About a week ago Jackson and I were watching the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean from the bow of a Grady-White, just off the shores of a coastal Maine island. The air was cool — not summer night cool — but the crisp of fall — it felt like the end of a beautiful summer. It felt like time to leave.

And so we did, a day later we travelled to my home in N.H. and visited with my family and best friends who I hadn’t seen in a year(!).  The next day we boarded a red eye to Seattle, where my cousin Laura so graciously picked us up. 

In the past week, We’ve done all that, visited with Laura and Ben, and toured Bellingham, Washington with Jackson’s dad, Tom. Only a week? Crazy. 

Although we haven’t started our journey East yet, we’ve been lucky enough to go on some awesome rides. Ben showed us around Green Lake in Seattle (and let us borrow his bikes, thanks Ben!). Laura and Ben brought us through Seattle and we got to hang out with their pooches Remi, Theo and Jet. 

In Bellingham, we reunited with our bikes. Our time in Bellingham consisted of copious amounts of Komboucha, good food, packing, and some rides around the city, led by Tom. 

BONUS VIDEO!!! Our bike grease got in our lighters and made for some crazy stuff. Check it out: ​

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After picking up our bikes we went on a ride through Bellingham, the next day we biked to Lake Samish and through Padden Lake State Park where we saw old growth forests. I dubbed this ride the Breakfast Samish, because it ended in a massive breakfast. On Saturday we took a ride with some big hill climbs and many blackberries (Bike Grease and Blackberries). Although they’re invasive they make a great mid-ride snack. On Sunday Jackson went mountain biking at Galbraith Mountain while Tom and I went on a ride around Wiser Lake and through farm country. (A note on the hyperlinks: You can see all our rides in Bellingham through Tom’s Strava. We won’t be using Strava on our trip — more on that in another post — but we thought it’d be cool to check out these rides we did).

 

Today we took a very short ride to visit Tom and Jack’s friend and test out our fully loaded bikes! Our bags have been packed, repacked and packed one more time for good measure. Weighted bikes feel like animals, like a machine I’m merely the engine for. Going up hills takes much more effort, as does starting and stopping, but on flat and downhill sections the bike’s momentum can carry you far. It’s a different type of cycling that I’ve come to enjoy. A good sign, considering tomorrow we’ll eat a big breakfast and leave Bellingham headed towards Sedro-Wooley. 

Until next time! 

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P.S. Don’t forget you can see more picture updates on Instagram (linked on the side of this page).