port angeles again

cart's 2 cents
well here we are it's almost the end of august (the 29 or 30th) we've been on the bike portion of our trip for almost a week i suppose. We arrived in port angeles with much anticipation because i had a sleeping bag sent there. a new sleeping bag. my first one in 23 years. we went to the post office first office first off figuring we could grab the sleeping bag look around town and be on the road again later in the day. Well of course the sleeping bag hadn't arrived yet, so we waited an extra day. viola it was there the next morning when we arrived so we got of town and road toward the olympic national park where we knew there were hot springs awaiting. It was an easy 10 mile ride to the entrance of the park, and then a difficult 8 mile ride in to the hot springs - straight up the mountain. about 3/4 of the way up gretchen passed me in a van. She had some bike troubles down below and was coming to collect me. Well the troubles were somewhat fixable (i had to pound the dropout closed with a large rock) and we got back on the road up to the hot springs (which in the end turned out to be delightful) just the thing we needed after a long long climb straight up. then a 2.5 mile walk (again straight up) to the springs. we then had a great ride down the mountain to the park entrance where we caught the bus back to lovely port angeles (again) to have more exacting repairs done to gretchen's bike. now it's saturday of labor day weekend we are on our way to the farmers market to do some busking and then hopefully leave this town behind (again). They say it's been unseasonably rainy here, but were not sure if they tell that to all the tourists to get them to come back (after all there is a rainforest in olympic national park).

first days and rest days

The ferry that we took from Seattle to Bainbridge Island was packed with bikes, all commuting home from work. A great fleet took on the empty car deck and hurried to fill the handrails with their bikes. At first all we could see was nice new bikes, fancy and shiny--but we soon realized our bikes were among the few more humble (and far less stealable) rides on the ferry. Once off the boat in the first little tourist town we stopped for a snack. The ride from our friend's house to the ferry dock in Seattle was probably 5 traffic-filled miles, and we were hungry. This hunger has been a guiding feature of the last few days.

After our snack we set out to put some distance on before the sun went down. We crossed the bridge off the island and set about finding a place to sleep in the dense forest by the road. Day two we put more miles behind us, and our legs were weary from the training on the road--there was a very long and windy bridge, then an intense hill, then it was a pleasant rural road with glimpses of the sound. We ate overlooking a resort marina (rice a roni) and again found a little place to camp.

Day 3 would lead us to Port Townsend, and being that we had someone to visit (and on account of our tired legs) we decided to take a day off. The morning was clear but soon rain came on, and we pulled into PT damp and ready to warm up with some coffee. Mmmmm, coffee. Meandering around the town we happen upon a fiddle jam so sat in for a few (which earned us $1 pints of beer) and met a nice man that let us camp in his yard. He is a bike enthusiast and has been around the peninsula extensively so sat us down with some maps and gave some much-appreciated advice. Also, he gave us some maps and his wife made us some cookies!

Our full rest day we did some busking (street performance for tips) and made a little dough, enough to cover a few bike repairs that Matt had done. The mechanic told him that his bike was a late 60's model Raleigh--pretty much all original! That night we crashed with friends-of-friends and saw again pals we met at the music fest in Centralia. Sweet, sweet people!

Today we ride again, two day to Port Angeles to meet up with the sleeping bag. It is fabulously clear and a little windy. The rain ahead will be a challenge, but with ever-strengthening legs I think that soon we'll be soaring over the road, regardless of the rain.

the beginning!

Today is the day we start biking! We will take a ferry from downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island and proceed to Port Townsend. This is the very northeast of the Olympic Peninsula, a large body of land that contains Olympic National Park. The plan is to bike across the top of the peninsula then go south along the shore, skirting the park. From there we will proceed to Portland, then points south.

The biggest holdup, strangely, has been finding a new sleeping bag for Matt. One requirement is that it must zip together with my bag to create one big bag--a rather common thing. BUT it seems that this has been a popular year for sleeping bags. Perhaps the high gas prices have caused people to vacation on the cheap and camp out, or perhaps the surging interest in protecting the environment means people want to get out and appreciate nature. Whatever the reason Seattle is sold out of bags! Our course of last resort was to order one online that we will meet in Port Angeles, on the peninsula! We'll suffer a few cold nights but then all will be peachy on that front. (Cross your fingers!)

centralia old time campout

Friday night we drove away and left a full moon drenched field behind us.  Everywhere was music and dancing.  Our new pals from Seattle were kind enough to let us ride down with them and their angel-dog Pixie to Centralia, WA where there is a 10 day old time gathering (old time is the pre-radio style of American string band music, quite diverse).  The campout is located in a field at a sheep farm and has a cold running stream at one edge, plus modern toilets and showers (solar powered) and a nice cookstove set up for anyone to use.  The latter was great for us because the car was filled to the brim--no room for cooking equipment on top of the instruments and camping gear.  

Shout Lulu is a band based in Fayetteville, AR and Matt has known the fiddler through the midwest festival circuit for a few years now.  His bandmates are fairly recent transplants from Seattle and we got to know them a bit at this year's festival in West Plains, MO.  Luckily they gave us the name and number of some Seattle folk that host a bimonthly square dance and the rest is history!  New friends made.

I am traveling with a banjo-ukulele.  It is nice and small for easy packing and has a good sweet sound.  Matt plays the fiddle and dances.  So far we played once in the town of Vashon here on the island--made a few dollars plus a cookie, and spent it all at the farmer's market.  The plan is to play along the way and make a little pocket (read: beer) money.  Take some pressure off the ol' debit card.  

The number one activity at the campout was jamming.  This is simply the getting together of musicians and playing together.  For me it is a little stressful to just jump in as I have a hard time figuring out what to play--but as they say practice makes perfect.  I'm happy to report it was my most successful time at it thus far.  Whew!

bikes ahoy!

We have our frames and are hard at work getting them ready to go.  Each are old road bikes from the 70's, solidly constructed and cheap to buy.   I'll get some pix up soon.  Mine is an old Motobecane and M's is a Raleigh.  There is a small bike shop on the island that has been immensely helpful in giving advice and getting parts.  Yesterday we bought grip tape and mine is racy black and red.  Yow!  It will go well with my bike shorts and gloves.  Tough!

to cartierland and back again

Fifteen hours was all it took us to travel to the family reunion in Santa Rosa, CA!  Our route was along hwy 5 through central California and so it wasn't a preview of our upcoming bike adventure like I was hoping.  It would have taken us many more hours by the coast roads, but fortunately there was plenty of beauty still to be viewed.  Especially noteworthy was the Mt. Shasta area, quite dramatic.  My love of ruins was satisfied by the trip--many decaying resorts lined our route, including an abandoned water park!  

The reunion was fun--total headcount was 65!  By the end I had finally gotten all of the aunts and uncles straight, but the rest are still a little hazy.  Matt's dad has 8 brothers and sisters that live all over the world.  The farthest travelled were from Zimbabwe!  We gathered in that particular spot because of a cousin that runs a winery, a rather large operation called Clos de Bois.  Of course we had a lovely behind-the-scenes tour--in two weeks or so the first of the grapes will be ripe and the facility will be in full swing.  I would love to see that action!  40 of us also went on a tour bus to 3 other wineries.  The grape yards are lush and full of ripe fruit.  The house we stayed at was right along the Russian River and came with kayaks for leisurely paddling--a nice option to visit one of the other 3 houses that the family rented.  I should be able to post some photos soon.

wild edible fruit

Vashon is rainforest.  Cool and wet lushness.  Walking the wide shoulders on the island Matt and I are amazed...giant trees!  ant colony!  mule deer!  towering thistles!  The most amazing, as you may have guessed, are the bountiful edible fruiting plants that occur in the wild.  Blackberry is the most prevalent and it lines the roads.  Their fruits are probably a week from ripening which will coincide perfectly with our return from California.  Currently ripe are the WILD BLACK CHERRIES that we found strolling back from the coffee shop. 

The roasterie is the original Seattle's Best Coffee and is constantly smelling of burnt toasty coffee roasting.  Loud popping happens when the beans are cooling in the big open topped drum.  It's a nice atmosphere in which to read the paper.  The 'local' big news of the moment is that Starfucks is cutting 1000 jobs and closing hundreds of stores.  Poor thing!  

Walking back from the shop one day I was mildly excited to see some fruit debris on the pavement, "mulberries!", I exclaimed.  Looking up my excitement multiplied in a second as towering above us was a Giant tree loaded with black cherries.  At the peak of ripeness too, tho the low hanging fruit was rare and picked.  This massive tree is around 5 ft in diameter and probably 50 ft tall.  Matt climbed up to get a few more handfulls of fruit--but still most of it was out of reach.  Today, tho, we will return to score more after rigging up a pole picker.  Yum!

Two other varieties of cherries have presented themselves to us.  One was a small red variety, sweet, but no match for the black ones.  The other variety was a tart pie cherry we sampled then moved along down the road.  Amazing.  

Having lots of free time is a mixed blessing.  My hobbies have dropped off in the last years as work and fixing the house dominated my time.  What do I like to do?  The main diversion for now is playing music, I on the banjo-ukulele and Matt on the fiddle.  My uke is small for travel and is a nice sounding instrument.  I play back up rhythm to his melodies.  I also like to read.  For the upcoming family reunion (Cartier) in California we're having a 'book club' and reading a young adult novel, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.   What else...can't garden and travel...can juggle...can't go to various meetings...can go to museums.  It is nice to have a writing outlet as this too has dropped off since school.