South of the 49th

A Farewell to Justin and Cold Weather-Warm Hearts

Hi Everyone, Lucas here again, hoping all is well and fine out there.  I hope your staying warm, we are for the most part.  For our American readers its about 17F right now, and for our Canadian friends, it is -10.  However you want to put it, it is darn cold out there.

There are two recent blog posts that i do not want to bury with this post so please read Steve's Blog and Chris' Blog

I have a lot to catch you up on though so I won’t waste too much time.  My camera has broke, so unfortunately no pictures which is too bad cause I really would love to show you some of the things we have seen, it has been quite amazing.  Garrett has a camera as well so hopefully he will add some pictures soon.  When cameras are working we take a lot of pictures, and if you are interested in seeing all of them click on the slideshow on our homepage of www.pedalacrosstheamericas.com.

I also have an elaborate post from Chris who left the tour to go home yesterday, about Viera and his time out on Orcas Island.  I will post it with this.  Also please check out the last blog by PEDAL newcomer Steve, who has some interesting thoughts to share with us

The big news right now is that Justin has departed from us.  He left in Victoria, taking a train home from Vancouver to Toronto, and then to the family farm in Sutton Ontario.  He loved every minute of this trip, and wished he could see more, but ultimately, he is weary from travelling such a long time, and probably most importantly, wants to keep his amazing family farm going up in Sutton.  He will still be working on this project,  which wouldnt be where it is at without him.  We all wish Justin so much luck and are going to miss him so very much!

Another fairly important sidenote: we made it across the Straight relatively easy.  We left Victoria, BC, Canada, on a cold and rainy morning, taking the motliest ferry across the straight and arriving Port Angeles, WA, USA, in slightly warmer, dryer weather.

The old boat pitched and rolled like an old sea schooner, and when I reached  customs on the other side I was living green in more ways then one.

We got there early in the afternoon so we had a little time to explore the city and try a little compare and contrast of the United States and Canada.  As far as I could tell, very little had changed from where we stood and the similar sized communities just north of the 49th.

That night we enjoyed our host Lorie, and her nice house with a great fireplace.  We got dried out and other than a sick night for Steve, we had a great night, and were happy to wake up warm and with nicer weather coming in.

That day we rode to Sequim and Quilcene, the group splitting apart on  misunderstanding.  We had our first glimpse of the Olympic National Park, in all its snow-capped wonder.

Steve, Chris and I ended up waiting in Sequim to have lunch with Kristi and Garrett.  We had taken this beautiful back trail all along the straight and through amazing rainforest valleys.  Unfortunately we got a little mixed up and found out Kristi and Garrett had taken the famous 101 highway down to Quilcene and had passed us right by.

So the three of us bunked the night in Sequim, though it was quite the nightmare to find a place to stay.  While Viera stayed in Port Angeles and Kristi and Garrett ahead in Quilcene at a church.

The next day we rode to Quilcene and met back up with Kristi and Garrett.  It was our first day on the 101 and despite the lousy weather, we saw some amazing seaside scenery courtesy of the inlet we were following south.  The road followed so close to the ocean that you could spray it with your water bottle should you feel so inclined.  It was an interesting thought to have pacific ocean to the East of us, but if you regard a map you will notice the inlet makes its way south off of the Juan de Fuca Straight.

That night we stayed with a couple in Kristi, Garrett and I stayed with a couple in Quilcene named Todd and Vivvian, while the others stayed at Serendipity farms with Chris, who I am told made great Pesto sauce.  Kristi Garrett and I enjoyed amazing homemade bread, a large pot of soup, and a warm fire place that I nested up to and embraced overnight after the cold day.

The next day we rode through Olympic National Park and saw our first real taste of snow sticking to the sides of the road.  We nervously made our way up to the summit and then cautiously (but not too cautiously) made our way down the other side.  We still followed the coast and the majestic 101 through many seaside communities advertising clams, oysters and other local seafood.  I will have to make a point of trying some west coast seafood sometime soon, and Steve and I have been talking about figuring out how we can fish in a few places soon.

That night we stayed in Shelton with Allan and Donna, a warmshowers.org connection.  They made us a big dish of spaghetti and showed us their amazing house and pictures of their cross country adventure, where they rode with their son on a tandem bike.

The next day we were up early and on our way down to Longview for the night.  The morning started out beautiful for riding and lasted that way for all of 45 minuters before it started snowing on us.  It was the really light, calm, Hollywood Christmas like snow, the nice kind that puts a smile on your face and brings back memories of childhood.   Once again that lasted for about 45 minutes before the snow decided to really start falling on us.  Between the weather and the most complicated and frustrating detour routes for cyclists I have encountered yet, we all got separated and ended up in different places for the night. 

Chris and I ended up making it just north of Longview well after dark, to find Steve had got their ahead of us.  We stayed with a man named Charlie, who was possibly the kindest person I have ever met.  He did everything you could think of and more for us, and Steve and I ended up becoming quite good friends with us.

He owns an RV park called Toutle River RV, and if you are ever in the area, I recommend camping there because it would be one of the best times a family could share.

We ended up staying a few days with him, I came down with flu like symptoms for a few days and had some knee trouble.... plus it was nice to not ride in the 6 inches of snow on the roads.

  He took us down to Portland to share Thanksgiving with his family, and we had so much fun with him that we plan to meet up again after the trip.

Steve and I are a little behind the rest of the group, so we are taking the night train down to Eugene to meet up with the group as we speak.  I have some tough decisions to make about travelling regarding my knee, which is scaring me a little.

We will be getting into Aprovecho on Monday or Tuesday which is exciting for everyone.  We will most likely be staying for a week, and I am really excited to find out what they are doing and document it.

Thanks for reading and sorry again for the delay.  Please read the other two posts (one by Steve, the other by Chris).  And as a side note on Chris, he returned home to Vancouver after his two weeks with the group.

After all the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,

We ourselves  flash and yearn.

Lucas and the PEDAL team.

And one final note: because my camera broke, I am unable to post pictures of our trip at this time, however I really want to show you some cool pictures.... so the first five people to email info@pedalacrosstheamericas.com and tell me their address I will send a nice postcard to telling you of some of our awesome adventures.  Please respond, thanks, Lucas.