The Adventure Begins

June 30, 2015

After a panic phase when we thought there was no way to complete all the mapping and planning, and house and farm chores in time, we found ourselves with lots of spare days.It can also be nerve wracking when you have time, but can not think of anything else that needs doing. You have the suspicion that as soon as your spare time is gone you will remember a pile of things that needed doing.

So it was that we packed up the van at least a day early. It felt good looking at it, since it made us feel that something was happening. And today, we set off. It's actually earlier than it needs to be, because we are only meeting the kids at the trail head on Friday. So we will hang out at the empty house in Seattle, again waiting to set off.

It took some experimenting, but we found the ideal compact way to fit the WeeHoos into the back of the van.

The Fridays hitch a ride on the back. We have two more (full sixed) bikes stashed in the belly.

At the ferry terminal, lots of cyclists disembark for tours on the Island that we are abandoning. It really ramps up our enthusiasm to see others already on the road.

It seems that on every cycling trip we have a nostalgic look at our Vancouver Island as we get on the ferry, and briefly (very briefly!) ask ourselves why we are actually leaving such a beautiful place. Almost always, we describe it as "our misty island" and usually that is the explanation of why we are taking off. But this time, it has been clear and scorching hot for days. So I guess our nostalgic look is at our dry and scorched island. But that can not be the reason we are leaving, since we expect it to be even hotter in Idaho.

Our ferry, appropriately enough, is the Spirit of Vancouver Island

A last look at the island, not at all misty, but dry, this time.

This will be our first return to the USA since getting hit on the road by a NASA contractor. Needless to say, we are a bit down on American roads, hospitals, and cycling there in general. So it is with a bit of a twinge that we passed this sign at the border:

The van fairly ably fought its way through the dense traffic on I-5, and we arrived at Laurie's place hot but intact. It took us only a few minutes to destroy the place, unloading gear in various batches - for Idaho, for Montreal, for Europe. Fortunately, we have a couple of days to sort it out, before hopping on I-90 and heading east to Idaho.

Laurie's place - temporarily a disaster zone.

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