About a year ago I decided this trip would a great idea. I would bike from Tacoma, WA, where I went to school at the University of Puget Sound, to Minneapolis, MN, where I'm from. If I did it over the summer, I could just fly back to school. Needless to say, the trip didn't happen last summer... it's happening right now! There have been numerous changes for numerous reasons. For starters, the more I talked about the trip, the more people told me Montana and the Dakotas were boring, and that I should change my route. I schemed about going across the Rockies to Yellowstone, then down the Great Divide (a route just east of the Rockies), then across to MO and up to MN. Finally I settled on a route down to San Francisco, CA, across to St. Louis, MO, then up to Minneapolis, MN. I posted on Adventure Cycling Association's website and found Ken, who lives in Arcata, CA and had a month to prove to his coworkers he could bike across the country -- more on that later.
Anyways, last fall I slowly started collecting bike parts. I've already talked a lot about that in previous posts, but the jist is that between fall 2011 and August 2012 I slowly acquired enough parts to build a bike and equipment to camp across the country and money to do it (...sort of... I've budgeted $20 a day at most and would like to spend $10-15).
On August 20th, 2012 -- as planned -- I departed Tacoma for the great unknown. The few days before had been many things if not a great goodbye. I gave my accordion away to a wonderful new pupil named Jennifer, and she ended up staying for the get-together we were having. The get-together sort of became a party, the seven of us staying up until 2 eating, playing cards, smoking pipes, making music, and in general having a good time. I spent Sunday night with Matt. We had a pizza, watched Star Trek, mused about the goings-on of life, and reflected on the past four years of our friendship and what was yet to come. I fell asleep packing, finished at about 9:30 the next morning, and took off.
I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...
Thanks for a great four years, bud.
I managed 52 miles on the first day, which is what I want to average. So that's bad -- let me explain. After biking for a while, your body needs a bit of a break. We have a highly technical term for these: "Rest Days." So if you want to average 50 miles a day, but take a break 1 out of every 7 days, then you have to bike more than 50 miles for those 6 days you don't take a break. For instance, if you bike 60 miles for 6 days, that's 360 miles. If you then take a day off, you've biked 360 miles in 7 days, which gives you an average of 51 miles a day. Got it?
All in all the first day wasn't too exciting. This was probably a good thing, as I was already excited enough just to be leaving for something I'd wanted to do for so long. I was surprised at how nice I was treated when I stopped to ask for water (I'm sure it had nothing to do with my good looks) -- this trend would become a theme throughout the rest of the trip. I'd heard bicyclists were "perceived as nonthreatening," but I'm not sure I expected people to be super nice, either. Perhaps it's a PNW (Pacific Northwest) thing to be a bit detached. In any case, people were nice. I'd gone on 50-mile rides before and this one felt pretty standard, except that it was a bit harder to keep my balance, and people would look at me. They wouldn't look at me funny -- just as if they were saying, "huh. That guy is on a bike. And his stuff is on the bike, too. There goes a guy and his stuff."
I found a great place to sleep in a forest reserve. The sign specifically said, "Area available for non-motorized recreational use." Rice and beans for dinner (the last time I'd make rice, as I found it takes quite a bit of water), and off to bed. Oh also, I spent about 2 hours trying to scare away a bear, only to find it was two squirrels dropping nuts from the tops of trees and storing them for the winter. I guess when you're alone, small animals making loud noises really gets to you. Don't tell anyone.
You don't get something like this by paying for it.
The next few days are mostly a blur and I'm sure I'll forget to mention many things. I remember lots of hills, lots of nervousness about finding places to sleep, and -- despite meeting many cyclists and locals -- feeling quite alone. The first cyclist I met was named Chris. Chris was from Australia, and had biked from coast to coast before. He was back to bike across the Sierra Nevadas, but had to reroute due to some forest fires. Instead, he was going down the coast. He called himself "half of a credit card tourist --" he didn't carry a tent, so was sleeping at motels and hotels, but did carry his own food. I thought that was an interesting combination. On tour, the more expensive part can be the lodging. Even eating at restaurants all the time, one won't spend more than $50/day. In any case, he wasn't weighed down as much as I was (I was later to learn I was weighed down too much), so after about an hour of his company he took off. Here's a picture of his butt:
Bye, Chris!
I also met Alex and Trina from the San Juan Islands who were biking from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco, CA. I had arrived in a small-ish city around lunch time. While looking for a grocery store, I encountered a Subway. I'm not usually one for commercial establishments, but I saw two touring bikes outside, so decided this must be a good place to get food while on tour. They mostly kept to themselves, but it was nice to know I wasn't alone. As it ends up, this whole -meeting other people- thing was a trend that was to keep up.I also stopped at a fire station in Nowhere, WA for water and a fruit stand on two unnamed highways for lunch. Quite the adventure. Both had people who were a bit curious and when I said I was from Tacoma they both went, "Oh, so you're just getting started!" Yea guys, I've already biked 75 miles and I'm "just getting started." In my head I knew they were right, but I still wanted to feel accomplished. This was also a trend to continue. I can say I went on a biking adventure, but there is still so much that is yet to happen (and I'm typing this on day 14, by the way).
After biking by many cows and worrying that everything in the farmville I was in was private property, I rolled onto an overpass with a view of an empty-looking field. The bridge was about half a mile long, and at the end I found a path onto the side opposite the field. It didn't look very well traveled -- the perfect place to spend the night, perhaps. Upon arriving at the end I found a wall (no, but really) of blackberry bushes. That night's activity, then: Picking blackberries. I picked about a gallon, had half for dinner, did some reading, and headed to bed.
Those are all blackberry bushes.
Score!
So that night was my first real story. I woke up at 10:30 to the sound of a truck approaching. Traffic had died down on the highway above so I could sleep soundly, but this truck was coming. It was on the dirt path I had taken and I could see its headlights lighting up the area outside my tent. Of course, I was alone and tired, so my mind went places. Cop? Drug dealer? Axe murderer? I prepared myself: "Okay Kyle. This is how you go. You die under a bridge. You witness a drug deal and then you die under a bridge in the middle of farmville in the middle of Washington."
He passed me and stopped the truck about 50 feet further down the trail, where it ended. I heard him get out and shut off his engine. In retrospect, he was probably using the restroom, or perhaps I took his spot. After a minute or so (longest minute of my life) I heard the driver's door shut and then engine start. Then I saw two headlights. Then I got really scared. I mean, how easy would it be for him to run me over and say it was an accident?
Obviously, as I am typing this, that's not what happened. He drove on, pausing briefly outside my tent (probably decided if he wanted to cap me or not -- or, you know, wondering what I was doing there). I was alive!!!
- - -
Day 3 and 4 I don't remember much of. There was the usual fright about finding a place to sleep, but in the end I didn't have any trouble.
This we can call "Hilly Farmville, WA."
Alright -- actually, I have to get going. I will update this with the rest of days 3-6 and city names (more specific than "farmville") on my next break day, which will hopefully be within the week. I will either be in or past San Fran -- woOt!
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