the path

Friday, June 27, 2008

Greetings from Northern Idaho!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and genders in between, we are proud to announce: we have (dial-up) internet access! Turns out Lindsay's master plan of sending updates via text message has failed--out here in the country we don't get that kind of cell phone service, apparently. So we (and you) have waited 8 long days for an update! Here's the recap:

Prelude: We boarded Amtrak's Coast Starlight train at Jack London Square in Oakland and, at a shockingly slow pace, made our way north to Tacoma, WA. After an hour delay in boarding (which meant an extra hour for us, closing in on midnight at the train station in Oakland), our train came to a grinding halt about 1 mile into the journey, an occurence we would become quite accustomed to over the next 24 hours. Once we finally got rolling toward Sacramento, the two of us fell fast asleep. We spent our many train hours on the viewing car, with wall and ceiling windows through which we saw all the volcanoes, from Shasta to Lassen to Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and so on. Having driven up Highway 5 to Seattle a couple times, I must say the scenery from the train is far superior. Narrower tracks make for more secluded vistas, more wildlife (we saw 2 coyotes howling as they trotted away from the tracks!), and more tree-lined corridors. We arrived in Tacoma late at night on the 17th, to be greeted by our most gracious welcoming crew: Libby's mom, dad, and brother! They put us up in a glamorous hotel in Tacoma that night and then drove us up to Anacortes the next day, and were even nice enough to make a last minute stop at Seattle's gargantuan REI.

6/19 - Day 1 and Lisette's 21st Birthday!: Anacortes, WA to Marblemount, WA

After wining and dining in Anacortes, we were ready for take-off on the morning of the 19th. Unfortunately, we hit some obstacles in our attempts to dip our tires in the Pacific Ocean (the old cross-country tradition), as Anacortes is not technically on the Pacific, and our hotel was not technically on the water anyway. One beach we tried was all muck for hundreds of yards (blasted low tide). The second beach, or sad excuse thereof, was actually quicksand in disguise. Lindsay tried to make a dash for the water and found herself instead ankle-deep in yucky mucky only feet from water's edge. Libby laughed from her safe haven in the foliage. Finally, we dipped our tires from the end of a boat dock at a private marina. Then Lindsay spent 20 minutes trying to remove the muck from her wheels, brakes, and self.

We set out actually biking around noon, and had a flat, easy day (sans bags, thanks to our benefactors) ambling along the Skagit River, surrounded by veritable rainforest, to Marblemount, at the foot of the Northern Cascades. We were welcomed once more by the Wood/Rimers into a delightful cabin resort, largely populated by rabbits and their associated stale bread crumbs, where we spent our last evening in luxury before climbing away into the wilderness.

6/20 - Day 2: Marblemount, WA to Diablo Lake
Struck by the addition of about 40-50 pounds of luggage stuffed into each of our pannier bags, and again hampered by a late start, we made it only about 25 miles up the mountain before collapsing on the side of the road and both actually falling asleep. We decided to camp at the base of the climb and start early the next morning. We both now laugh at our exhaustion but it was certainly the right decision at the time. We spent the rest of the day watching baby ducks and Canadian geese on the lake, and trying to get the campground's token drunk guy to stop telling us how nice our bikes were and how he knows someone who bikes sometimes.

6/21 - Day 3: Diablo Lake to Winthrop, WA
We rose at 5:30 in anticipation of a big day and were on the road by 7:30, as we had a 32-mile, 4500-foot climb. We plugged away, pedal-by-pedal, stopping to wolf down beef jerky and energy bars. Encouraged by the greetings of dozens of cyclists on a benefit ride, we summited at around 1pm. We had several people offer us water and food and many more check to make sure we were okay. Even the rest stop at the pass for the benefit riders was welcoming. After all, we were the only people touring--something to be proud of. There was still a substantial amount of snow up around the pass--we seemed to have perfect timing--and we saw no less than 40 waterfalls over the course of the day.

We descended into Winthrop, a charming western town, where we had a celebratory espresso milkshake while we waited out a brief but heavy rain. We camped that night at our first RV park (unnecessarily expensive but an opportunity to take showers and charge our cell phones and camera). A beautiful big-sky sunset through the clusters of mammoth RVs.

6/22 - Day 4: Winthrop to Tonasket, WA
Our morning warm-up began with some of our favorite scenery: the soft green meadows of the Methow Valley. As we climbed toward Loup Loup pass, the forest changed--the trees were more sparse, the ground was covered with pine needles rather than drippy ferns, and the air was dry and still. By the time we had descended, we were in sagebrush country, where there is as little as 10" of rainfall a year, vs. the 100" at our first pass. Here waterfalls were replaced by endless sprinklers, and the small mountain towns became the sprawling and destitute clapboard "projects" of the Indian Reservation. We could almost feel the resentment and the heightened tension. Our pit stop at the only roadside grocery/gas station was spent watching customers, one after another, leave their engines running while they ran in and grabbed beer or liquor, gave the two strange city girls a hard stare, and zoomed off. We trucked through there and pulled a 70-mile day to stay on the lawn of Shannon's Ice Cream Parlour in Tonasket.

6/23 - Day 5: Tonasket to Republic, WA
A long, hot, slow, boring, gradual, fluctuating ascent up to Wauconda Pass, this was our least-interesting day. All we remember are logging trucks, plywood trucks, gravel trucks, and sore butts. We were happy to arrive at the well-sprinklered lawns Ferry County Fairgrounds in Republic and were in our sleeping bags before the sun went down.

6/24 - Day 6: Republic to Colville, WA
We had a short steep climb to our highest pass (~5600') and then an equally fast descent into Kettle Falls, on the Columbia River. We stumbled upon a goldmine in the form of a natural foods store and ate the equivalent of a couple meals and a few desserts and then stocked up on more delicious organic snacks for the road, which we are still enjoying the remnants of. We took an off-highway detour through an idyllic meadow valley before arriving in Colville, our biggest town yet. Again we landed at the Fairgrounds, this time Stevens County, where there was a gathering of the Washington State Grange (we didn't know what it was either) and a face-off of the local Little League teams. We managed to catch some of the game and take a walk around the entire town before sundown--not till around 9pm up here!

6/25 - Day 7: Colville to Cusick, WA
Although we were done with our four mountain passes, we still had a gradual 1000' climb out of Colville and then a quick downhill that brought us down to the Pend Oreille (pronounced in American Ponderay) River, which we've been following ever since. We logged about 30 miles against the wind, but thankfully flat, to our third Fairgrounds (a hat trick!). As Cusick has a "population" of 212, this was a very quiet evening for us, to say the least. When we saw the friendly caretaker the next morning, he told us he was glad we camped there and not many people know about it. We'll have to spread the word. Pend Oreille County Fairgrounds!

6/26 - Day 8: Cusick, WA to Sandpoint, ID
As the River turned east, we had the wind at our backs and our flattest day yet! We made it into Sandpoint via a long, cross-lake bike trail by 3pm. We spent a couple hours exploring and visiting bike shops to address our sore butt problems, both emerging with new women-specific seats that actually have some padding. We felt like we were caving, but in reality, there's no way we could have continued to log 60, 70 mile days if our butt bones were starting to ache within the first hour of riding.

Last night we rode 5 miles off our route to stay with family friends in their incredible, hand-crafted country home. They cooked a gourmet meal of garlic-fried shrimp and potato wedges, with salad fresh from the garden. Then a berry cobbler for dessert. We have been thinking carefully: should we continue cross country, or should we just move in? Well, we're still here and it's just past noon now.

Alas, the adventure continues. Until our next update (who knows when that will be), you can check out photos of our first few days posted on Flickr, courtesy of Lisette (thank you thank you thank you!). Next on the agenda is Libby, MT, Glacier National Park, the continental divide, and a brief jaunt into Canada on the eve of the good old Fourth of July!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Our one and only training ride:




The 73-mile circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe, self-proclaimedly "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride," was our first and last training ride. And man, are we pumped. Our plan to bike the lake in one day developed instead into a 3-day camping trip. Things we learned:

-Biking with racks and 40-pound panniers is quite different from biking on "naked" bikes.
-Biking at 7000 feet elevation is quite different from biking at sea level.
-Lake Tahoe is too beautiful to rush around in a day anyway. That's so auto.

Now, strengthened by our long and gruelling training season, we await departure from the Bay Area via the Coast Starlight at twilight tomorrow. The wheels will start turning in an easterly direction (click on the map above to see our route) at daybreak on Thursday, June 19th. , and check back for brief but live updates via text message (yes, it's embarrassing--and true!) thereafter...

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for: bon voyage to us and happy summer to you!