DAY 9 Once you go Omak you don't go back

A tight cassette lockring awaited to be delivered to the bike shop in the morning. Call after call they never answered. Not wanting to ride 20 miles and find that the shop wouldn't be opened, we rode to ace hardware and grabbed a wrench with enough leverage to pop the cassette off. Lacing and trueing was alot faster than removing the gears. As Hank finished the others started to cook breakfast burritos to get us up waconda pass and to republic. With a full stomach we bathed in the sun, and slowly the hours passed. Wanting to catch up on the blog we road 2 miles to safeway where free wi-fi was available. Blogging and eating dairy queen, a mechanic from the local bike shop walked out of safeway. (Guess the shop was open.) Talking with us for a bit about touring and how much gear we were carrying Derk invited us for mojitoes at his place. With a ride ahead alcohol didnt sound to appitizing so we politely declind. A couple of minutes passed as we changed our mind. Hank and Kane hopped on their bikes and rode after him, he instantly disapeared. Sitting back down at safeway for our 6th hour we finally made the decision to sleep at Omak. Recalling what Derk told us, we crossed our fingers it wasnt true; "the sand will suck you in, get out while you can."

GINYU FORCE ASSEMBLE!!

MORE DAY 8 PICS

Day 8 Loup Loup

After a spoiled evening at k.o.a we woke to a well deserved sound of an obnoxious air balloon lifting from the ground. Pretty in sight but at 7 in the morning with another pass upon us sleep was much preferred. Fortunately the weather was holding up and with a couple of mountains left behind we were ready for the next, Loup Loup. Our first stop was breakfast at the local grocery store. With our stomachs filled with coffee and carbs we were off. Leaving from Winthrop you can see the change in scenery with the mountains gradually turning into long stretches of field and plains. Our first break was in a small town called Twisp which was unfortunatley where we also had our first chain break. While fixing the chain other cyclists came our way who were actually doing the same ride. They were an older crowd of cyclists, one of them being 70, luckily had a "slave driver" for all there gear. After the chain being fixed we left once again to continue our climb on the loup loup pass. With the climb coming to an end we summited the top sure enough to find a rock near the Loup sign that said "worth it right?" Another cyclist at k.o.a was actually telling us about this perticular rock with a snicker bar right on top waiting for the next hungry cyclist to summit the top. Unfortunately there was nothing on the rock when we got there but we did the same and left snacks for other cyclists behind. Climbing up Loup Loup we had a large evergreens surrounding us, as we began to descend the foilage turned into a dry desert littered with sage bushes.After coasting for 20 miles we entered Okanogan, where we stopped at a gas station to find out Kane had popped another tire from a broken spoke. From there we rode to Omak with a broken spoke to fix. The lockring was tightened to much for our tools to be able to break it free. Having to postpone it for the morrow.

DAY 7 WILD WILD WEST

Drenched in sweat from the moring heat and with no food for breakfast we make a quick sprint to Mazama for some food. Finding the only store in mazama we were surprised to walk into to such a cool little store with a bakery, cafe, and grocery store filled with Portland beer. Lots of tandem cyclists strolled through getting ready for a group tandem ride through the cascade loop starting in a couple of days. Nice to see fellow cyclist out in the boonies. A couple of bagel sandwiches and coffe gave us our enegery to make it to Winthrop, where we are recovering our legs from Washington pass and giving them a strech before the next three passes to come. Winthorp is by far the coolest city we have visited yet. A tourist town keeping its western theme throughout the city, even the bank was old school with just cast iron bars keeping you from the teller. Deciding to camp at the 5 star campsite of the country we pedaled two miles east to the Winthrop KOA. A pool table, a pool, amazing showers, and laundry room was more than what we could ask for. Cleaning ourselves and our clothes was well past due. A fellow Bicycle Tourist from Conneticut passed our site and stopped to talk with us. He was cycling to anacortes and was two days away from his ending point. Warning of us 45 mph headwinds and gust in the midwest, massive flooding in north dakota, and a record breaking oil boom in whistleton both scared and excitied us of the weeks to come. As we walked twowars the shower we spotted his bulkey calves and began to compare ours to his. A couple more months and we will be there. Treating ourselves to a dinner in town we all shared a large pizza and had a burger each to ourselves. Back at camp we got eaten alive by mosquitos before crawling in the our tents for a deep sleep.

more day 6 pics

DAY 6 thirty three miles up

This morning was a very brisk and overcast one. With just energy bars, fruit and trail mix we decided to just eat on the 7 hour hill we had to conqure today. Since the campsite had no water we decided to skip the long process of boiling and hoping it would cool down by the down we needed it, and to try to find some the town next to us. Entering Diablo, it was as dead as last night. Riding in circles we spotted a couple of cars driving into the back parkinglot of a buliding across the street. Following, we found three ladies smoking in the back who were hestiant at first but allowed us to use thier kitchen faucets for water. Filling up all 10 of our water bottles and two 6 litter water reseviors we pedaled towards washington pass. Instantly a 8% average grade for the first 3 miles had us chugging our water and chewing on our cliff bars. Reaching the first leveled out part we made a quick stop at Diablo Lake viewpoint. Trying not to cool down to much, we kept climbing, and climbing with some more climbing. After 5 and a half hours we reached rainy pass, which is 5 miles before the steep grade to washington pass. At extacly 7 hours we reached the elevation of 5744 feet of Washington Pass. Catching our breath we looked around on the snow top mounatins around us and began to realize the feat we had just accomplished. With tears and smiles on our faces we decended 18 miles to mazama. We slept at another free campsite 2 miles west of mazama.

DAY 5 Ghost Town

Woke to a light rain once agian. Hit the rode pretty early. Today had us riding through Rockpoint, Marble Point, Newhalem and ending at Dialbo for the night. 5 miles intill the ride we found a farm that had a small shop advertising expresso and ice cream. Stopping for our second breakfest, two girls rode into the shop from the east. They had just climbed washington pass from the oppisite side and were heading to Alaska. giving us forwarnings of the lack of stores before the pass we loaded on food for the 33 mile climb tomorrow at marble point. With panniers full of clif bars and top ramen. A nice climb and decent brought us to Diablo, resting on the foothill of Washington pass. Strolling into town, the place looked like a ghost town. A housing community for the employes who worked at the hydroelectric plant on Diablo Lake is what made the town. Riding through the whole town we found no one out side. Quickly leaving we fouind a free campsite outside of Diablo for free. A small, but nice campsite on the river. No water but we manged by boiling the river water for cooking our top ramen as we made a gigantic bonfire before we hit the tents.

HELLO TO ALL OF OUR FOLLOWERS

We apoligize for not being up to date on our posts. In the cascades it is really hard for us to find a WIFI area. Now that we are starting to climb some mountain passes we will be able to find larger towns were we can post more frequently. Thank for wishing us good luck and reading our post, we will do our best to give you something new to read every day. We are being kicked out of our wifi right now so we only got up to day 4 posted. Day 5-7 will be posted soon. Thanks to all who donated, we all are very greatful and buzzed. Talk to you soon!

Day 4 MORE TIME FIXING THAN RIDING

Woke up to a light pounding of rain on our tents. Semi-excited to finally have a need to use our expensive rain gear we once again took a couple of hours to move onto our bikes. A small problem with the cannondales rear wheel had us taking another detour to the bike shop. After the master mechanic started to dish the wheel to make up for the wheel rub on the chain stay, he found a broken axel on the rear wheel. It took about three hours for him to locate the right part and get it intsalled and brakes adjusted. 2:30 the bike was in our possesion again. Having thought this over for a while, we decided that it would be best for kane to be riding the more durable Surly Long Hual Trucker, and have Evan on the Cannondale. Setting out at 3:00pm we rode on a very nice highway that's not in primary use any more. Along the river we pedaled for 30 miles intill we hit the very, very small town of Concrete. Starving, we strolled into Annie's Pizza Parlor. A large Annie's Supreme and chesse sticks filled us as we made the last two miles to our next campsite, Eagles Nest. At 15 dollars a campsite we ended up doupling on tents, giving us a little bit more bonding time...Resting around a large campfire we talked with the owner and a fellow camper. We found that the area we were in the Birds nest has not had a summer for the last three years. Being surrounded in the mountains makes for a very dense overcast year long. "Free Way! Free Way! Cut that shit out Freeway!" A lady shouted as she stomped in the wet grass chasing after her dog which entered our campsite. Well, her chasing was more of a drunkly stumble after the dog that was excited to be free from the RV that he was couped up in for to long. A couple of beers and laughs set us off for bed as we began to dread the mountains passes to come.

Day 3 A Flat, then another, and another

Waking up bright and early as usual we started out the morning with a light breakfast and continued our ride to Oak Harbor, a decent town nothing too different from Bieberton. After Quiznos we went to the local bike shop to fix Hanks bottom bracket. Remounting our mechanical steads, 5 miles into our ride we found that what was suppose to be an easy and quick ride turned into in a very long one. Speeding through the flats, Hank, Donald and Evan stopped at an Ice cream shop in the farm lands west of burlington. Finsihing our two scoop waffle cones we waited for another 30 mintues. No sign of Kane or Beau. Getting worried, Hank started to backtrack to make sure no major mechanical issues were happening. Finding that kane had flatted twice in 500 feet, We sprinted to the Skagit Cycle shop in burlington to purchase a new rear tire. Finding Specialized Armadillo Multi Purpurse tires made Hank's mustache curl. With a Large smile he bought the tires and mounted them onto the cannondale. As this was happening donald got his second flat of the day. Making the trips total flats a large seven for 3 days. That night Hank really started to teach everyone some machanical basics, like properly changing a tire and adjusting front and back derailuers, and stuff like that. Eventually our long tedious day ended in a good nights rest for the next days ride.

DAY 2 WRONG TURN!
6 am made an early morning at Kitsap Memorial State Park, leaving at 10 made for a late start on the bike. Riding along highway 20 we found a nice bike path that led us into the port of Port Townsend. While passing sail boat upon sail boat, a ladie on a bike preached of an amazing fish sandwich food cart in the center of town. After pedaling for a few hours we couldnt resist. Freshly caught grilled salmon between ciabatta smuthered in a homemade tarter sauce with loads of delicious green could not of made a better lunch. Wondering futher into town we found a small cafe right on the bay. Enjoying coffee and not pedaling, we blogged for about 3 hours. Deciding we should move on we boarded the ferry that would take us to fort casey.
Arriving at fort casey with two hours of daylight left. We decidied to make the day a little bit shorter and camped at Fort Ebey. Picking up supplies for dinner we asked a couple of locals for their opinion of the best route to the campsite. 5 miles later we had made our first group rule "NEVER LISTEN TO LOCALS". The route was a bike path that started out following the highway on a nice paved path. It soon turned into a dirt path, which furthermore turned into a root infested dirt trail. Which furthermore lead to a paved road that we were all happy to see untill it turned into a 12% grade for half a mile, with no lead in to the campsite. Turning around and catching the trail it once agian got worse, we had dismount and push our bikes up the trail. As the trails got harder and steeper, the cursing and loss of hope got stronger. Hank's God parents were very right in saying "you can't have an adventure with out discomfort". We finally got to the campsite with the sun at its last breath. After setting up camp we started to expolore the campsite. We found a an old military bunker hidden in the mountain which was occupied in 1942. Going in we found long hallways with small rooms and 3 inch thick doors. Further and further we ventured in and the creepier it got. We passed locked doors with caution tape surronding them, and more "solitary confiment rooms". Exiting on the other side of the hill we called it quits and fell into a deep sleep quickly

The first day Ride. mostly a ferry

Day 1 Portland Or to Kitsap Memorial State Park 20.5 miles

After being bombarded with photos, hugs, and farewell good-byes we were finally able to head to our first stop, Seattle. The train ride was awkward and long with too many stops teasing us for the adventure ahead.Deboarding at noon, we mounting our overloaded bikes, and towards the ferry that would take us to bainsbridge island. After a few wrong turns we found a bike path that lead us to the ferries. Two miles in we had our first flat...I wonder who installed that tire Donald?
The ferry ride gave us a great view of the Space Needle and Downtown Seattle. Bains bridge was a short visit for us with only a stop the grocery store and a bike shop. With a awesome bike museum with a collection from beautiful steel frames from the 50's to freak bikes from the 70's.
On the way to camp we found a traffic jam before the bridge of brains bridge. A bus began to turn into the bike lane cutting us of from passing. A quick pull on the brakes had Beau running into Hank's rear wheel. Losing control beau fell and began to slide under the bus. Luckly the bus only caught his front wheel. A road rash, out of adjustment stem and brake was the worst of it. A quick wrench and we were on our way. 20 miles made for a quick shake down ride to Kitsap Memorial State Park where we meet a couple with thier kids on an adventure across the world, calling them sleves the Global Mobile Family. Im sure they have a blog that we will be searching for soon. A hearty dinner of summer sausge sauteed with a garlic marinara sause and pasta followed by a romantic veiwing of the sunset by the beach finished the day for us. Sleep came quickly.

The Route

Boarding Amtrak from Portland To Seattle on june 15th, we will ride a quick ferry to Bainsbridge Island. From there we will start pedaling up to Anacortes were we then begin to head east.


View Portland Or to Portland ME in a larger map

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.

-- Ernest Hemingway