Wherever I Lay My Head Is Home...And Home is State Parks!

The updates continue! We stayed in Washington state parks for 4 days straight and they were awesome each time.

8/8/09- 3 hours, 20 min on the bike- Bellingham, WA to Deception Pass State Park, WA

We enjoyed some awesome sleep in Larrabee thanks to the shower and the surroundings. Got up around 9:30, ate some oatmeal, and got on the road around 11. The route took us out for some really nice rural riding. We rode by farms and fields of fragrant sweet peas. We went through nice little towns and stopped at a homemade bread shop for delicious multigrain bread and directions. We came to the huge Deception Pass Bridge- it was beautiful but we had to walk the bikes down a really narrow sidewalk that was packed w/people so we had to stop every few steps to let them squeeze by. We didn't take this pic, but here's the bridge so you can get the idea:

After the bridge we went up and down some serious hills- the downhills were so steep our eyes would tear up as we flew down. On the way to the state park we took an alternate bike route that took us around a highway that had lots of construction on it. It was scenic and pleasant most of the way until we got to a huge hill through a residential section. After a few feet we had to get off the bikes and push. An elderly couple sat on the porch of their house midway up the hill and chuckled- "Everything was great until this hill, eh!" they called. We smiled grimly. "Well it only gets worse from here! MUAHAHAHHA!" We were hoping they were exaggerating but as we rounded a corner we realized they were right on the money. We had to take breaks every few feet to get up the steep incline.

We finally got into Deception Pass State Park and got a hiker/biker site. We passed by a gray-haired and bearded solo tourer who had set up camp at one of the sites. Arik recognized him as a guy we'd given directions to the day before. As we walked past he called out to us and asked where we were headed. We told him and he invited us back for wine later that evening. We set up camp and another solo biker rolled in and chatted with us. The wild-eyed, quickly topless dude gave us some tips and told us what we had to look forward to in Oregon- 4 dollar campsites and a coast that would likely be the highlight of our trip.

We had pb&js with blackberry jam on our multigrain bread, a nice hot shower, and chili for dinner. Then we headed over for wine with our new pal Rudy. He is a retired Vancouver schoolteacher with a really peaceful, wise aura about him. He told us about some of his past adventures- including camping on a small bit of land in the middle of some water without realizing that the water level rose through the night- he and his friend were stranded and just had to watch the water rise closer and closer to their tent door. Miraculously it stopped right before it got into the tent. He bemoaned what passes for camping for a lot of people- at Deception Pass we saw one family with 2 full size electronic dart boards. He uses the sun to tell directions and doesn't own a cellphone. When we asked where he stayed the night before he said he'd found a little spot on the side of the road and said it was empowering to try to live outside of the system and to realize how much we humans are really capable of doing for ourselves. It reminded him of a time when he was younger. He and a friend were road tripping in their car and found a spot on the side of the road to sleep. They were woken up in the morning by a horrible loud screeching and jumped out of the car to see a big train roaring past. They'd set up for the night just feet from the tracks. Overall it was a really nice evening spent with a really interesting guy.

It started to sprinkle as the sun went down so we turned in for an early night.

8/9/09- 4.5 hours on the bike- Deception Pass State Park, WA to Port Townsend, WA

Had some oatmeal then got moving. Rolled though pretty, rural terrain with huge clouds that looked like mountains and low clouds that looked like the sea. We went by a field filled with portly sheep all bent over eating- they reminded us of Guido. Rode onto Whidbey Island- a pretty popular tourist spot. Climbed up some big hills just as the sun came out. The sun was glorious! We forgot how much we missed it. Rode down a beautiful street called Madrona Way- trees on our right and Crescent Harbor on our left. We stopped in Coupeville to make a pb&j (yup we're eatin' a lot of these). While we were eating, an older gent in an orange reflective vest came pedaling up. His name was Ken and he gave us some tips for the upcoming Oregon and California coasts. Apparently we have the 7 devils to look forward to: 7 killer hills in Oregon that'll have us begging for mercy by the end. Hooray! He also said we should make sure we get wraparound eye protection because woodchip trucks spray woodchips and sawdust all over the road. He also told us a better way to get to the Port Townsend ferry and helped us avoid the hills our route would've taken us over. His alternate route also had the added benefit of taking us by some blackberry bushes. It's blackberry season in Washington and they were supa plump and ripe and sweet!

We got to the Port Townsend ferry station an hour early so we plopped down inside on a bench to wait. Not longer after, a teary eyed older woman sat down and started muttering to herself. We thought she was just a crazy old lady but as we started to talk to her we realized she was actually just having a really hard time with her mom's death in April. We had a nice long chat with Carollee. She is a really proud mama and managed to mention a number of times that her son is a cardiologist in Dallas. Soon two preteen boys sat down next to us and joined in on the conversation. They were impressed with our ride ("That's awesome!") and were just really cute sweet kiddos. One offered me a sour gummy worm (which I gladly accepted!) and his pal said "dude give her some more!" And he did! When one of the boys said his aunt and uncle were from Dallas, Carollee chimed in, "you know who else lives in Dallas? My son! He's a heart doctor!" When the ferry arrived we left the office just as Carollee's 80 year old dad came in. We heard him greet her, saying, "So do all the people know about your son who's a doctor?" :)

We rode onto the ferry and chatted with one of the preteen's dads. He was really supportive and interested in our ride. Arik and I headed up top and found a seat in the sun. We thought it would get too hot but with the cool breeze off the water we actually ended up pretty cold and had to huddle together. Halfway through, Carollee and her dad came and sat with us and chatted. Her dad reflected on the aging process, saying he was happy he hadn't crossed over the line into having to rely on someone else to take care of him.

On the ferry

After 30 minutes on the ferry, we got to Port Townsend and bid farewell to the boys. We headed straight to Old Port Townsend State Park. It was a tiny speck on our map so our expectations weren't too high, but it ended up being the sweetest park yet in terms of our campsite. The hiker/biker sites were set back under tall trees that swayed and creaked in the breeze. We were the only ones there (it was a Sunday night) so we had the whole spot to ourselves. We had ramen and curry for dinner, took a hot shower (I had to wait for a teenage couple and two 8 year olds to get done before I could take mine...good times), then turned in for the night.

Our sweet spot in the trees

The solitude that was so awesome and calming during the daytime was a little scary at night. Arik woke up with a start in the middle of the night and turned on our lantern, sure he had heard someone unzip our tent fly and put something down. I didn't hear anything but shortly afterward we did see what looked like a flashlight shining toward us. Just a lil weird. He had a lot of trouble sleeping but finally nodded off.

We're chillin' with Kelly for one more day- more updates to come!


Until then, be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

Hell and Heaven

We're back! After 4 days of camping we had a roof back over our heads for the first time last night. Our pal Kelly lives just outside Seattle and is letting us crash with her for a few days at what she's calling "Hotel Rula." We're sharing the house with her roomie, one of her pals, 2 pups- and no furniture! But the roof, carpeted floor, TV and internet are all welcome improvements. So time to catch up:

8/6/09- 9 hours on the bike- Vancouver, BC to Birch Bay, WA aka the HELL/demoralizing/confidence destroying route

Our first day on the bikes was not a happy one. It started off well enough. We stopped by Everybody Loves Veggies to eat some soup and got 2 sandwiches for the road. Then it got crappy. The route took us down an industrial road that smelled like rotten fish. We promptly got lost 3 times and spent an hour trying to find our way back to the route. It was pretty miserable. Then we went over the huge Alex Fraser Bridge to get out of Richmond, BC. We had a skinny separated sidewalk to ride on but it was really windy and dusty and high up. We were happy to get off. Things were looking up for a bit when we stopped at a little produce stand and had an apple.

The bikes, blissfully unaware of the hell awaiting them

That is, until Arik almost got ridden off the road by an 18 wheeler. He survived that encounter only to meet his next nemesis: the HELL HILL. We'd already been riding about 4 hours and then had to go straight up. And up. And up. We had to get off the bikes 10 feet in and push. We finally made it and headed through customs shortly afterward. The customs guy asked us what we were doing in the US and when we told him we were biking the coast he said, "why would you want to do that?" After our day, we were starting to ask ourselves the same thing. 9 hours after we began, we finally rolled into Birch Bay State Park. We got there too late to get change from the office so we couldn't take a shower (a quarter buys you a 3 minute hot shower). We had pb&js, oreos, and a coke and conked out, hoping the tour wouldn't end up being one big mistake.

Birch Bay State Park

8/7/09- 3.5 hours on the bike- Birch Bay, WA to Bellingham, WA aka the HEAVEN/confidence-building/this tour WASN'T a total loss after all route

Let's be honest, we were pretty bummed when we headed out of Birch Bay. The day before had totally sucked and all the picturesque, idyllic images of touring we'd had in our heads had been replaced with visions of skinny lanes, 18 wheelers, and hills from hell. We left around 10:30 and our spirits lifted almost immediately. The route was beautiful with great, low traffic roads that took us through awesome tiny towns.

A cool tree in one of the tiny towns

We stopped for some tater tots at Sonic in one of the towns and saw awesome trees all along the way. One biker passed us and asked where we were heading. When we said San Diego he said "well you're almost there!"

One of the views along the way

We got into Larrabee State Park in Bellingham around 2:30 and we were stoked...until we saw the sign that said the park was full. We were freaking out and about to call the park office but then a park worker came up and said "oh we never turn away hikers or bikers- we have sites for you guys." Hooray! She told us the site number and we headed over to an overgrown parking lot. We were a bit bummed but the park was otherwise awesome- huge tall trees and just great scenery. So we settled into our parking lot campsite- got the tent up, unpacked, and plotted out where we'd eat (we decided it'd be on the concrete slab that stops the car tires) and just were happy to be done riding for the day and in a sweet state park.

Me on the phone with my mama

Our original "campsite"

I went to the restroom and when I got back Arik was finishing up chatting with a guy and laughing. I asked what was up and he said uhh that guy said our site is actually just up the hill- this is just the parking for it. Incredulous, we headed up the hill and saw a line of the sweetest sites ever- with a fire pit and picnic bench and great trees. We started cracking up and headed back down to pack up again. We sheepishly picked up our tent and brought it up to the actual campsite.

Our actual site

We got re-situated, wondering at our great luck, then headed to the beach inside the park. WHOA. Awesome water, awesome beaches- basically the prettiest view either of us have seen. We stuck our feet in the cold water until we spotted some jellyfish.

The beach

We took a hot shower (got quarters this time!), had pad thai for dinner, and then went back down to the beach to watch the sunset. We got a fire started after a little trouble, then went to sleep, reassured that our trip really could be something special.

New Video!

Sunset

Gotta take a shower and go to bed for now- more tomorrow!

VancouvaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHH

We made it to Vancouver! We stayed up all night on the 3rd packing up the bikes and our gear. The whole packing the bikes thing took a lot longer than we anticipated and we finished up just in time to cram the bikes into Arik's mom's car and head out to the airport at 3:30am.

Sleepy at the airport

Got everything checked in pretty easily. We flew into Denver first and tried to catch a little sleep- the view when we landed was really beautiful- lotsa sun and mountains. The flight to Vancouver was nice and uneventful too- we slept for most of the 3 hours, but woke up in time to see the biggest mountains we've ever seen out the windows at cruising altitude. They were huge! Landed, went through customs, got our pepper spray confiscated- doh!

We found a little alcove in the airport to assemble our bikes. We lost an unessential screw somewhere along the way, but otherwise everything came through perfectly and we had our bikes assembled in about an hour and a half. We'd initially planned on walking with the bike boxes to a fedex to ship them back home, but decided it would be more trouble than it was worth. We abandoned the boxes at the airport and will have to get new ones in San Diego. Here are the lonesome looking boxes as we exited the airport:

Sad bike boxes

We loaded up the bikes, hopped on, and headed to Vancouver! The supposedly bike friendly directions we got from the Vancouver website were not so bike friendly! There were bike lanes most of the way, but the ride across the Arthur Laing Bridge to take us into Vancouver proper was pretty harrowing. The bike lane was really narrow and tons of cars whooshed by. Not fun at all. After that it was pretty nice though- low traffic streets with bike lanes. We drove over the Cambie Bridge to take us into downtown and snapped a few nice pix. The city is like nothing we've ever seen- mountains and water and really unique architecture.

Ready to leave the airport

On the Cambie Bridge

On the Cambie Bridge going into downtown Vancouver

We pulled up to the Vancouver YWCA Hotel and got checked in. It's a nice, cheap, no-frills place located right in the middle of downtown. The only semi-downside is that we share a toilet/shower with one other room. I don't know why but it's a bit weird and we actually think a hall bath woulda been better. Here's the view from our room:

Hotel view

We headed to Gorilla Foods for lunch and had some tasty raw eats:

At Gorilla Foods

Then back to the hotel for some much needed shut-eye! We woke up starving after our nap and decided to check out Chinatown. Vancouver has the second biggest Chinatown in the world (after San Fran) so we figured we'd have good luck finding some authentic treats. We got there around 8pm and found it totally abandoned but for a few muttering bums. Not quite what we expected! We went with plan 2, which was checking out Gastown, an up and coming neighborhood north of Chinatown. We picked a bad route to get into Gastown and ended up on some of the scariest streets we've seen- just a lot of scary peeps and abandoned buildings. We hustled out of there and back to the hotel to get some Italian food recommendations. The kind lady at the front desk suggested a place in Gastown. She told us "now the problem with this one is you're gonna want to take the Skytrain, because if you try to walk there..." We laughed and told her we knew what she was talking about. Too bad we didn't consult with her before our misadventure! We nixed Gastown, so she suggested 2 places in Yaletown, a kinda fancy 'hood close to the hotel. Alas both were a bit too fancy/pricey for our sandal-wearin' selves. By this time we were desperate for anything to eat so we hit up trust old 7-11 for some fine cuisine. We got some ramen noodles, Gatorade and a delishus Cherry Dr. Pepper slurpee. The slurpee tasted like heaven and tided us over till we made it to the hotel. Once there, we picked up our plates and forks in the room and headed to the hotel kitchen, hopeful there would be pots to use. Alas we were out of luck- you had to bring your own stuff. We would have probably ended up frothing and delirious in our room if not for a kind woman from Holland who offered to let us borrow her pot. We chatted a bit with her and her friend whilst the water boiled and then sat down at last to dinner. Yum!

Abandoned Chintown

Today we woke up well-rested and after hanging out a bit in the room, we ventured across the Cambie Bridge to eat and run some errands. We ate at a great fast-foodish place called Everybody Loves Veggies- and if everybody ate there, everybody probably would! It was supa tasty and we took some extra sandwiches to go. Then went to a pretty famous REI-type place called Mountain Equipment Co-op. We bought some bike helmet mirrors (after the bridge escapade we decided these were necessary), a camp pot (we won't get caught off guard again!), and some odds and ends. Picked up some clementines at an Asian produce place, then stopped by Whole Foods for some oatmeal and a delishus mango gelato.

Headed back to the hotel, put the photos we've taken so far on the flash drive, and hit up the Vancouver Public Library to try to update the blog and post some pix. Alas we only got about 20 minutes worth of internet time before a library member reserved it, but were able to sign up for wireless access and would come back later with the laptop.

In the meantime, we stopped by a bike shop where Arik got the missing screw replaced. Then we went on an awesome bike ride around Stanley Park north of downtown. It has water on 3 sides and stunning views of the mountains and the ocean. Here are some pix:

Our bikes, who we've christened Koonta and Dora

Tonight we might go watch a movie at a cool theater here- not sure. Then we'll head out early tomorrow morning to continue the adventure!

Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

An Awesome Send-off

I think this speaks for itself:


A GINORMOUS Thank You to all of you! Your support means the world to us and we have been so moved by the number of people who have been touched by cancer and by how generous you all have been. Just really, really incredible.

Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

Manana

It's 2 am on Monday, so I guess we officially leave tomorrow! It's been a long, mostly sleepless couple of weeks. I took the bar exam Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week, took a day to veg, and we've been anxious to leave since then. We will land in Vancouver around 10:30 am on Tuesday, assemble our bikes in the luggage area, lug the bike boxes to the UPS about a mile away, and then bike about 5 more miles to our hotel in downtown Vancouver. We'll have 2 days to hang out in Vancouver and will start the journey south on the 7th. We are supa stoked but also freakin' out about leaving something crucial. Here's just about everything we're bringing, minus the laptop and our clothes:


Also yesterday we wrote the names of the people we ride for on our shirts. Hope you enjoy seeing your name or the names of your loved ones and friends. We're happy to have the company on our ride!






Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

Gettin' Real

Yesterday we bought one way plane tickets to Vancouver- woo hoo! Our adventure, long an amorphous vision, is really happening. In exactly two weeks, I'll take (and please lord pass) the bar exam, and 5 days later, on August 4, we'll head to Vancouver. We haven't bought a return ticket because we have no idea how long we'll be gone. We're guessing about a month and a half, but who knows what'll come up.

One of the cool things about this tour is that because I don't start work until the end of November, we are totally unrestrained by time. We'll be free to linger on the beach, take unplanned side trips, explore towns big and small, and really take time to be completely present in the experience, unencumbered by the real life worries and responsibilities we will face at home.

Although Arik is a pretty que sera, sera go with the flow kinda guy, this will be brand new territory for me. I plan trips meticulously, down to the restaurants we'll eat at, I don't go anywhere without my google maps printout in hand, and my clothes are color coordinated. I like to be in control of my life and this tour will take me emphatically out of my comfort zone. That's a big reason why I'm looking forward to it.

After considering getting an iphone to have access to a GPS, Arik and I decided to go without it, and will instead rely on good old fashioned maps, human know how and interaction to meander our way down the coast. We have no idea where we'll be staying, what we'll be eating, or when we'll finally roll into Imperial Beach. What we do know is that we'll be biking the coast for a pressing cause, and that whatever craziness happens along the way, we'll have each other to lean on and laugh with.

Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike

Best Laid Plans

Despite our best training intentions, this whole studying for the bar thing is taking a lot more time and energy than we anticipated, and our training has suffered for it. There's a saying about bike tours: You train for the tour or the tour trains you. It looks like we're going to be pretty solidly in the second camp, which means we have a pretty painful first week of touring to look forward to.

We checked out flights to Vancouver one way and they were a whopping 400 bucks each- yikes. We're going to try moving the start date to a less popular day of the week in hopes of bringing that number down a bit.

We have just about all the gear we'll need for the tour- just missing a few odds and ends. Now we're trying to figure out what kind of fabric pen works best on dri-fit material- suggestions are welcome!

Be well,

Arik and Mia

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/ariknmiabike