By the Sea

This post reaches you from Seattle, where I take a last rest day before bicycling a final century to Anacortes, WA from where I'll ferry-hop to Vancouver, Canada (with a few-days-intermezzo at the San Juan paradise islands). I cannot believe this bike ride is drawing to an end. I honestly thought there’d never be an end (especially back in those early days when I sat - pondering - on a piece of Georgian plantation staring at the map. For real, cycling to Vancouver from Florida, who does that?).

But here I am. It was quite the adventure when Lauren, Zach, Jacob and I made it to the Pacific Ocean in Florence, Oregon and filled the endless horizon with screams, cheers, hugs and beer. I even swam in it! (so to say, in full enthusiasm I accidentally fell in but technically that’s the same). We had a little celebration-party on the beach, with a campfire, smores and a cool but moistly fog rolling in at night which made us rethink the sleeping-under-the-stars-plan. Pitching a tent in the powdery sand, not so great, so Jacob and I ended up sleeping in my supposedly 2-person tent but really just fits 1 and it got even better when the thing, all damp on the inside, collapsed on us in the middle of the night so I could get out and erect it again with pieces of driftwood I stumbled over in the dark while Jacob, peacefully, snored through all this. Anyways that night I slept like a baby in a too small womb.

When Lauren and Zach left the next day by car, Jacob and I pedaled the stretch to Portland. And you won’t believe but cycling in Oregon, on the very scenic 101 coastal drive, got even worse when we nearly, and I really mean missed by an inch, got deliberately ridden off the road by a big, I assume frustrated-drunk-and tired of life, semi-truck driver. The accident made me very upset and confused but sandwiched between ocean and coastal cliffs, there was but one way and that was keep moving forward on this highly scenic tunnel of death. It was hell on a bike but we made it alive, had a nice couple of days off in Portland (which smells like coffee and tattoos, very cool) before I left for final destination. It’s a farewell to my friends but for sure no goodbye!