May 31, 2023
Making It Possible
So before buying a plane ticket, or even finding a bike box, I had sincerely given up on this trip. Not having a destination in Seattle to accept my bike and not wanting to drag it through an airport and reassembling it in the terminal, I had pretty much given up on the possibility of this trip happening. But I took a stab in the dark and posted several requests through WarmShowers asking for a host to accept my bike and put me up for a couple days while I got everything together. And it paid off in a huge way. Colin and Flower agreed to host me AND Colin had a business address where I could ship my bike!!! This took a load off my shoulders and gave me the green light to go for it.
Not only was there a business address to which the bike would be sent but the business address of a metal fabrication shop that had its beginnings making custom bike bits! Though the shop has expanded into other realms besides bikes Colin has continued his bike interests on the side and has built a number of unique and innovative bikes for his personal use. I had the opportunity to experience one of them this morning as we rode from Colin’s home to the shop. This beast has a recumbent stocker in front, an upright captain behind, and a huge cargo area bringing up the rear. It’s powered by legs and electricity and handles the hills of Seattle with ease.
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Arriving at the shop after an exciting ride out front on this machine, I found my bike box intact and undamaged. Colin has a corner of the Fab shop set up as a bike repair station with a custom made work stand that makes even the state of the art Park Tools electric stand look like a toy. Only wish I had gotten a picture. It took a few hours to reassemble Shrek and go for a test ride before riding back to Colin’s place to try and make some sense of all the stuff I brought along.
Their home is incredible. Flower is a gardener extraordinaire an has transformed the yard from a grassy lot to a garden of variety’s. Flowering perennials, herbs, berries, veggies, and even an ancient apricot grace the property.
While Colin is a machinist, designer/engineer, CNC expert, and naturist; Flower is an expert gardener, candle maker, musician (she wrote and produced a rock opera! A fricking rock opera!), and roller derby queen. I could not have started this experience with any more interesting folks than these two. A good omen for the start for sure.
My thanks and appreciation goes out to theses two for helping make this whole dream possible.
Tail Winds Colin and Flower.
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11 months ago
As you may know I’ve postponed my trip to August due to a minor health issue with my wife but I’ll be following your every pedal.
Colin sounds like a very interesting person. I’ll check to see if he and his wife are available for my trip when it happens. I have a 4x8 CNC in my basement and went through a Tool and Die Apprenticeship many years ago so we would have a lot to talk about.
Sounds like a really fun start for you!
11 months ago