TRANSAMERICA BICYCLE ADVENTURE JOURNAL

Day 57 ( Carnation to Seattle )

Scott — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:43:42 +0000

Made it to Seattle !!

Rolled into the city along the gorgeous Snoqualmie River and Burke-Gilman trails, joined by my good friend Matt. We arrived at Gasworks park mid afternoon to wonderful warm weather and the Blue Angels (jets) flying over the city. Spectacular!

With all the excitement of arriving in Seattle, I’ve admittedly lost a bit of momentum on the whole making it to the actual coast thing. I’m going to try to eventually make that happen and bike the rest of the way across the Olympic Peninsula, but it may not happen until later this year.

Day 56 ( Skykomish to Carnation )

Scott — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:25:20 +0000

Had a nice shorter ride out to the farm where my good friend Shauna has been living & working. Ashley (from ‘Rest Week in Windsor, CO) also came out, and we all toured the farm’s crops and animals, swam in the river, met the rest of the farm crew, put a splint on a turkey’s broken leg, got some thai food and watched a street dance in historic duvall, and spent the night in a tent castle. Excellent.

Tomorrow is Seattle !

Day 55 ( Wenatchee to Skykomish )

Scott — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:42:05 +0000

What a day! Entered the beautiful Wenatchee National Forest, conquered Stevens Pass, and even ran into a friend and old coworker on highway 2!

I’ve always known the northwest was a great place, but I never really realized how unique the beauty and diversity of the landscape out here is until this trip. Definitely glad I saved this until the end.

Day 54 ( Coulee City to Wenatchee )

Scott — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:45:31 +0000

Rough start this morning. Didnt feel too great for most of the morning. Thanks a lot, Mr. Beam.

A lot of amazing scenery out here though. Canyons, gorges, rock formations, rivers — forgot this kind of terrain exists in Washington.

Toward the end of the day, there was an amazing long stretch of narrow downhill highway around winding canyon walls. It was awesome, and I really wanted to get some video, but I feared for my life to take a hand off the handlebars. I’ll have to preserve the ride in my memory.

Day 53 ( Spokane to Coulee City )

Scott — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:49:09 +0000

Nice ride through the wheat fields of Eastern Washington along highway 2 today. Loving highway 2. Probably the longest stretch of smooth road with wide shoulders so far on the trip.

Ended up at a campground in Coulee City, downstream from the Grand Coulee Dam. Camped next to a couple of bikers (the leather jacket / puts gas in the bike type of biker) heading out to South Dakota for some huge biker meetup deal. Cant remember the name. Anyway, we ended up sharing a fire and a couple pints of Jim Beam. Good night.

Day 52 ( Priest river to Spokane, WA )

Scott — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:32:00 +0000

Washington!

Day 51 ( Bull River to Priest River, ID )

Scott — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:07:08 +0000

Had my first flat in a while today. That makes 6 or 7 I think, which is not bad. My tires are getting verrry worn down, though. Not much tread left.

Also crossed into Idaho for real today. Hooray, state 9!

Day 50 ( Plains to Bull River )

Scott — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:03:09 +0000

Getting pretty good at building campfires. Very satisfying.

Day 49 ( Missoula to Plains )

Scott — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:55:17 +0000

Another gorgeous day in Western Montana.

Right outside of Missoula, there was a long stretch with a ton of construction going on. The lanes were narrowed by cones with no shoulders, sometimes the pavement ended and it was just rough gravel, and there was a ton of traffic streaming through. Pretty trecherous.

After trying to weave in and out of traffic for an hour, I ended up hitching a ride with a nice lady in a pickup truck through the last ten miles of it. Excellent.

Day 48 ( Rest in Missoula )

Scott — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:47:30 +0000

Mostly slept today, which seems to be what happens when I take days off.

Was hoping to make it to the Big Sky brewery ( who make one of my fav beers, Moose Drool ), but they apparently moves out of town a bit. And I can’t be bothered to bike out of town on my day off!

I did make it in to the Adventure Cycling headquarters. These are the people who make a ton of bike touring maps, some of which Ive been using on this trip. Got some free ice cream, soda and my picture on the wall.