It’s been a week of goodbyes and they’re not over yet. Jon left for Korea, Katie and Khale are left for California, Jordan and Rishelle are leaving for Africa, Tom and Christa are leaving for England and Bush is leaving us all alone. Even I’m going to be leaving the area pretty soon. I’ve had an awesome time here (Seattle to Salt Spring) but I am itching to get going again now.
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I headed back up to Bellingham with Tom last week because we had an invite to a party and also because my bike was stranded there due to a missing jockey wheel. There was a great turnout to the party and I was amazed when I realised I knew everybody there (except 1 girl) and so I pretended it was really a party for me. Tom headed back to Seattle the next day (he has a lady friend don’t you know) and I stayed just a little longer. Then I fixed my bike and on Monday afternoon left B-town for the last time.
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Ten miles down the road I passed Pat’s pub and stopped to say hello. It was closed though and so I just stopped to put on my waterproofs but then Pat was there after all and came outside to say hello to me. Then he invited me inside for a coffee and a burger and I accepted. I was then down into the flooded areas (from about 2 weeks of heavy rain) and had to go carefully where there were rivers crossing the road. One cyclist told me there was no way through and that I would have to take a long detour but I have met his type before – the naysayers – and it was no problem. The raptors were having a great time – all the voles and rats and mice had to flee the fields and the birds picked them off as soon as they did. In a single 10 mile stretch I saw 32 eagles, 13 hawks and 2 herons. There was one spot where I saw 18 eagles in the same tree and 2 hawks right next to them, and as I stood looking a courageous mouse ran past me.
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I made my way to Seattle by heading through Anarcortes Island, then Whidbey Island, then the Olympic Peninsula, then Bainbridge Island, and then over to Seattle, sleeping in a park along the way (I woke in the morning to hear “holy shit! Check out that campsite. Right there! He’s camouflaged and there’s a hot rod outside!”). I ended up cycling quite a way in the dark and had to do an emergency wheelie over a branch and then later hit an invisible rock that lifted my whole bike off the ground. When one car passed me the driver leant out the window and shouted at me for cycling on the road, I stuck up two fingers at him in response and then realised that over here that means peace. Then I decided that was better anyway becuase I don’t need to bring more negativity into this world, let him ponder my peace message instead. Anyway, I made it to Seattle and will hang out here until Tom and Christa leave on Monday, and I will ride out with them (metaphorically).