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.