Blogs from Washington, United States, North America - page 197

I was very sore after the passes of death, so I figured 50 miles to Ione in one day would be a bit of a rest. The map was deceptive again. There were hills then went up and down all day. It took forever to get anywhere and with my legs not recovered, it was slow going. I made Ione in about 7 hours of riding not feeling any more rested. When people find out the route that I had traveled, most locals area aghast. THe most common reactions are "Why did you go that route?! 40 miles south there are passes you would hardly notice" and "You climbed Sherman pass? Did you know that is the highest pass in the state? YOu should have gone around that". I am considering somer serious deviations from the ... read more

I went with Wolf to a local tavern, about 10 miles away in Fall City, the other night. It was full of bikers and rednecks and the decor was a little higglede pigglede which all added to the ambience. It was actually quite a nice place with nice people. I got asked for ID when I ordered, you are supposed to carry it at all times, I was quite surprised as I havent been asked for ID since I was 17. We got a couple of pints of a locally brewed pale ale, which was quite nice, for $7.50. It's cheap over here. We then adjourned to the back yard so that Wolf could smoke. It has been really warm here for the last few days so it was not a problem. In the yard there ... read more

okay..time to catch up! We stayed at a KOA in Tacoma, about 20 minutes outside of the city. We like it so much in Seattle that we decided to stay 2 nights. We went down to the Public Market....it is so cool there! They had beautiful flowers for sale, different types of flea market goods as well as produce stands and of course, the fish markets..... we were hungry, so we got these HUGE peaches, they were called, "Oh my god" peaches...after I took my first bite, I knew why. They were sooo juicy...it is the best peach I ever had...the only time I ate everything but the pit! I will say it was kind of gross though, eating a peach while the air reeked of fish! We decided to eat them out in the fresh ... read more

We camped at Mt. Ranier on Weds night...we got into the campgrounds at about 7pm. We did the "primitive" camping for the night, no showers!! We didn't have much with us, so we improvised...we set up the tent, then we collected fire wood (shhh you're not supposed to!) and Jared made a fire. We ate peanut butter sandwiches by the fire and then watched a slide show form Jared's bike trip. We got up early and went for a short hike. We walked across some huge logs (over running water)...not being the balance queen, I was hesitant at first. After overcoming my fear (it was fairly short lived) I followed Jared across the logs. We walked around for a while, then took down the tent and headed up to the mountain. We stopped at the Information ... read more

Starting out near anacortes. I decided to start about 5 or so miles from the original start point because of a narrow bridge full of trucks I didn't want to go over in the dark or early morning. Still started on the coast at baybridge. I have a lot of stuff. 2 panniers and a trailer. Climbing up from sea level was a challenge in the rain. I made it to mile marker 104, so I probably traveled about 95-100 miles today. I had a close encounter with a truck which bent my rear axle and scuffed up my knee. The bent axle made climbing more challenging than it needed to be, but I didn't really notice it until after I had stopped for lunch. Anyway, tommorow is the real climbing day.... read more