JUNE
27th: last night before the ride
(Joseph):
After a swim in the cold Hood Canal located on the East Side on the Olympic
Peninsula, I settle down to enjoy my last night of the “regular
world” Tomorrow Rob and I will ride to Vancouver Island. We’ll
try to ride as far north as possible. How far we’ll actually make
it is up in question. It will be the first time for us to carry 50 pounds
of supplies, not to mention the uncertainty of road conditions. Despite
these challenges I’m looking forward to a good ride with beautiful
sites!
(ROB): Today was our last day of the preparation phase of our trip. In a way, I am very excited to get started with our trip. In other ways I began to think to myself, “Holy Crap, we now have 2,000 miles to go.” That’s almost a bike ride all the way across the United States. I suppose Joseph is scared most about not knowing what the conditions of the roads are going to be like. I’m scared most about what my legs are going to do when I put a large heavy trailer behind me and pedal up some giant mountain. I’m also a bit scared that my bike is going to die on me and then I won’t be able to fix it. Then what will we do? We only have enough food to get us through a few days by ourselves and in some areas, we have 250 miles between gas stations. That means, 250 miles between civilized spots. Maybe there will be traffic on the road to hitch a ride with. The thing is that we don’t know. Very few cyclists we believe have done this highway … maybe there is a good reason for it. I’m very excited about tomorrow. We’ll see what comes our way, … whether it’s adversity or good fortune, it will all make this a memorable bike ride through a kind of ‘Last Frontier’.
