day 11: willapa bay koa (washington) to astoria (oregon!!)

2:40am wakeup call from hunger and  having to pee!

5:40am wakeup call from hunger and  having to peepoop! 

stayed up till 6:45am and finally fell back asleep until my alarm went off at 6:58. went back to sleep for another 20 minutes before finally crawling out of the tent, groggy.

i feel like a GIANT baby with bodily demands i have to take care of myself. no crying to get mom or dad to come change my diaper or put food directly into my mouth. that's what this trip has done to me - it's reduced me to baby status. 

let's just say today has been an incredibly slow. i've been super sleepy and low energy. last night's dinner was healthy, but we had little to no protein in our meal and we really felt the effects of that. 

we left the koa site and pedaled our way down the bay. we had a decision point about 15 miles in to either take the long scenic route or cut through hwy 4 to reach astoria (final destination), 11 miles quicker. 

(these signs always = FUN!!!) 

even though we were both tired, we turned right and decided to take the longer route. about 200 meters in, while battling the light headwind in that short distance, i stopped and said to samuel, "i don't want to ride through headwind all the way. i'm way more tired than i thought." he agreed and we decided to turn around. 

instantly, my spirit was lifted and i felt HAPPY to be going in the "right" direction. we were thrilled to reach our destination sooner than we expected. 

good thing because i "lost it" for a few miles after that. i could not stop laughing and that always affects my motor skills. (when i start laughing uncontrollably, it means i'm past the point of exhaustion. it happens everytime when i backpack.) it didn't help either that i made up a particularly hilarious game where i'd make up a scenario and samuel had to play it out. ie. i'd say: "arnold schwarzenegger can't carry his grocery bags" and samuel would make up some dialogue using the associated accent. this game doesn't sound as funny as i type it out.)

anyway, to celebrate our decision, we stopped for lunch at the intersection of hwy 4 and 401 at the rocket diner to eat a club sandwich and salad (and milkshake).

after the diner stop, samuel yelped with pain. the back of his right knee's been hurting for the last day or so, but this time he experienced sharp pain. yikes!!! i massaged his leg a bit, and found some major hot spots in his calves. he pedaled mostly with his left leg the rest of the way to give his right leg a break. i'm a little worried that his really tight atb, hamstrings, and calves are all pulling at his knee. i know that some pain you can just work through, but acute pain can be more serious. mmmmm.... :-/ any thoughts? 

even with his back of the knee issue, samuel did exceptionally well riding across the astoria-megler bridge propelled by his left leg - what a rush!  

(notice the bridge goes uphill?!)

we finished our 38 mile day with happy hour at a sushi joint and by checking into the norblad hotel/hostel. it was cheaper than most other places (~$70/night), smack in the downtown area, and super clean. it looked perfect for two nights of relaxing. (we are taking tomorrow off to rest.)

(there's a sink in our room with shared toilets and showers down the hall.)

(drying out my washed clothes) 

i fell asleep almost immediately on accident, then woke up dazed, ready for a shower and 2nd dinner. took a shower and walked across the block, to a small (but pricey) co-op to buy groceries for a giant salad, loaded with tofu, avocado, olives, and sardines (to name a few ingredients my friend torea suggested we eat to get more healthy fats and protein input.)

we ate and then almost immediately fell asleep again. (notice the theme?) i slept until 1:52am, woke up used the bathroom, brushed my teeth and fell asleep again.

sleep sleep sleep. this is my medicine. 

i am so grateful for a comfy bed with a large window next to it that let's in just the right amount of cool breeze to refresh my sun-kissed skin. good night! 

day 10: twin harbors state park to (awesome) koa on the willapa bay

my belly is full and i'm sitting overlooking the ocean. the sky is cloudy but i get peeks of the neon orange sun sinking into the night. it's slightly cold, but i have a lot of clothes on to keep me warm. my fingers are moving a bit slower than usual. 

we got in before 5pm today after cycling 51 miles, the earliest we've arrived at our destination. i literally dropped my bike and ran into the koa office and desperately said, "i want to pay for a site, but i need to pee so bad! where is your bathroom?" she gave me the code and told me it was around the building. i had held it in for at least 30 minutes in "i have to pee bad" status. how? i have no idea. this bike ride is developing super muscles down south or something.

we arrived 2.5 hours earlier to camp than most days, so we got to dilly dally a bit!! who knew the koa sites were so great?! i totally thought it was this luxury campsite for rv's. well it is, compared to the state parks: hot water! free showers! clean bathroom! nice reception! ice cream! dishwashing soap and dishwashing area! laundry! coffee in the morning! i want to live here. it is awesome. we used all of the amenities and then went to watch the sunset, to blog (me) and read (he). what a different pace.

(tortilla filled with cous cous, veggies and avocado.)

the pace mirrors this morning when we started our ride before the small towns had a chance to wake up (bright and early at 9am). we rode along the mud flats on mostly empty roads. it was overcast and quiet and such a contrast to yesterday. it was actually peaceful. 

we stopped after 30 miles to have lunch and charge our phones, which led to a stop at mcdonalds to get some iced coffee. and then....a bike path!!! it was only a few miles long, but we got a kick out of a special lane made just for us. :-)  (oh, and just a few miles down the hwy, we stopped again for local oysters. thankfully samuel doesn't like them, so i had half a dozen all to myself!) 

we cycled a while with some head wind, then that head wind grew, and eventually the head wind blasted us into our past during the last stretch. oddly enough, it was so beautiful as the tide rolled in, that i didn't mind it very much...(until i needed to pee). 

gosh, i am so grateful for the energy to ride and the great facilities at the koa. the lady who welcomed us made me feel like i had come home. what a pleasant feeling to have in the middle of nowhere!

tomorrow is our last day in washington before we arrive in oregon!

day 9: potlatch state park to twin harbors state park

ever have the experience of looking at yourself in the mirror and being frightened? 

it happens to me on the daily, several times a day. so i took a picture to show you what a gas station clerk sees everytime i ask them, "may i use your bathroom?" 

i'm getting dark. my hair up top usually looks a little wackadoodle, and i'm often shiny with the perfect combo of grease and sweat. 

anyway....here's a pretty picture to erase what you just saw. 

we finally left at a reasonable hour this morning: 9am. this allowed us 7 hours and 52 minutes of cycling today and 77.5 miles of distance. most of those miles were spent in headwind, on bumpy asphalt, uphill, on the highway with really fast cars, avoiding broken glass or some combination of some or all of those scenarios. no joke. it was THE hardest day we've had, and our book should not have called it a "M-Medium" difficulty day. it was hands down a "DD-Demandingly Difficult" day. ok, i exaggerate, but only by a little. 

i'm going to talk in extremes because it makes me feel better, so bare with me. 

today made me hate the state of washington. okay fine. maybe not the entire state, but certainly the section we painfully made our way through. the bumpy highway was tolerable at first. then coupled with an uphill and tight shoulder made it more challenging, but it was still early in the day and i was okay with it. (i wasn't singing hakuna matata yet.) 

(the left is the bumpy asphalt, the right side is awesome sauce.) 

then take away the bumpy asphalt, but throw us out into the highway with lots of glass with a ton of headwind ... and a bottom that was in PAIN, and i'm not sure how we finished 77.5 miles!! it probably had to do with nutrition. we ate pretty consistently every 1-1.5 hours. burrito, sandwich, banana smothered in pb and honey, wrapped in a tortilla, etc split between the two of us. so even though it was a very difficult day, it felt awesome to finish strong emotionally and mentally.

we made it to camp (after a stop at a sausage/cheese joint where we picked up too much food) and sighed in relief, meanwhile being instantly attacked by a thick layer of mosquitos. :-( let me say that we've got our little campsite rhythm down, but we are happy to let that one go for a warm shower and no mosquitos!

anyway, today, samuel told me we were at 394 miles total and that surprising news totally gave me a hit of energy. i rode that as far as i could.

tonight, i'm grateful for a place to sleep, food to eat, and a partner to adventure with. thank god!

day 8: old fort townsend state park to potlatch state park

it's been one week since we started so let's start with stats i'm going to make up on the fly. 

miles cycled: 277 

salami sticks consumed: 2.5

blocks of cheese consumed: 3

# of times we've camped: 5

# of times we've slept on a bed: 3

favorite power drink: chocolate milk

number of conflicts: 1

so... 

64 miles today. dude. i'm so tired. had to pee so freaking bad near the end that samuel covered me with his bike so i could go on the side of the road. then, found out we had 4 more miles to go when i thought we were nearly done. oooooo, that made me so angry. i wanted to be done so bad. the neverending rolling hills were...how do you say, OBNOXIOUS. 

the day didn't start that way though. we were holding hands for short portions and having a doll of a time. we steadily climbed our giant mountain in olympic national park and stopped at quilcene's post office for lunch under a shady tree. you could even describe our ride as romantic. 

hours passed, as well as dozens of hills, and i started singing a very vocally animated rendition of hakuma matata. uh oh. 

"no worries...for the rest of my days?" yeah, i don't think so.

from there, i spiraled down fast. mostly, i felt infuriated that we weren't done and felt like a major victim - i.e. "samuel is making me do this! omg, i really really dislike him right now!" turns out, i was hangry = hungry+angry and he was the only one in sight to feel my wrath. poor thing. we reconciled, but i was not a pretty sight. 

oh, here's something we've learned about washington's state park system: it sucks. hard. they don't take care of their facilities very well, the campsite maps aren't clear, and there are a bajillion mosquitos. (okay, that last one can't be helped. they were sent by the devil himself.) honestly, i am very much looking forward to getting out of this state. we have heard numerous times that oregon has their state park system together! i bet they've eliminated all their mosquitos too. ;-) 

oh! (again.) i also started using, "may i _______?" to ask for stuff from strangers, mostly to use the bathroom. it has worked EVERY time! who would've thought that being polite can get me access to one of the most precious resources on this trip! ha!

tonight, i'm grateful for samuel being kind to me by setting up our tent, blowing up my pad, and getting my sleeping bag out while he let me take a hot shower first. it was such a huge service to me, even though he was just as tired and he had to put up with a grumpy me.

day 7: anacortes to old fort townsend state park

you won't believe it. we turned down a bed and shower for tonight. what??! why? 

kitties. :-( 

I LOVE CATS, but they make my immune system go on overdrive and all i need on overdrive right now are my legs. we lost an hour of daylight going to our warmshowers.org host's house only to realize this kitty issue and the had to cycle 6 miles to the next campsite. but we got here, and it was just us. no one else was here at the hiker/biker site. i've been wanting some alone time with samuel so this was a lovely surprise. plus, i got to play fleetwood mac and dance while chopping up veggies for dinner. ahhhhh, so nice!! 

did i mention we are learning how to eat? for example, today was a bad eating day. super sweet oatmeal with a donut for breakfast = BAD, then a large thai meal for lunch = BAD, and finally chocolate milk and a veggie/tofu wrap for dinner = GOOD. 

the thai food was super tasty, but we ate everything, which means we were biking with really full bellies. instead of just fueling ourselves, we put our muscles and digestive system at war with each other (at least for 20 minutes or so). plus, we spent $33 on lunch, which is a bit steep for a meal on this trip. 

in total, we rode 42 miles today. my favorite visual part? deception pass. the bridge was spectacular, and we got to watch kayakers playing in the current like little paper boats children build and float down the street gutter.

oh yeah! two other notables: 1) i got my first flat! boo. from a staple! how does a rogue staple get on a rural island road? 2) a weathered man on a loaded bike flagged me down and said something to me in what sounded like french. i flagged down samuel and had him speak with him. while they were chatting, i observed him, his bike, his belongings. he looked like he had been out in the sun quite a bit, and his gear looked worn. later, samuel told me that he started his ride in south america and was headed towards alaska. he has been cycling for 5 months and has seen only 5 days of rain (this gave us some hope). he probably has thousands of stories, his body/mind/spirit/heart a well of treasured experiences. i asked samuel if he asked him why he was doing this, but he hadn't asked. i guess i'll only know the stories i make up about this french man. 

i'm sitting inside my tent, under tall trees i don't know how to identify. we had an awesome dinner and i keep nodding off, so good night!

tomorrow, we tackle our longest ascent through olympic national forest. lord, have mercy.

day 6: mcdonald campground (bc, canada) to anacortes (washington, usa)

this. this is what our day was like:

"The theology of progress forces us to act before we are ready. We speak before we know what to say. We respond before we feel the truth of what we know. In the process, we inadvertently create suffering, heaping imprecision upon inaccuracy, until we are all buried under a mountain of misperception. But Sabbath says, Be still. Stop. There is no rush to get to the end, because we are never finished. Take time to rest, and eat, and drink, and be refreshed. And in the gentle rhythm of that refreshment, listen to the sound the heart makes as it speaks the quiet truth of what is needed."

-Wayne Muller

we biked only three miles to sidney, to catch a ferry to friday harbor on san juan island where we biked around the block and decided on a place to eat (again). we rode another 1/2 mile or so and then just sat overlooking the ocean. we were POOPED and decided that it would be a rest day. easy. slow. and restorative. and it was. our bodies and minds were so sluggish, i'm not sure we could've operated any other way. 

getting to san juan island also marks our crossing over to the usa. i was sure it would be climactic when our phone service would change from canada's TELUS to at&t, but it wasn't. at all. actually, i was kind of bummed to leave canada. we were just starting to get acquainted and i was beginning to love the countryside roads and the 360 degree mountain views. it was incredibly peaceful, lush, and lovely, and even though we're still physically quite close to canada, the spirit of the US feels different. and honestly, i think at this point, i prefer canada. it's weird to say that. cedar, on vancouver island, left a particularly strong impression. 

speaking of impressions, on our ferry ride, we saw a lot of cyclists, but met one family who really struck 

me. veronica, charlie, and mylah (7.5 months). they were going on a practice bike camp weekend on san juan island to prepare for their summer 2.5 month ride from vancouver up to whitehorse, alaska. i wish i had taken a picture of them on the ferry, veronica breastfeeding in her bike gear, their stroller/trailer to her left and the beautiful sea behind her.

what stood out to me about them is that i resonated with their belief system: barriers are mental, the simple life is a good one... i just felt a good connection to their sensibility and my heart felt glad to have connected with people of like mind/spirit. 

i've been realizing that we are going to meet some extraordinary people on this journey, and by doing so, our vision & our dreams will expand. i know this because they already have. when people go before us and show us what's possible, we're empowered to think differently, to dream up new possibility. i can dream a little more differently about what i want to do when i'm one day pregnant or have small children. by meeting steph and kevin and now veronica and charlie, i've gotten a glimpse of a way of parenting that doesn't fit the model i had witnessed prior. i'm very grateful that samuel and i got to see it together. 

anyway, after cycling our total 11 miles for the day, we arrived at the gregg household where we were treated to exceptional bowling alley food (no really, it was super tasty), a warm shower, huge cotton towels, washing machine, very friendly dogs, a tour of anacortes, a super soft bed & sheets and just a sense of curiosity and welcome. it was wonderful to be in a home again.

today, i'm grateful for veronica and charlie and the greggs and for rest.