Bums gotta be bummin’! This year’s installment of bike bums is a four – tiered adventure through the Pacific Northwest.
We begin in Portland (or perhaps we begin in the southwest terminal of the Oakland airport, which is where I’m writing this). Greg will ride east through the amazing Columbia River gorge, and then break off to the northeast through walla walla and into Idaho, where he’ll pick up a rail trail through the bitterroot range and into Montana . He’ll then make his way up to Kalispell, where he’ll meet max for a couple of days of mountain goat larping in glacier national park. Then, the two week head back west into idaho, over the couer d’Alenes and into Washington to Spokane. That’s where they’ll meet Sarah, who, having just tapped B repeatedly all the way from San Francisco, will just be putting away her raccoon suit.
The three of us will then venture northwards into Canada, exploring long lakes nestled between mountains, before dropping into British Columbia’s desert region. When we pick up Sasha disembarking from the Oakland-Kamloops ferry (better check your clipper card balance before boarding), our foursome will be complete! Only with our powers combined will we be able to brave our way over the spectacular BC coast range, and finally ending up in the shining city of Vancouver.
That’s the plan, at least. But we all know what happens when the bike bums try to make a plan. This is certainly one of the more logistically ambitious attempts the bums have made, with three meetups in as many weeks. Will it work out? Will anyone get left behind? Will they get eaten by grizzlies? Will band gossip be more or less annoying than union gossip (either way , Sarah wins)? Stay tuned to find out!