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Great balls of fire

  • Blew through 25 miles, downhill with tailwind, averaging 17.5mph along American river of WA
  • Rode through fruit orchards: apples, pears, cherries, grapes, etc
  • Deliciously second breakfast in trump cafe
  • Broastingly warm in Yakima; dealt with heat in traditional bums way, going to movie theater to see stripper movie
  • Many beers at brewery, then stumbled into grocery store
  • Ice cream cones beneath mushroom clouds of nearby wildfire
  • White knuckle ride through Yakima canyon routing closed freeway traffic: semis, boat trailers, rvs, etc
  • Campsite entertainment provided by helicopters filling water buckets from river
  • Band practice ended early by mosquitoes

Yak-yak-yak

  • Awoke to rv overnighter being evicted by BLM agent
  • Flipped coin outside of twee fly shop/cafe to decide second breakfast. Breakfast won. Sandwiches were great, but muzak channel was depressing
  • Smooth ride up Yakima canyon, now with normal traffic volume (aka not much)
  • Ellensburg!
    • Met overzealous artist/man-about-town/street king of E’s-burg. Got boba tip
    • Spent hours in great boba cafe whilst Alice rerouted her plans due to cancelled Amtrak (tracks burnt in Cali wildfire)
    • Next stop: brewery! Saw-themed in honor of our serrated serenader. Great brews, good food, great way to avoid the heat
    • Quick stop at Safeway for food + trail beers
  • Palouse-to-Cascade rail trail!
    • 80 miles of car-free bliss
    • Camped at nice campground along trail – skinny dipping in Yakima river

The road provides

  • More smooth riding along trail
  • Second breakfast at Cle Ellum bakery: mix of delicious authentic baked goods and generic branded kitsch
  • More tressles, tunnels, streams on trail
  • 2 mile long tunnel at Snoqualmie pass – pitch black jam session in middle of tunnel
  • 20 mile descent off pass with amazing views
  • Tacos in twin peaks town (north bend)
  • Coordinating lodging with Nick and Jim as they completed 12 hour drive from Oakland
  • Searched for nearby camping, but we were on the populated side of the Cascades now – scoped a nice, sketchy spot next to river for plan B
  • Hey look a brewery!
  • Asked around at brewery for camping options. Just when all hope was lost, Alice rolled a natty on her charisma check, and we were invited to sleep in the backyard of John, Helen, and summit the dog
  • Bought beer for our hosts only to find that they had bought beer for us – recipe for a great, late night of drinking, conversation, and caterwauling
  • Zach vs his tent yielded minor contusions to face. Both contestants survived for future rematch
  • Nick and Jim were relegated to seedy downtown motel

And then there were five

  • Started day with fresh lemon water and coffee provided by our gracious hosts
  • Said goodbyes and headed into town to meet our newly arrived comrades
  • Quick breakfast at bakery, then onto another rail trail
  • Rolled 5 deep for a few miles until we had to say goodbye to Alice. Many tears were shed
  • Jim got first flat of tour within first 10 miles
  • Lunch in Duvall twee-town, then back onto roads after our long streak of trails
  • WA country roads are pleasant, but some drivers are great big babies – witnessed at least 2 impatience-driven near-collisions
  • Snohomish! Hey look a pub! The beer prices were time-shifted from the early 90s, and the help-yourself popcorn reminded us of pre-covid times
  • Got on the centennial rail trail – 30+ miles of butter-smooth pavement
  • Camping options once again limited – met various characters at pavilion while considering options
  • Found cozy little creekside hide-away just of trail – perfect for camping as long as you avoid the human waste

Jim patiently waited

  • Jim was packed with helmet on at daybreak while he waited 4 hours for the rest of us to emerge (this would become a theme)
  • Went back to the hottest venue in Machias – the park pavilion. Met a few more local characters, including the friendly park superintendent, and a man who lived nearby for 6 months and had never ridden the trail
  • Trail was great
  • Stopped in Arlington to resupply at Gross-out
  • Continued north to end of trail
  • Good tacos next to I-5
  • La Conner! Hey look a brewery!
  • Crossed bridge onto Swinomish lands
  • Camping options remained scarce – ending up staying at an RV resort so expensive, the manager felt bad for us and have us a discount
  • We did laundry and all took 20 minute showers
  • Jim bent all of his tent stakes due to unforgiving RV parking spot
  • “Are you guys European? Oh, I see lots of Europeans on bikes”
  • Puget sound attained!

Island life

  • Rode to Anacortes over awesome bike bridge and through boat graveyard
  • Jim got new tent stakes at Ace – it truly is The Place
  • Second breakfast and future lunch at delicious deli
  • Ferry time!
    • Sundeck and galley were closed due to cobid
    • Saw an otter 🦦
  • Orcas island!
    • Disembarked ferry to be met with Uff-Da Hill.
    • Maps to star’s homes are available
    • Orcas island didn’t live up to reputation of being tranquil and serene – overrun by rich boomers, much traffic. Also, dang those hills were steep
    • Tailwind for first half of ride, headwind for second
    • Stopped in Eastport (hey look, a generic touristy Irish-themed pub) . Entertainment was provided by a ill-fated sailboat being buffeted against shoreline in heavy winds – sheriff got involved
    • Arrived at Moran state park – hike/bike site was available, but they make you work for it. Only beautiful people get convenient access to pristine lake/showers/bathrooms.

Land ho!

  • Rolled out of campsite
  • Waited too long in boogie bakery line, only for Zach’s dream of savory scone being gobbled up by the person in front of us – Jim waited patiently
  • Took slight detour to avoid main road traffic. Also, return trip was easier
  • Had to wait 1.5 hours for return ferry to mainland. Entertainment was provided man with acute seasickness which required EMT intervention
  • Boarding of ferry involved rare trans-deck bike ride
  • Ferry trip featured ad-hoc D&D session ending in cliffhanger – Jim waited patiently
  • Deception pass bridge crossing was less spectacular due to narrow sidewalk + heavy traffic
  • Arrived at deception pass state park – once again, hike/bike sites were inconveniently placed on a single-track trail 1/2 mile from bathroom
  • Debated pros/cons of four six-minute showers vs one 24-minute group shower
  • Entertainment was provided by fully-armed navy jets buzzing the campground
  • Nick assisted lost child – another theme that would continue in Washington state parks

And then the were two

  • Breakfast at Frank’s Place – we think Frank may have been in the military
  • Got to port Townsend ferry where Nick and Jim had to split off – they had a 50+ mile journey to get to Seattle
  • Bid farewell to our brethren – many tears were shed – we shall meet again in Milvia
  • Got to port Townsend – hey look a brewery!
  • After beers and tasty tacos, we rode to the Olympic Discovery Trail
  • Just before trail entrance, I saw Green New Deal bus that I had seen in desert outside of Taos, NM during BikeBums 2020. Had another rambling chat with occupant and his dog
  • Trail out of Port Townsend was fantastic – mix of pavement and smooth gravel
  • Met two women touring from San Diego – they had even more crap strapped to their bikes than I did
  • Got supplies at S’Klallum fancy gas station/grocery store with bumping soundtrack
  • Rode into Sequim state park campground late, met Mer and friend. Mer was two days away from completing cross-country ride from Baltimore, 60% on rail trails

Zach patiently waited

Perfect way to start the trip: I was all excited, ready to go, with my bike all packed up. I got on BART to head to the airport, and casually started checking in to my flight – but it kept rejecting me. That’s when I realized my 11:59pm flight was not for Friday night, but Saturday. Whoops. I skulked back home and hopped online to log into my weekly dungeons and dragons sesh with my college buds, but instead of rolling dice we just spent 3 hours lamenting the terrible state of the world (with a brief side quest contrasting the qualities of Pee-Wee Herman vs Ed Grimly).

It’s all going to work out fine, just instead of a relaxing day bumming around the twin cities, I’m just going to hit the pavement running tomorrow. Bums on!

bike on BART