Day 6: Seattle, WA - Frankfurt, Germany

9400KM // 9h30m // 1000km/hr ???

Wednesday August 13th

You never know what you're going to find in a strangers home...

Brian, our WarmShowers host, loads the bikes onto the back of his car. We're headed to Performance Cycles to pack up our bikes boxes. The store opens at 10AM, the van cab picks us up at 10:45AM. Timing is tight!!

The Performance Cycles parking lot. Let the chaos begin!! Thankfully there was coffee. Front wheels and racks had to come off to fit it all in. 

Hurray!! It was touch and go, but the bikes made it in the box.

Wheeling the boxes into SEATAC.

Our airplane, loading up. The bikes made it aboard, and so did we!

The chaos ensues on the other side. 

One hour later and things are looking much better.

We cycling from Frankfurt airport to our Hostel, Hotel Meininger. Thankfully, there are lots of bike paths, in fact, too many. We caught our first glimpses on The Rhine. 

Hotel Meininger, the epitome of German functional design?

This is the look of a jet-lagged Madalene. We fell asleep quickly after getting all of our bags into the room. A couple hours later we emerged to find food. We discovered a grocery store, including yogurt and muesli. 

Frankfurt Sunset. There is a lot of construction in this city. A merger of old and new. The area around our hotel reminds me of the Olympic Village about a year before the Olympics arrived. 

Day 5: Washington, Salt Water State Park - WarmShowers Host Seattle

40KM // ?? // ??
Tuesday August 13th

What can I say about sleeping under the flight path of a busy airport like SEATAC? Sure, there are quiet moments, somewhere between 3-4 am outside that there is at least 1 flight every 10 mins, and starting at 6:30 am...every three minutes!!!. Packed up fast and moved to the beach for breakfast when it was light enough. Sadly, the meal was soured by our recollection of the hills waiting for us immediately outside the campsite (turns out things seem worse in the dark). We meandered to REI and Performance Cycles on the Green River Trail (one can only meander on this trail... direct is not an option). First, we exchanged our camping chairs at REI for a quick dry towel and cycling shoes. Second, we confirmed Performance Cycles had some boxes for us. Third, we visited US Postal to send home yet more items! Axed were: 2 tent pegs, 2 tires, a knife, maps, some cutlery, and a cheese grater. Approximately 5 lbs dropped! We were glad to lose some weight, but later learned that Condor Air would actually allow us more lbs than expected. Somehow 5:30PM appeared, and we headed for our Warm Showers host. Of course, we were headed to top of the largest hill around, and everything would be confusingly labelled. We arrived an hour late due to navigational challenges, but found a cold beer and happy chickens awaiting us. Our lovely host Brian prepared us a dinner with ingredients from the garden, and promised eggs from Whitey and Blackey in the morning. Rebecca came bouncing into the house, entertaining us with her quick wit and her DIY attempt to reconnect a washer left undone by the plumber....great food, great hosts...amazing first warm showers experience (As was sleeping in a quiet B-E-D (i.e. not a tent in close proximity to jet engines.)

Whitey and Blackey!

Forget warm showers, bring on the delicious tomatoes

Day 4: Washington, Port Townsend State Park- Washington, Salt Water State Park

78.24KM // 4h46m // 16.41KM/HR
Monday August 12th

Making good on our vows the evening before, we got up early, an unprecedented 7am, and carried out our 'cheating bus plan'. See, the road ahead didn't sound very appealing, featuring a long traffic-heavy bridge, and narrow twisty roads with little or no shoulder, and we wanted to get to Seattle (now that I think back, I'm not sure why we were in such a hurry). So, we jumped on Jefferson Country transit, and for a mere $1.50 each, were whisked 50km down to road to Poulsbo, WA. Umm, in our haste, we may have forgotten our clothesline and bungie cord. I hope someone somewhere is enjoying said items. From Poulsbo we cycled 15km and jumped aboard another ferry that took us directly to downtown Seattle (for free!!). The plan was to go to the HI hostel in Seattle, and then sightsee a bit in the afternoon and tomorrow (the Underground Tour, Flight Museum, etc). This plan was foiled when we learned what the hostel was charging: $40 per person! For a hostel?! Umm, no. Plan B, we looked for somewhere to store the panniers and lock up the bikes so we could still sight see, but then return to a campsite for the evening. For example, a train station or bus station would do nicely. I dont know if it's a post 9-11 thing, but there are no lockers to be found in Seattle. Quickly running out of daylight hours, we gave up, and headed for the nearest camping, Salt Water State Park, approximately 30km south of Seattle. Of course, this would take us through Seattle's version of highway snakes and ladders, and require us to climb a silly hill for 45 minutes, only to come hurtling down the other side. En route we stopped at REI, only to discover they had no bike boxes for us. More to figure out tomorrow! Did I mention "We're living the deam" ? To top it off, we ended up eating Burger King for dinner. Nuff said.

Poppet and Tatonka, riding in style on Jefferson County Transit from Port Townsend to Poulsbo, WA.

Coming up with Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D, courtesy of Starbucks Wifi.

Saltwater State Park, otherwise known as airplane alley.

Day 3: Washington, Deception Pass State Park - Washington, Fort Townsend State Park

58KM // 3h00m // 19KM/HR
Sunday August 11th

We woke to the pitter patter of rain on the tent, and thought it might be a day of reading and listening to the radio. But, around 11AM the rain stopped and everything started to dry out. We pondered staying put, but then though.. why not roll down the road a bit and see where it takes us. As it happens, the road took us up and down, up and down, upppppppppp and down. From behind me I hear a whimpering voice "Why does it have to go up and down..." Good question. For the record: Whidbey Island = Rolling Hills. At the southern tip of the island we jumped on a short ferry to Port Townsend. Aboard we met three super friendly Washington folks (actually, everyone in WA has been very friendly) who suggested different camping sites between P.T. and Seattle. On the other side, by the time we'd picked up groceries from Safeway, had a look for wifi, and talked to the local bike shop owner, it was getting late into the day. We took the first campsite outside of P.T. Here we met and chatted with Roxanne, another cycle tourist from Victoria, BC, planning on making cycle touring a lifestyle. Go for it! But maybe winter in Spain, or Greece, or Turkey? We called it an early night, with plans to get an early start.

The glamourous life of a cycle tourist. Waiting out the rain in the tent, everything crammed in vestibules.

Jenn stretching, as instructed by Kath

Downtown Fort Townsend. 

If cycle touring gets old, there's always sailing around the world in a catamaran. Not too shabby, but perhaps more $$$.

Day 2: Washington, Larrabee State Park - Washington, Deception Pass State Park

73.0KM // 4h08m // 17.6KM/HR
Saturday August 10th

We have all the time in the world to get to Seattle! But how to celebrate? I know, spend two hours packing 4 panniers gram by gram for perfect balance before leaving camp. Then, once you've started cycling.... stop... every 5 km, or 2km, for blackberries, bathroom breaks, apples off the tree, mailboxes that clearly need to be posed next, or on top off... etc. Following that, visit Safeway for delicious treats that cover all the important bases: ice cream, chocolate, and beer. Despite these celebrations we somehow we found our way to Anacortes for lunch (actually consumed around dinner time) and Deception Pass for a beautiful sunset. We may have cycled up the steepest most unnecessary hill on our way out of Anacortes... hard to say. Highly motivated, we started the important process of dumping unnecessary items: tweezers, wooden spoon, and pot scraper. Sure, I realize none of these items are particularly heavy, but its the thought that counts, right? Or, does that only apply to gift giving? Today, both bikes fully loaded weighed 101 lbs. Yikes.

Weighing of the panniers... The bikes fully loaded weighed in at 101 lbs.

Jenn presides over the dish washing area with jazz hands

Jenn and Tatonka ready to ride.

Discovering fresh eggs along the road on the way to Anacortes. They're different sizes and colours! 

Clearly this mailbox gets extra attention from cycle tourists.

Madalene riding along the bike path into Anacortes

Lunch in Anacortes. 

Approaching Deception Pass, WA

Madalene is smiling because the campsite is just around the corner.

Waiting for the sunset at Deception Pass State Park

Zombies sharing the beach with us.

Beautiful sunset #2, Deception Pass State Park

Day 1: Vancouver (Kath's House)- Washington, Larrabee State Park

Day 1, Friday August 9th
71.66KM // 3h47m // 18.9KM/HR

We left home at a leirsurely 11AM, waved off by Kath.

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It was a exceedingly short cycle to the Commercial SkyTrain station where we hopped on Expo Line, King George (I can still hear her voice) and trained/bussed to White Rock (cheating? maybe, meh!)

Waiting for a bus to White Rock

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Ikea bags for the win, those $1 wonders make transporting 4 panniers and other odds and ends onto a bus a somewhat less painful experience (but still painful)

We rode across the border at Peace Arch and received precisely zero attention from homeland security. We lunched in Blaine before proceeding to get lost trying to find Ferndale and an equally peaceful path through to Bellingham. 

Eventually we found Chuckanut Drive and made our way to Larrabee State Park.

Somehow I forgot what Kevin and I learned previously about this park: an extremely close, loud, and active railway run straights through it. Consider yourself warned. Lets just say ear plugs were no match. Overall, a great start to the trip, waved on, whistled on, and cheered on by random friendly strangers.

Sunset at Larrabee State Park

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High fashion cycle touring...