now for something COMPLETELY different

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Who knew that one could ride out of one's driveway in Vancouver, BC in the morning and be in Bellingham, Washington in time for 3 o'clock tea? Well, that was DAY 1 of the great cycling journey to San Francisco.

I arrived back in Vancouver on Wednesday (from Thailand) and we started riding on Sunday morning. So basically I had time to unpack, do laundry, eat and sleep a lot, get bike road-ready, re-pack and go.

As anyone who has been following my blogs already knows, I have not been doing much (okay, any) training over the last few months. Rather, I was jetting about Southeast Asia on a motorbike for the past several weeks. As such, I am feeling a wee bit beat after a 70 mile + day yesterday.

I am currently travelling with Derek, a fellow from Seattle, and my sister, Lisa. We have a support vehicle that we are taking turns driving. It is the driver's responsibility to find groceries and take care of meals and errands required each day.

South of Bellingham we headed for the islands and peninsulas west of Seattle. The stunning route has mostly followed the ocean and we've had lots of beautiful sunshine.

We have been camping in state parks for $19 per night, $0.50 per 3-minute hot shower. Caloric demands are going up noticeably. Included in my jobs as driver today will be to locate some rich foods to fill our hungry bellies and find our 4th rider, Bryan from Seattle, somewhere on route.

We expect it will take us approximately 18 days total to get to San Francisco. Although I have done scads of camping in my time, I don't think I have ever been camping for 18 days at a stretch, nor have I ever knocked back 1500 or so kilometres on a bicycle. This is definitely going to be interesting.

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Photos

Laura with Princess
Laura at Larrabee State Park a few miles south of Bellingham

tidal flats
Bay View

Deception Pass
Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island

Lisa and Derek
Fort Casey State Park, Whidbey Island

beach with Olympics in background
Fort Casey State Park, Whidbey Island

Comments

[Shannon]

Whewwww hoooooo! You GO girls!
Laura n Lisa, you ladies Rock and are my inspiration this summer. Keep up the updates. Happy trails, ox.

[Anna]

wine
Good to see you're packing the critical stuff!!! Hope the wine tasted great. Pedal hard!!!