Safe on Lopez

After 7 days of biking, I'm showered and protected from the rain at Brook's house on Lopez Island. It felt like a lot of biking to a non-biker like me, but I met people who have been touring since the beginning of the summer. My last post was right before I headed to the beach. The riding was pleasant and right before I reached the beach I found a good place to lay all my stuff out to dry in the sun and eat a hardy late lunch. I made it to the beach as the sun was getting low. I stayed at a closed campground and walked the deserted beach, enjoying the occasional swell of frigid water around my ankles.
This is from my camp above South Beach, with the deserted campsite just to the right of the beach.

The next morning I continued along the coast, checking out a few more beaches and a very cool cedar tree. As I left the coast it started to rain. It ended up raining the rest of the day. I bike about 50 miles in the rain, trying to get to Fairholme campground at Crescent lake. With about 20 miles to go I bought an energy drink because I was feeling a little poopy with all the rain. It helped with my physical energy, but the most noticeable effect was that I became a very animated talker, commenting out loud on every comment that I made. I would yell out invitations to my next party involving excitement such as peeing on a tree, refilling my waterbottle, stretching and wringing out my gloves (not waterproof). I also decided that I was bikeman bonkers, terrestrial ally to spaceman spiff (for those who read Calvin and Hobbes). When I finally arrived at the campsite it was dark out (6:30 pm) and there was another bike tourer taking advantage of the bathroom roof to prepare and eat his dinner. I joined him and found out that he had been on his bike since June, having already biked from Montreal to Alaska and was headed for Argentina. He had been biking for most of the past 6 years, mostly in Europe. I was blown away and felt rather insignificant saying it was my 5th day on a bike. He was very open and we had a great evening of conversation and dinner ( a party!).

Day 6: It rained through the night and in the morning until I got on my bike. As soon as I pulled out of camp it became a beautiful day.
I started with a 10 mile ride around Lake crescent, which is sunken in between steep forested mountains and ridges. After that I biked on into Port Angeles, a nice town in a stunning location. The streets roll down to the harbor and one can see across the straights of Juan de Fucca. South of town the northernmost peaks of the Olympic mountains are visible, capped with snow. I ran into a bike tourer that was heavily laden and we grabbed lunch together as he told me of his biking adventures and bear run-ins in Alaska. I then found a bike path the ranged from lovely to frustrating and dangerous. It started right along the coast, so I was sold on it immediately. Then I had to carry my bike over a mudslide that had covered the trail, then a tree that had fallen. The path meandered into the woods, where dead leaves covered the trail so thickly I didn't see the asphalt for a few miles. At times it plummeted into steep river valleys, forcing most cyclists to get off and push their bikes. Overall, though, it was nice not to be on the highway for a change. My left knee was nagging me, in the same place that my right knee had hurt a few days before. Since my right knee got stronger, I was hoping my left would follow suit, but it didn't.

By this morning it was quite unpleasant and after 20 miles it became problematic. I should have just hitchhiked or taken a bus, but my pride held me back. The pain put me in a horrible mood. I biked up to Port Townsend, took a ferry to Whidbey Island, and then another from Anacortes to Lopez. It's another 10 miles or so from the ferry landing to Brook's house. While riding up to Anacortes, I kept thinking that I would ask for a ride on the ferry and save myself at least part of the final stretch. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the ferry I was in such a bad mood that I lacked the gumption to go around asking people for a ride. I made it slowly, but now my knee hurts to bend.
That's all for now. I would love to hear from people. Feel free to send me an email or just write a comment.
Here are some extra pictures that I just like:

Heading into the Rain

I started from Portland in the rain, but after about 30 miles the sun came out and I biked up into the hills singing along. I slowed down in the afternoon and called it quits when it started getting dark and raining around 6 pm.

It wasn't quite raining the next morning, so I set out again, made it to Astoria and across a long bridge over the Columbia river. The weather was great, it wasn't cold and the sun was almost shining. I planned to bike another 40 miles to a county campgrounds on a bay. The riding in the afternoon went very quickly. I ran into a group of Canadians biking South all the way to Mexico, they had a lot more stuff than me, making me feel good about my packing job (I started out with about 40 lbs, but it has been getting progressively lighter as I continue to eat all the food I packed). When I got to my intended campsite, it was closed, so I continued 15 more miles to an RV site in Raymond. The camping was $10, but a long hot shower was only a quarter, very exciting.


The 3rd day started out slowly. It was raining so I didn't get up until 9:30 and didn't leave the RV park until after 11 am. I biked slowly, fighting a strong wind on and off. I was riding right along some bay and very excited to soon see the actual pacific. Then, my bike went bang and I pulled over to find that it was the back tire that had ripped. I suspected that my wobbly back rim has caused extra stress on the tire. After eating a bite someone pulled over and offered me a ride, before I had even started hitchhiking. His name was Gordon, and he was from Raymond, so he knew the closest town with a bike store, which was about 40 miles away. On the way there, we stopped at his friend's house. His friend was in the process of calculating the displacement of his 50-foot yacht that he was building. It was a beautiful boat, and I got the full tour after helping out with the calculations. Next I went to the bike shop and got not only a new tire and tube, but a whole new back wheel. It is so nice to ride with a straight wheel and have back brakes that don't rub.

Now I'm in a small town called Amanda Parks, in the library. I spent some time in the rainforest at Lake Quinault, where I saw the worlds largest Sitka Spruce, and many other big trees. I am heading back to the coast this afternoon. It's nice to slow down now that I'm in the National Park area. I hope to do little exploring on the coast and then head up to Port Angeles on monday.

Portland has been experiencing a splendid fall. I have been enjoying the turning of the leaves for an extended period of time, starting with the Aspens in Colorado and transitioning into all the trees in Portland. I have been climbing several times, including a trip to Smith rocks with Sam's highschool climbing club. That was great fun, I was put in charge of a few high school students and we climbed together in glorious weather. 

I have also been biking with Sam a bit and most recently I went to a fashion show. Each designer had a room on the second floor of this funky hotel downtown. I walked through, checking out various dresses, handmade wooden sunglasses, jewelry, other random things. The people attending this show were a fashion show on their own, and it was funny to see that most of the people there were actually interested in buying a lot of the stuff. People would ask where the stuff was available for sale. It was a very groovy event.

I am leaving Portland tomorrow to bike North along the West coast of the Olympic Peninsula. It's just under 400 miles and I plan to do it in about a week, but I really don't have a schedule. My bike is functional and I am all ready to go with lights and bags and a tarp instead of a tent to save weight. I'm very excited to see how it feels to bike all day. 

Check, check 1, 2. I think i just created a blog. It was a little too easy, so I'm still sceptical. What can't you do with google. I made this so I could keep people updated with my life, like my bike trip, but I haven't done anything fun yet, I'm just getting things set up. Check back in a bit, maybe I'll have something interesting to say. For now I'll just quote myself from an inebriated night at Vassar:
"Love, love, and lots of love for everyone"