When I was 10, I hopped on my stingray bicycle and rode off into the Indiana countryside... Fast forward 64 years... Trudy and I are sitting at a picnic table somewhere near Missoula on our honeymoon bike tour, talking about the next ride.
Across the country! When I retire...
But then, I delayed retiring for three months, which would land us in the Midwest in September and on the east coast in time for hurricane season!
So, we decided to travel north to south instead. Adventure Cycling Association has a set of maps called the Sierra Cascade route which sort of follows the Pacific Crest Trail route, except on roads!
It's about 2400 miles from Canada to Mexico.
This is the pile of stuff to sort and pack for a two month bike trip. We sent two boxes of fresh supplies ahead to be picked up 1/3 and 2/3s of the way... We couldn't quite imagine wearing the same bike clothes the whole way!
Grass Valley to Rocklin for a rental car, Rocklin to Livingston, WA - 16 hours...
As we drove north, we first encountered the hazy, smokey skies from the wild fires near Clear Lake. Then, the fires in the Shasta-Trinity area. The air finally cleared as we passed Medford, Oregon. But, as we neared Salem, there were 3-4 more fires burning.
We stopped to eat when we crossed into Washington, then called to get a hotel room in Bellingham... 18 calls later, we found a room, the last room available, 1 hour south of Bellingham! We checked in at the stroke of midnight.
The next morning, we had to return the rental car by 9 so we could get on the road to Sumas, WA to begin our ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment