And So It Begins...

Hey all:

Jake and I took off from Bradley Airport early on Friday morning for an uneventful flight to Newark. From there it was a long and cramped flight to Seattle (one advantage of biking over 4000 miles back is not having to sit in the middle seat  of an overheated aircraft for 5 hours again).

Rented a car in Seattle to drive down to Olympia so Jake could visit Evergreen College. Arrived in the middle of graduation. Might be a good fit for Jake. Nice place- too far away for his mother's taste.

Spent some time in Olympia the next morning They were in the middle of a three day bike event. Lot of folks in tight colorful clothing,  $8,000 5lb bicycles, and Darth Vader helmets. Exactly as we were equipped for our ride.

Met some nice folks in a cafe where we were watching the racers, whose words of encouragement and excitement were able to drown out the "oh f***, what are we doing?" feelings that both Jake and I were experiencing at that time.

Back to Seattle to take a small plane to Port Angeles where we were going to pick up the trikes and  start the trip. Great flight (Thanks Scott & Nile - pilots). We were then offered a ride into town from a very nice woman who had lost her luggage in transit from Atlanta (or should I say the airline lost her luggage - good job Continental!), but got it back in time for the graduation she was supposed to be attending (Thanks GiGi and Tanya).

After checking into a great hotel (with a bad reputation), we went straight to the bike shop where our trikes had been shipped. Finally met Vicki, the owner of the shop) who had done so much for us with the trikes and our gear. The beginning of the trip would have been much more difficult without her help.

Spent the night in our spacious waterfront room trashing the place with all of our gear. We realized that we could not possibly carry all of that crap on our trikes, so we boxed up a bunch and sent it back to Vermont (Thanks again Vicki).

We woke to brilliant blue skies and discovered that our other view was of a beautiful snow-capped mountain ridge that had previously been hidden by low clouds. Breakfasted on pure sugar at the Cockle-Doodle-Do Donut shop, whose owner was as sweet as the confections - really.  Drew lots of attention on the sidewalk outside the hotel as we loaded our gear on to the trikes. John and his wife (from Kansas) took the photo below - the first official shot with all of our stuff. You may notice the helmeted wombat sitting astride my packs. That's Wilson. He decided to come along for the ride. Look for him in future photos (sort of a "Where's Wilson?" thing). I can hear Jake groaning already at the thought.

Then on to the ferry where we met Forest, a 79 year-old gentleman with far more experience on his loaded trike than we had on ours. In addition to regaling us with stories of his adventures, he was able to guide us through the treacherous process of boarding and exiting a ferry meant for skinny passengers - not unwieldy overloaded trikes.

With just a few minor mishaps, some lifting, shoving, and light swearing, we managed to get them on board. There we met Ben, who may be the most experienced bike tourer under 30 I have ever met. He is from New Zealand, now living in British Columbia, but has traveled by bike all over the world. He has created the enviable lifestyle of working 6 months out of the year and bike touring in exotic locales for the rest of the year. (Note the not insignificant trace of envy in my writing?). He was also the first person to make a donation while on the trip. To further gild the lily, I need to add that he often bikes for charitable causes and designed and built a special vehicle that converts his brothers wheelchair into a three wheeled trike that can be ridden using just one leg and one arm.

After stumbling off the ferry in Victoria (if anything a more difficult and embarrassing process than getting on the ship) we had to ride through a city crowded with Sunday revelers there for a multi-day bike event that included BMX trick riders on a barge and polo on bikes. We have never ridden our trikes in traffic and it was not a fun first experience to do it in the narrow busy streets of a capital city during a festival. More than once we had to quickly jump onto sidewalks to avoid the inevitable meeting of car and trike (ok, it was more that I was lost and couldn't see over the cars - but that isn't nearly as exciting as a near-death experience).

Once across the Blue Johnson bridge, we were instructed to take the Galloping Goose Trail to the Lochside Trail, a bike and pedestrian-only trail that goes from Victoria to Sidney. This proved to be a wonderful first ride of 18 miles, mostly on paved paths where we were able to chat with fellow riders who were interested in our odd looking and over-loaded trikes. After riding with Lisa and John for a bit, and telling them of our plans for a 70-day plan for crossing the US, she informed me that she and a relay team had crossed Canada in 19 days. I immediately stopped liking her at this point and hoped that John beat her in their upcoming tennis game.

Dinner at a Thai restaurant in Sidney and sleep at a nice waterfront hotel last night has completed the luxury portion of our trip. We head by ferry to Anacortes, WA at noon today (yes, another battle with the evil gangways and custom officers). We hope to be 20 or 30 miles east of Anacortes by nightfall and to camp for the first time. From there it will be all tents and sleeping bags, stove cooking, bugs, much used clothing, sponge baths in gas station restrooms, and polite smiles from strangers who wisely keep their distance when we pass by. Anyone want to join us?

Still not able to deposit donations or take them on this site, so either mail us a check that you don't mind us holding for a while or hold on to your donation until we get the tax exempt stuff worked out. Thanks to all who helped make this trip possible. We truly are having a great time.

Take care, be well, and keep checking back for more blogs.

Rob & Jake