There's something about these shots of open road that gets me

Day 3

Elma to Centralia today. It was so gorgeous! Best ride so far. We followed quiet streets though farmlands and meadows. We had a late start and Kevin's knee hurt for the ride so we took it easy. Picnic for lunch in a field of daisies off of the road. We stopped at one point later on where a path cut off from the main road. It was lined with tall grasses and fairy tale flowers and blackberry bushes, leading up through a dark wet forest until it cleared and dipped down into a perfect still meadow of flowers. I was constantly hungry for the whole day. Were going through Gatorade powder at record speeds. Stopped for cherries by the side of the road, Kevin's lip had a run in with a bee and the bee won- that and his knee made for a quiet, stewing ride for a little bit. When we got into Centralia, we headed straight to the nearest cafe which was a starbucks. It was like an oasis of air conditioning and huge arm chairs. I got a large coffee and obviously I don't speak Starbucks because I got a coffee big enough to take a sponge bath in. I could probably have fit my entire head in the cup. It was a little ridiculous. The campsite we were planning to stay at no longer existed and we didn't have a backup plan or any more daylight so we got a hotel room for the night. 35 miles today. I'm itching to do more but Kevin's knee takes precedence. I just hope it passes and doesn't last for the whole trip. It's probably not a bad idea to take it slow though to start. We still two weeks to go and I'm totally sick. Which means that in a few days, Kevin will probably also be totally sick.

Day 2

I, pre-coffee, scoured maps as Kevin explained thermal dynamics to me. Rode along the water some more until it T-ed with Highway 101. Gorgeous but trafficky. In a little town called Mcreavy, we stumbled upon a county fair and walked around dazed in bike shorts. It's funny passing through Americana as yuppie cyclists, wearing ray-bans, clacking through the supermarket in clip-in shoes, sucking on energy gel. We ended up camping on a lawn in an RV park- all the different forms of "camping" all indiscriminately translate to a little red teepee on maps. But it was actually great. There was another group of cyclists camping there, we were so exhausted from the day that we were thrilled to have a place to cook and sleep, free firewood, a bottle of wine and chili and I was asleep 3 minutes after getting in the tent. It feels so good to be exhausted in that way- like every pore of the body has been flushed out and cleansed. 50 miles

Bike Trip Day 1

Ever since doing a little impromptu bike trip in Holland two summers ago- from Amsterdam to Brussels, I've wanted to do another one. Simply because it is THE best way to travel. It is the perfect pace to go at so that you can see everything, stumble upon local happenings, farmers markets, music festivals, it is so easy to meet people when traveling on bike because everyone wants to know what the hell you're doing, where you're from and everyone is eager to dish out advice which sometimes is helpful. But almost always nice to receive anyway. Also waking up in the morning from some beautiful campsite knowing that all you have to do that day is bike and eat and find another beautiful campsite is so nice. Food tastes amazing when you're doing so much and the constant activity means that you're almost always hungry. Which for me, is the most wonderful thing in the world. Biking along through sprawling countryside lends itself to so many incredible picnic sites. And the whole body exhaustion of being outside all day everyday, cycling for hours and hours usually results in- for me at least- giddy, slap happy enthusiasm which is better than any high you could pay for. So I planned this trip thinking I have to take advantage of a summer during which I don't have a lease or a job. Finding someone to do it with was difficult so I had no idea what was going to happen about 3 weeks ago, when my friend Kevin gave me a call and said he was getting tickets to Seattle with his bike. Perfect. So here I am.

Day 1. Kevin and I woke up way too early after not nearly enough sleep. I had a sore throat, it was drizzling outside, I blinked some fuzzy contacts into my eyes and started packing my bike up. By the time Kevin and I packed, I was very clearly carrying pretty much everything. Pre-coffee nihilism and dread quickly turned into post-coffee adventure mode and unabashed enthusiasm. Kevin and I bonked our loaded bikes down the staircase of the apartment where we stayed the night before and we took off, riding very precariously through Seattle traffic to our bus stop. We sat on the bus cringing as we watched our bikes sway on the front rack. We got to a port and onto a ferry to Bremerton which- right on a gorgeous lake across from Seattle, should have been really cute. But it was not at all. It was in bumfuck nowhere, filled with a bunch of bumfucks and all of the streets we had to turn on were ridiculously steep and unrelenting. After getting lost every turn we made and battling hills for two hours, we estimated to have gone about... 3 miles. Awesome. Only 997 to go. Eventually, we got on a pretty mellow road in between a gorgeous clear lake and an enchanted Jurassic Park forest until we found a campsite surrounding by mossy trees and a creek and little rays of sunlight coming through the trees making the plants look luminescent. We enjoyed trying to start a fire with wet wood for about 2 hours. A very mentally taxing day but a good start. About 25 miles finally covered.