this trip fun.  His place is pretty much the ideal bike camping setup.  It is very close to the trail, there is tons of space for tents and he has chairs and an awning set up next to the outdoor shower.  To top it all off, he has just built a very nice outhouse for campers.  Rick and his wife live on 18 acres of land and have several adjacent to their house covered in mowed grass and setup for hosting bike tourists.  He is not yet a bike tourist himself but he thinks it is cool and likes to help folks on the road.  Like I said, it is an ideal setup.

Rick the amazing host

After showing us around, he left us on our own to set up camp and shower.  It was insanely luxurious to sit in a chair in the shade and freshly showered and read my book for a while before dinner.

Shortly I had what would be my last camping dinner of the trip (I plan to eat dinner at a restaurant in Sumas tomorrow).  While it has been convenient and kept me going, it is going to be a long time before I look forward to eating more vegetarian chili straight from the can.

The perfect bike camping facilities

Tucked away in my tent on the soft grass I couldn't help but think about tomorrow being the last day of the trip.  I am looking forward to being done and having accomplished something that I can look back on in the future.  I am also going to miss the pace of life and meeting folks along the way.  I hope that I can retain some of the openness of traveling in every day.

Day 48: Solstice, Skin, and Pedals

Since today was a day off and I was able to sleep in my own bed, I slept in this morning.  That meant I woke up at 6 instead of 5:30.  Weeks of practice don't go away overnight.

There would be a few chores to get done today before being back on the road tomorrow.  Chiefly laundry, gear drying and chain cleaning.  I jumped on them right away before inertia prevented them from getting done.

The chain cleaning was long overdue.  Being at home, I was able to get out a bowl and some degreaser and thoroughly go over the whole drive train.  Amazingly I discovered that my chain is actually silver under all of the grime.  I had a vague recollection of that from long ago and it was nice to see again.  After everything was cleaned, dried and lubed it sound nearly silent again.

Since today is the summer solstice and we are coincidentally in Seattle, we decided it would be fun to go ride in the Fremont Solstice Parade.  This is a wacky free-form parade that happens every solstice in a neighborhood near my home.  There are not many guidelines other than no motorized vehicles.  Every year there are cyclists in wacky costumes that ride ahead of the parade.  This year I was going to join them.  

While technically not an official part of the parade, the cyclists are a well established part of the event...and most of them are naked!

Joining the painted cyclists would be the project of the day.  As I have work the same outfit each of the last 47 days I thought I should continue the trend and dress as myself in my yellow sun jersey.

This would require some paint.  Fortunately, Julie was able to figure out what kind to get and the store was not far from the house.  We were a bit early so we stopped at a coffee shop for a drink for a bit and then off to the store.

Wacky vehicles make it clear I am back in Seattle

The plan was to grab some supplies and head down to a local boatyard that hosts the cyclists before the parade.  This is where everyone gets into their costumes.  While I had seen the parade a few times, it has been a few years and I have never seen the prep that the cyclists go through.  The number of riders has exploded the last couple of years and some of the prep is extensive so it was quite an undertaking.  

Julie and I showed up at around 10:30 so that we could finish up by 1:00.  She was so well prepared that she even brought lunch which was good because I had forgotten to eat breakfast.

Not really knowing what I was doing, I asked a couple of folks to get some idea of whether it was better to paint inside or outside.  I didn't get a consensus and so we set up indoors because that's where I found paper towels and other supplies.  A couple of helpful folks gave some tips on diluting the paint and we were on our way.  The plan was to make a bike jersey that looked similar to the one I have been wearing for weeks.

Julie did a great job on the base jersey and then found a talented lady who could help us with a sun design for the back.  While not exactly the same as my jersey, it definitely captured the spirit of my intent and received quite a few compliments.

Painted jersey

After that it was time to get set for the ride.  Everyone moved out of the boatyard and on to the street to stage for the start.  The group (which was at least many hundreds) would ride through Ballard before heading over to Fremont for the parade route.

Solstice creativity 

It was really a great festive environment on a beautiful day.  All of the folks along the route were waving and excited to see everyone.  All around were folks having a good time.  It was fun to see all the variety in the costumes.  There are some seriously creative folks that like to ride bikes in Seattle.

It was clear that some of the folks grabbed a bike out of the shed just for the event as several were broken down on the side of the route within the first mile or so.

Colorful traffic jam

Once we reached Fremont, things slowed down quite a bit.  The traffic stopped while we waited for the parade route to be ready.  It was a colorful traffic jam but the sun and sweat took a toll on some of the paint.

It was pretty crazy riding through the thousands of people lining the parade route.  It was an interesting mix of being in the center of what everyone was seeing and being completely anonymous/invisible in the middle of all the bikes.

I had a chance to chat with several folks during the ride and it was amazing how friendly everyone was.  There is definitely comaraderie in shared craziness.  A few folks asked about the touring bikes (the only ones in the ride) and they really enjoyed the story of the ride and thought painting the same jersey was pretty funny.  Good, because I thought it was funny too.

Cruising along the parade

After the ride through the parade, I caught a bit of some of the non-biking participants and headed back home to shower and get ready for tomorrow's ride.  I was not sure what it would take to get the paint off.

I took a long, hot shower with lots of soap and scrubbing.  Everything (that I could see) seemed to come off pretty well but it made a huge mess in the shower.  When I was done I came out to show Julie that it all came off pretty well.  She mostly agreed until I turned around.

Uh, you missed a spot

A second shower with a little help and it was all cleaned off.

Overall it was a fun experience (and yes, the shorts were painted on as well).  I don't know if I need to do it again but it was good once.  It was great to be amongst such energetic folks.

With two days left to ride I was able to ditch some unnecessary gear to lighten my load.  Back to the early to bed, early to ride schedule.

Day 47: Horses Headed For The Barn

Last night it rained so the tent was wet again this morning.  Not too big a deal since today will end in Seattle and I will be my own warm showers host for the night.  In celebration of riding from Mexico to my house, tomorrow will be a day off before the final two days to the border.

After packing the wet tent and the rest of the gear, we got on the road pretty early.  We stopped at a grocery store a few miles down the road for a few things and to transcribe the days directions.  Today should be shorter than most of our recent days and I should be at my house in under 60 miles.

We will be meeting Sarah's boyfriend in Renton at the south end of Lake Washington and he will join us for the ride along the lake.  That will be about two thirds of the way through the riding day but we have told him to meet us at 10:30.

A couple days ago we had a message from Randy.  He said that he had some time during his layover in Oregon to read the blogs.  Now that we have dropped down west of the Cascades and are headed north  with the daily mileage continuing to increase, he said it sounds like horses who can smell the barn and are rushing back.

I guess it has felt a bit like that the last couple of days but today it is completely like that.  Partly because we are covering pretty familiar territory and partly because I know there is a comfy bed and good shower waiting for me, I am not very interested in stopping alongside the road today.

We picked up Ferrit right on schedule and continued along the shore of Lake Washington.  I parted ways with the two of them near Madison Valley and finished the rest of the ride to my house solo.

I was hoping to get to the house to see Julie by the time she gets home from work but with the quick pace I was home by 12:30. That gave me plenty of time to wash several days of road stink off in the shower so that by the time Julie came home I could pretend that I always smell nice after a day of riding.

Tomorrow will be a day off and coincidentally, the longest day of the year.  There is an annual Solstice Parade close to my house that will make a fun day off activity along with a serious cleaning of the drive train on the bike.

Only two more days left to the border and some of the gear will stay at home so hopefully the beast will be a few pounds lighter for the last bit.  I am anxious to be done but also trying to focus on continuing to enjoy the journey.

Randy has now decided to do a loop around the Olympic peninsula before heading to Portland of the music festival so I may get a chance to see him again as he passes through Seattle.  The timing should work out so that I can catch him right before I head to Hawaii.

The filthy beast resting at home, hose ready for action

Day 46: Longest Day Looking For A Theme

Today we were back to our typical early start to the day.  After breakfast I grabbed some coffee and we headed to the lobby area for juice and bagels while we transcribed the on road directions for the day.

With 140 miles to go to Seattle, we are shooting for about 80 today and 60 tomorrow.  That should put us somewhere around Spanaway by the end of the day with our longest distance yet.

Several years ago I passed along this route in the opposite direction during the Cascade Bike Club's Seattle to Portland (STP) ride.  While not exactly the same roads, we are pretty much riding it in reverse now and hitting all the same towns.  This time however, there will be no folks on the side of the road with bananas and juice for us.

Much of the roadside scenery remains fairly similar to what we have been seeing.  The weather is definitely nicer today which is a plus.  In the absence of scenery variation I have decided to make today's theme roadside flowers of which I am totally ignorant.

Pink flowers

Maybe they are daisies...or weeds

Much of the early day was spent riding on the westside highway which parallels I-5 on the other side if the cowling river.  It is always nice to ride on secondary roads near an interstate because most of the cars take the interstate.  Empty roads are nice for biking.

Quiet biking tunnel

Passing through Napavine we decided it was time for second breakfast/first lunch and pulled over at the local market.  Cold drink and cold burritos have been the main lunch fare on this trip and that was it for today.

While there, we watched an older gentleman training a young dog.  The dog was amazingly well behaved and would wait for him as he pretended to go into stores and walked out of sight behind cars.  Clearly the two of them have been putting in a lot of time together.

Somehow this inspired the thought of performing tricks (maybe it was the brief appearance of the sun). Whatever the reason, shortly I found myself imitating my niece to perform a cartwheel on the lawn.  It may not get me to the Olympics but it did get a comment from the dog trainer.

8.5...I totally stuck the landing

Back on the road we got the first look at Mt. Rainier as we continued north.

Hints of home

Eventually our directions took us to another coonstruction site and a closed road.  Fortunately we were able to skirt most of it along what will eventually be a bike path but today was a firmly packed gravel trail.

This time we march through it

A different pink flowet

Now that we have altered our route and are west of the cascades, we began discussing how unlikely it would be that we would see other touring cyclists for the rest of the trip.  As it has so many times for dogs, rain, construction and logging trucks, talking about it out loud made it happen.  Shortly we ran into Ben and Heather headed the other direction.  They were on day 2 of a ten week trip from Seattle to Washington D.C.  Ben works for a non-profit targeting hunger and they will be stopping along the way to give talks about the work to various groups across the country.

Heather said that even on day 2 it seemed like it would be over soon.  I shared some of my new touring wisdom to ensure her that sometime soon it would seem like it was never going to end (and then get better).  Ben gave an experienced nod of agreement.

Nice folks to meet along the road.  I hope they have a great ride. (They are keeping a journal at bikeagainsthunger.tumblr.com )

Ben and Heather looking strong on day 2

These are kind of purple

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly.  We continued to make good time and enjoyed the sunshine.  It was the first day in a while that I rode in short sleeves for the entire day.

Red or maybe Orange flowers

Yard art taken to a pretty high level

We continued to stick to the side roads and enjoyed passing through the little towns.  At one point we were on a bike trail for quite a few miles.  The road surface was nice but the thick vegetation made it a bit muggy and that attracted quite a few bugs.  I choked on several as they were inadvertently swallowed along the way.

Tunnel of choking on bugs

Yet another pink one

Soon we were getting back to populated areas and the roads were looking pretty familiar.  Mt. Rainier continued to look great in the distance.

The mountain is getting larger

The blue ones are my favorite

When we arrived in Spanaway we stopped to use wifi at a McDonald's (pretty much the only reason to go there) to scope out a place to stay for the night.  Sarah looked for camping locations and I looked for a backup motel.

We ended up finding a nice out of the way field at Pacific Lutheran University where we could set up out tents right away and not be in the way of any of the nearby athletic fields.  It made for an early bedtime which is my key to being able to continue riding everyday.

Not fancy but functional

Functional camping location

Day 45: Home State

Today we got our latest start on the road yet.  We took advantage of the marina facilities to do some much needed laundry before leaving Portland.

Landry took a while and the marina cafe was not yet open so I had my breakfast on the deck outside.  Since we had the use of a refrigerator last night, I got some yogurt at the store for breakfast.  It has been quite a while since I have enjoyed my typical breakfast and it was a nice treat with a nice view.

Boats and breakfast...a good start

Getting out if town took a bit of winding through neighborhoods but eventually we got to the highway to Longview and began cruising along.  Even though we were close enough to see Washington this morning, we are still riding another 40+ miles in Oregon.  The bridge crossing at I-5 leads to more I-5 and not really any other riding options.  Instead we are headed north on the other side of the river so we can stay off the interstate.

Since the riding was along a highway most of the day, there wasn't a lot to inspire photographs.  On the plus side,  we passed through small towns fairly often and so any worries about water and food supplies are now behind us.

In spite of our late start, we made pretty good time to the bridge at Longview.  We were originally targeting somewhere around 60-70 miles for the day so we can reach Seattle in two more good days.  

We decided to stop at the town of Castle Rock about 20 miles into Washington.  It didn't look like there would be good camping options and with the day getting pretty late, I didn't want to be hunting around when we got there.  I reserved a motel room and then we headed across the bridge to Washington.

Just across the bridge (and past the dreaded loggers)

Getting across the bridge was not too big a deal.  It is 2 miles long and only took about 10 minutes.  There is a reasonable shoulder that normally wouldn't be a bad place to ride.  Unfortunately, as the picture shows, there is a large logging operation currently loading/unloading rail cars with lots of trucks headed over the bridge.  

Logging trucks are pretty much the worst trucks on the road.  They are driven by maniacs who I assume are paid by the load.  I assume this as the only reasonable explanation for the horrible way they drive.  Additionally, they shed bark and crap from their loads like someone is being paid to dump stuff on the side of the road.  Consequently, the shoulder on the bridge (and the road leading to the bridge) were covered quite deeply with logging truck trash.  This meant trying to dodge it on the uphill and just giving up on the downhill and taking the lane so traffic had to wait.  On my way down, a logging truck was behind me and had to ride his brakes and wait for me.  Too bad!

The other downside of a bridge border crossing is that the border is in the middle of the river and there was no "Welcome to Washington" sign in front of which we could take jumping pictures.  

I kept thinking there would be one a bit further up but there never was.  I started to look around to see if there was anything to indicate we were now back in the home state.

No welcome sign in this state? This was the best I could find.

We finished off the ride and picked up a few groceries before checking into the motel.  One benefit of the fully loaded bike is that while you may generally look like a vagrant, folks believe that you are only passing through and consequently are quite helpful.

As we pedaled around the center of Castle Rock looking a bit lost and wondering if there was a market, a friendly fellow driving alongside put down his window and asked if I was looking for something and the gave directions,  all as we continued to move down the road.

The motel was a motel but the shower was good and the bed was comfortable. After the shower it was already time for dinner and bed due to the late start.  Hopefully with a good night's sleep tomorrow's long day will go well.  We have about 140 miles to Seattle.  We will try to get it done in 2 days and take a day off on Saturday in seattle before a final 2 days to the border.  Saturday is also the solstice which means we will be just in time for the local parade.

Day 44: Portland 2000

Today started with sleeping in a park to avoid the cold and rain.  It ended warm, well fed and sailing.

We had an extra early start in order to get out of the park before we were rousted out as vagabonds.  I set an alarm for the first time on this trip.  I slept fairly well and was glad to be dry overnight but the late bed time and the early start make this not  my favorite accommodation of the trip.

We planned to Put in another long day again today to get to us all the way to Portland.  This will put us over 2000 miles for the trip.  Once there, we are staying with Sarah's friend Jake.  Jake lives on a sailboat on the Columbia River.  The plan is to take the boat out for a bit once we are there.

Knowing that there was going to be a warm, dry place at the end of the day was pretty motivating.  We pedaled fairly hard and made very good time.

Nice views as the road rolls along

The terrain helped with that.  We covered rolling hills almost all the way to Portland, passing lots of small and interesting farms along the way.

Maybe they eat a lot of fruit...probably not

We had a little rain off and on through the day but nothing like yesterday.  Even so, things were a bit damp after mist of the day in the saddle.  We are passing through small and medium sized towns more regularly now so we had a nice lunch stop under a covered seating area at a local grocery store.  This was a much better choice than the rainy driveway that we considered a quarter mile earlier.

After more rainy miles we got to the southern outskirts of the Portland metro area and said goodbye to the farms.  Fortunately, being near Portland, we now started to enjoy dedicated bike lanes and even separate bike-only trails for large chunks of the ride into downtown.

Views from the bicycle side of the tracks

We were meeting Jake at his office downtown.  He rode his bike to work today so we could all ride back to the boat together.  Before heading out, we stopped by a sandwich shop for a second lunch.  I had a super tasty smashed chickpea (I didn't know what it was either) sandwich and coffee.

The largest town in a month and a half

Random Portland art

After our late lunch it was back to the office for Jake to change clothes and then on towards the boat.  It was still 8 or 9 miles to the boat but it was all via great bike lanes and bikeways.  I have heard quite a bit about Portland being very bike friendly and it really is true.  It is probably the best biking city I have ever been in.

We had a very quick ride to the island while trying to keep up with speedy Jake.  At lunch he mentioned that he has been enjoying the bicycle commute and just ordered a new, faster commuter bike.  I'm glad he doesn't have it yet.

After a quick stop at Safeway for snacks and dinner fixings we arrived at the boat and began piling all of our stuff into the cockpit.  It was clear that after riding for days in the rain, the bags were way too filthy to enter the boat.  Jake and I hosed them all off before we stowed them.  Another benefit of waterproof bags.

Wow we carry a lot of stuff

The next tour will be by boat

The next order of business was a shower.  The stink was getting pretty bad and before sharing the inside of a boat some cleaning was necessary.  The laundry will have to wait until the morning.

After a great shower we headed out into the river.  There really wasn't much wind so we dived into the snacks while we watched other optimistic sailors prepare for a Tuesday night race.

The great host Jake and the snacks

We didn't make a lot of progress sailing but it was nice to be out on the water again.  The Columbia River was a new sailing location for me and I always enjoy that.

Eventually we gave up on the sailing and did a motor tour of the interesting floating homes along the marina island.  Very reminiscent of Lake Union in Seattle.

After a smooth return to the dock we had a quick dinner of tortilla pizzas with veggies.  His was another new thing for me but it was very quick, easy and tasty so I will definitely try it again in the future.

After some additional arranging of the boat for sleeping it was time for bed.  Dry, comfortable and warm is a god way to end the day. Tomorrow will be another long one as we plan to try to get to Canada in another 5 or 6 days making Washington the quickest state yet.

All is quiet along the river