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.