Cover--Maine or Bust

Meet the C2C Cyclists

While this ride was undertaken in 2009, I am putting it in a daily blog format four years later (June of 2013) for something to do since my spring ride fizzled out and I am recovering from hip replacement surgery. Also if it is in blog format the photos are easier shared and I can share the adventure with my sister and perhaps a few friends who were not at the receiving end of Tim's blog or my original emails back in '09.

Below I introduce you to the riders on the C2C west-east cross-country tour: Bellingham, Washington to Portland, Maine.

Kevin, 60, Stillwater, OK, ride originator, semi-retired
entomologist, married to Sarah, Oklahoma Dept of Tourism

Susan, 67, Stillwater, OK, ride organizer, retired technical writer/curriculum
developer, and author of this blog; married to Jeff, OSU professor of English

Tim “The Bike Wrench,” 42, Oklahoma City, OK; single

Bill “Oatmeal Cookie Monster,” 67, Oregon City, OR, retired math teacher,
wrestling coach, Africa Peace Corps volunteer; married to Ann, a Brit

Diane, New Jersey, 52, single parent of three;
raising money for New Jersey Battered Women’s Services

Sylvia, 42, Tulsa,Oklahoma; temporarily unemployed,
married to Tulsa bike shop owner, Tom

Rick, 60, Palm  Desert, Clifornia. retired corporate pilot, single

Bill H., 60, Tulsa, Oklahoma, lawyer, single

This was the original group, with the exception of Sylvia, who joined the group in Williston, North Dakota. Bill H. left the group in Whitefish, Montana. We met and rode with several other cross-country cyclists while crossing country. They will appear in later blog posts as we encounter them.

Day 0--The Gathering of the Group

Sunday 7 June, 2009
Bellingham, WA

[From an e-mail home]
Hi guys. Just to let you know that we are here in Bellingham with our Warm Showers hosts Maya and Lara Buelow, two students at the university here. The two sisters crossed country on their bikes a couple of years ago from NYC to Bellingham when their desk jobs got stale. Quite the adventurers. They have a new part husky, part boxer puppy with brilliant blue eyes. Lara is studying for exams.

Tim, Diane Bill, Kevin, and me just after picking up bikes at Fanatik on Day 0

Diane and I rode the three miles or so from the bike shop to L & M’s house, following a Google map and followed by Diane’s aunt with whom she’d been staying before ride start. At the gals’ recommendation, we all ate dinner tonight at the Boundary Bay Brew Pub. Great place. I had salmon chowder & salad. Very good. Diane and I treated Lara and Maya to dinner. We two slept together on the futon in the l.r.

left to right: Lara, Bill U., Diane, Tim, Bill H., Maya, Kevin, Susan at the Boundary Bay Brew Pub in Bellingham the evening before our departure on C2C

I’ve a long way to go to skinny down my load.  When I picked up my bike and BOB at Fanatik, I could not get on my bike easily or ride it without BOB falling over. He was loaded way too high and with far too much stuff. Bill H. gave me some encouragement and I eventually got the trailer load balanced. I off-loaded a lot of packaged food, a pair of shorts, my backpack, extra socks, etc. at Lara and Maya’s to lessen the load by maybe five to eight pounds. This gave the girls some extra clothes and food also.

Diane and me in Lara and Maya’s side yard before we pedaled to Fanatik
to meet the other riders on Day 1

Lara with Susan’s BOB and bike in the side yard the morning of our first day of the ride; believe it or not, BOB is about 8 pounds lighter than he was the day before. The plastic box atop BOB is my lunch locker. I have a front bag hanging from my handlebars as well as an underseat bag in addition to BOB.

Day 1--Dipping Wheels; Searching for Stove Fuel

Monday, June 8, 2009

Bellingham to Concrete, WA

Tailwind when we turned east. Temp 73F

I was awake at 4, waiting for the 7 am start. Weird start. Diane and I left Lara and Maya's place at 7:30 am and rode to meet the others at the Fanatik Bike Shop by 8. The plan—decided by all last night—was to meet at the shop at 8 am and then ride to a nice place for breakfast together on this our first morning on the road. But, all of the others, who had stayed in motels, had eaten breakfast at their motels, and had no plans to stop.

So, sans breakfast, we rode a trail out of town that Bill H. had discovered. We soon found a little beach in Fairhaven (a Bellingham suburb) from which we could dip our wheels. We asked a passing walker if he would take a group photo and he obliged, but when we looked at it, he had managed only to take a photo of the beach gravel, so we all took photos of each other.

Wheel dippers Diane, Tim, Rick, Kevin, and Bill U.

Me as close to dipping a wheel as the beach and my rig will allow

Just after dipping our wheels, we crossed a little bridge on the trail, and Beth Brown and Diane were brought together by the “fickle finger of fate.” The night before we arrived at our Warm Showers hostesses' house, Beth had dropped off a handmade card and $50 in support of Diane’s cause: NJ Battered Women’s Service. Serendipity saw the two women meeting on the trail. Tim videotaped them (and me) for Diane’s website: http//:www.starjumpsforjoy.com which I do not believe is still available.

Beth Brown, a contributor and sympathizer with Diane’s cause, somehow finds Diane on the trail our first morning out; she will help us get over Wauconda Pass later in the ride

Moi, posing before Puget Sound at a scenic pullout along Hwy 11

One of the bridges on the trail along the Sound; Tim’s photo 



Puget Sound near where we dipped out wheels; Tim’s photo

Since Diane and I had not eaten, she and I stopped in Fairhaven at a little quiche place, the Colophon Café. Beth Brown found us there and joined us for a bit. Those who had eaten breakfast at their hotels went to a bike shop where Bill Hickman had his old rack removed and a new rack installed. We spent several hours getting out of Dodge, so to speak, with Kevin returning to the Colophon and eating a second meal there. We didn’t leave Fairhaven until after 11 am. We had pedaled only 6 miles of our 68-mile route.

The square before the Colophon Café in Fairhaven where Diane and I had breakfast

Me with a friend before the Colophon Café

Six of the starting seven riders: Tim, Kevin, Diane, Bill U. me, and Rick in Fairhaven Square on Day 1; Bill H. was at a bike shop getting his rear rack switched out 

After Fairhaven, we rode along Puget Sound and around the foot of Chuckanut Mountain on Hwy 11 for the first 25 miles, and then turned east on Cook Road to ride through the Sedro-Woolley Valley and pick up the North Cascades Highway (Rte 20) east to Concrete. 

View on the road to Sedro-Wooley

Lovely barn off Cook Road to Sedro-Wooley

Another pretty farm along the route on the way to Sedro-Wooley

Oyster beds at low tide in Puget Sound as seen from a scenic pull out off Hwy 11 south

On Cook Road after the turn, I discovered that I had left off a leg of the daily mile-by-mile route sheet which I had distributed to the riders. Kevin had the Adventure Cycling maps, but we were not on the AC route yet, and I and several other riders did not have these maps, so I had printed route sheets for my convenience and that of those without maps. However, this gap in the route sheet upset Tim and the rest of the group greatly. How far would they have to go before water? Kevin's attitude and this mistake shook the group's confidence in the day-by-day route directions for the remainder of the ride! Kevin was particularly vexed that I had created these directions. He felt that the Adventure Cycling maps should have been purchased and used by all. Yes they should have because Kevin wasn't around most evenings to share the next day's route with the group, so they had only my day-by-day for route finding.

When we finally got to Sedro-Woolley, we stopped at a DQ. I was worried about getting gas for our cook stoves. I had seen Kevin and Bill H. go straight on the business loop rather than turning left on Hwy 9, so asked him how he had come in, thinking that maybe he had seen a store in town that sold stove fuel. Thinking that I was accusing him of taking a wrong turn, he rounded on me loudly and angrily in front of the others. I yelled back trying to explain. The others were embarrassed and stunned. After this outburst, we all cycled into town and those with fuel canisters found what they were looking for. I did not find fuel for my stove until I stopped as a CS outside of Concrete. One can of fuel cost $17! I filled my fuel bottle, shared the can with Rick and left the rest at the campsite.

Diane in Sedro-Wooley posing beneath a gorgeous flowering tree

Sedro-Wooley wood carvings

Rick in S-W; he and Tim rode with panniers; the rest of us pulled BOB. (Beast of Burden) one-wheeled trailers

Once past S-W, we were out in the country and the lure of the unknown and the beautiful scenery tugged at me. When we got to Concrete, some of us went grocery shopping and then rode to the scheduled campsite: Eagle’s Nest RV CG, right on the Skagit River. The place was run down and up for sale, and the tenting area had been used for a dog walk, but our excitement at the first night’s camping and the river and distant hills/mountains made up for it.

Kevin and Rick reading the signs at an elk reserve west of Concrete  

Mountains backing the Elk reserve west of Concrete;
we would cross similar mountains for the next six days

The little gazebo with the bald eagle atop at our Eagle's Landing tent site outside of Concrete.That's the Skagit River just glimpsed through the trees.

The run down and for sale Eagle’s Landing RV park in Concrete, Washington 

We were camped right on the bank of the beautiful Skagit River

Fast-flowing Skagit River at our campsite

Before the tour began, Kevin, who originated the ride, determined that it was "every man for him/herself." He was going to ride across country to celebrate his 60th birthday, and he invited all who wanted to "to tag along." No group cooking, etc. However this business of every man for himself for meals is awkward at best. It means that each of us must carry a stove, cooking utensils and pans, fuel, and food. Kevin and Bill H. who are not planning on cooking or camping much, pedaled to a nearby bar/café and drank their dinner. Rick, Bill U., Tim, and I fixed ourselves dinners from our “kitchens” and the food we had bought in Concrete. Diane disappeared into her tent and ate her bars and powders and talked on her cell phone. 

This first night, I fixed mac and cheese with peas and sausage, which took a long time to cook because I neglected to pump my little Coleman single-burner camp stove to make it burn hot. Rick had bought some wine, so we had that also. Rick steamed up a pot of broccoli. Tim got out his tiny alcohol stoves and cooked up something that I cannot now remember. We tired four spent far too much time individually cooking and cleaning up.

To bed to bed after this first day on the road which has been both exciting and emotionally draining.

Tune in tomorrow for more excitement.

Tired Batchelor's Button flowers

Day 2--Blueberry Ice Cream; First Big Climb

Tuesday 9 June, 2009
Concrete, WA, to Diablo Lake, WA

A beautiful ride on a sunny, cool day, the first 40 miles or so of it along the fast flowing Skagit River. Diane and I stayed behind so that Diane could conduct a radio interview at 10:30. While waiting, I sat at a picnic table and created a watercolor of the Skagit River with the mountains in the background and trees in the foreground. It's not very good as you can see below. I'd love to be able to keep a sketch-book type diary but the talent just ain't there. Photos will have to suffice. To give you an idea, below are the watercolors I managed to paint before leaving.

After Diane's interview concluded--at about 10:45--we started out, well after the main group. Not long after we left the campground, we stopped at Cascadian Farms, a roadside fruit farm, for a break. I had a bowl of blueberry cobble with some homemade blueberry ice cream.  

Morning fog over the Skagit at our campsite

Ancient Horsetail (scouring reed) beside the Skagit River

Foxglove--one of the most common roadside flowers

Plucked, ripe, and unripe salmonberries, another common roadside find

Cascadian Farms Roadside Store

My blueberry cobble with fresh, homemade blueberry ice cream--exceptionally delicious

Diane enjoying the break at Cascadian Farms

A little area history: The North Cascades Highway follows the Skagit River on the west side of Rainy Pass. The Skagit River was dammed three times (Ross, Gorge, and Diablo dams) early in the twentieth century by Seattle City Light, Seattle's municipal power company, which provides hydroelectric power for the city. I'm sure there must be a story behind getting the eminent domain to flood these pristine, wild valleys along the lines of the theft of the Owens River by Los Angeles, but I don't know it. Anyhow, the power company turned the resulting lakes into a recreational area that is very popular with Seattleites.

Old World Swallowtail on pinks at Cascadian Farms

Wild astilbe at roadside

Photos above explain why the Cascades are called the Cascades

Diane and I stopped again in Newhalem, a touristy little town created by Seattle City Light. Here Bill H., Kevin, and Tim were enjoying a couple of beers at a shaded picnic table. We explored the nearby suspension bridge and Diane made a star jump video on restored steam Engine No. 6 that sat in the park. Somehow we missed seeing Ladder Creek Falls. I think they were a short walk on the other side of the suspension bridge.

Bill H, Diane, and Kevin on a suspension bridge across the Skagit River in Newhalem, WA

Tim riding his loaded bike across the suspension bridge

Tim, Kevin, and Bill H pose near City Lights renovated Engine #6 in Newhalem

Gorge Dam

After this break, the big climbs began and didn’t let up for the next 9 miles. When we got to an uphill tunnel, Diane and Tim rode through it together, but I couldn’t manage it and walked. After making a video of Diane wobbling exhaustedly on the other side of the tunnel, Tim went on and Diane got off her bike and walked. The two of us must have walked a couple of miles uphill before we were able to get on our bikes again and pull our BOBs to the Colonial Creek CG. It probably took us the better part of four hours, and it was heating up. Heat, hills, but no headwind, thank goodness. We did not get to the campground until 7 pm.

Route 20, the beautiful road we would ride through the Cascades

Diane and me climbing (though it doesn't look it, we are definitely climbing) to Colonial Creek CG;
note the June snow at the edge of the trees and on the mountains

Tim activating our lights and preparing to ride through the tunnel on the way to Colonial Creek CG

The CG was full, and there was no room for the two of us at our group’s campsite, but the others had asked some young campers in the next site if we could set up our tents to the side of their gravel pull in. This we did, and then took showers and got back somewhat to normal. I spoke to the young people—a couple and the guy’s sister—and they said that they would be glad to haul our gear to the top of Washington Pass the next day because they wanted to hike up there anyway. This was very good news for all because this is only Day 2 and we haven’t built our touring or climbing muscles yet . . . at least I haven’t. I was so exhausted that I had no hunger or laughter in me. I hit the sack while the others were still eating hotdogs, telling tall tales, and drinking beer (below).

Tune in tomorrow when we have a couple of passes to climb. Can't wait . . .