Category: 2011

we me up with Kristin yesterday. Somehow we got ahead of schedule, but had no trouble killing a day in Hood River. Microbrews + Harry Potter took care of most of that. Also I replaced my shifter, which was about to fall apart – I guess that’s to be expected after 17000 miles. Luckily the discovery bike shop gave me a killer deal on a slightly used one. We’re about to cross over into washington, so it’s back to pumping our own gas. It’s been a little cool anf gloomy, with bits of rain off and on, but I much prefer this to 106 degrees.

after getting a tip from another cyclist we rode over elk pass yesterday. we scoffed at the closed sign as we hopped the gate and spent the next 16 miles in car-free bliss. there’s no reason it should still be closed. we heard there was a mile of foot-deep snow, but it’s all melted now. we’re hiding out from the rain and waiting for waffles.

taking a nap on the yellow line

woah – no update for a while. Here’s the quick rundown of what we’ve been up to. We took a day and a half off to take a ferry up lake chelan to the town of stehekin. The only way to get there is by ferry or seaplane (unless you hike down off the pacific crest trail). It was gorgeous – I’ve now swam in the three deepest lakes in north america on this trip! I finally retired the tires I got in princeton nj last year – 3500 miles with no flats, but the rubber was peeling off the casing. Heading over the washington pass we ran into a set of 30 cyclists doing a cross country fundraiser ride – 4kforcancer.org. now we’re back in the flats and should be in canada tonight!

We made it across the border with very few questions. Canadians normally seem very concerned the we are going to expatriate, but not this time.

Everyone we’ve met has been very intent on making sure we enjoy canada. We have gotten lots of good tips on camping plus good route advice. We even had a mishap with our ferry tickets that bc ferries fixed by giving us vouchers.

The highlight so far was going to skookumchuk and checking out the tidal pools where we saw purple sea stars. The only thing better was seeing a pod of killer whales from the ferry yesterday.

Should be back in the states in the next few days. Assuming the country is still there.