Just Us & the Road

Present Day Note: I just wanted to say a few words about today as I am writing this post. I was able to go back to Colorado {home} a few weeks ago. It felt like a dream because the last time I was there I was packing up my life to put in my parent's shed and left with a backpack full of cold-weather clothes and the tears of a baby not knowing when/if (I was dramatic) I'd be back to hug my family.

Being home with everyone, remembering the last time I was there, I am over-joyed with the appreciation of those who sent us on our way. Our mom's let us go, our friends called us crazy, and our dreams came true. My mom threw me a surpise party. In my mind it was a Congratulations-you-survived-the-edge-of-the-world-nearly-alone-on-a-scooter party! {Yay!} Congrats to me!

Flying back to Orange County (thankful it didn't take two months) made me realize how hard we both have worked together and individually to be where we are at right now. More importantly, I am endlessly thankful that I was able to travel with my best friend. As much as I am in love with my home state, there are incredible sights to see and feel and smell and hear elsewhere. Anywhere else. I just so happened to take in every inch of the West Coast.

July 12th - 15th, 2012

"You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything  you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming...And the whole thing, the whole experience is never removed from your immediate consciousness." - Zen and the Art of Morotcycle Maintence, Robert M. Pirsig

From The Rainforest Hostel to Hoquiam to Tokeland to Astoria, Oregon was 130 miles. We road long days, got in a huge fight, fixed a broken tent, stayed in a haunted hotel, road in the rain, road through Aberdeen where my brother used to live, ate at many bakeries, got lost, pushed forward, crossed a 3 mile bridge, and ended up at a hostel in Astoria for a full day of rest, a few beers, our first (and last) oyster shooters, and a movie at a small theater.  Mostly these days consisted of gas station stops for bathroom and snacks, bakery rests, side of the highway fruit and water breaks, audio-books, setting up the tent, taking down the tent, coffee, laundromat hunting, and keeping our eyes open for something different around every bend.


Word Association
Camping: dirt, snoring, trees, time, comfy, raccoons
Public Bathrooms: cold, gross, yoga (in order to not let ANYTHING touch the floors)
Fruit: lots! delicious, stands
Wind: loud and cold, love it
Smells: fish, strawberry feilds, cheese factories, Ocean Spray factory, road kill, moist forests
Ocean: big! blue, mysterious, strong
Animals: raccoons, cats, cows, pelicans, seals, whales
Tears: many, detoxing
Laughs: mostly others laughing at us, our inside jokes
Strangers: opinions, helpful, hurtful,
Sunshine: hardly any first 1/2 of trip, feels good
Fog: strange, cold, comforting
Restaurants: ideas, too many, breaks, spoiled
Bakeries: yum! happy place, comfort food

(Not sure if it's kosher to show these pics side-by-side, 

but know that we were responsable while enjoyig 

a beverage on the side of Highway 101.)

Sunny Seattle

What? Sunny? Seattle? You must be dreaming... Yeah, I think we were.
It was sunny! For all the days we were in Seattle (excluding the first night, but that was to be expected.)

A mere two hours after leaving Colorado Springs we were landing in a different world. We didn't have a plan for how we would leave the airport let alone food and sleeping for the night. But that's how this trip was going to be. We would just figure it out as we went along.

We grabbed a taxi who promised us a fix rate to the nearest campsite. Two miles later and $50 for the ride (what? lame!) we ended at our first and only KOA Campground with two huge cardboard boxes, a backback, a sick dready, and an unsure girl.

We were so tired and stressed that no pictures were taken of our crazy luggage and Blake putting his bike back together in the parking lot. We over payed for the tent camping spot and Blake ventured for food while I set up our tent and gear for the night. I knew it was a truly rough night when Blake came back with Wendy's. If you know Blake you know that is past a last resort option. I was totally ok with the cheeseburger and fries.

I remember calling my dad and letting him know we landed and were setting up camp. It was so nice to hear his voice and know that he was always a phone call away. We were doing this. We weren't talking about it any more. We weren't planning. We weren't even saying goodbye anymore. We were in it.

It rained that night. We were so close to the airport that I thought the planes were going to land on us every five minutes during the night. Blake was still sick and never had time to recover from his bike accident. I had my first melt-down. He was so good with me when I was worried about what we were doing. I was more concerned that we were camping near Canada! And in Canada. I knew it was the summer, but I had never been that far north before. What were we getting into?! We will freeze to death in our sleeping bags. I didn't sleep.

The next morning was the first official day on this journey. A new start to the trip. That day we walked through the market and looked around a little, then took the longest bus ride I have been on, checked into a motel, took a cab to the Honda dealership, jumped on that thing, and rode back to the motel together. That ride back was the moment I knew we were crazy. But the only kind of crazy that was good.

The next day we packed up the way we would for the next two months and headed back into downtown Seattle. It was the 4th of July. We checked into our hostel, The Green Tortoise, which was right on the corner of the Public Market. The hostel was incredible (I described it as something from Harry Potter in my blogpost while there.) After two months and 2,500 miles, that first hostel was by far the best one of any we stayed at. That night we went across the street to Victor Steinbrueck Park, which overlooked the water and watched several firework shows go off. It was the best 4th of July.

I'm pretty sure during our few days there we walked every block of the great city of Seattle. We went to the art museum, ate fresh fruits from the market, watched fish fly over people's heads with lots of yelling, grabbed a photo by the first Starbucks, went to the coolest REI for some gear, and on our way out of town we checked out the Troll Under the Bridge. We both loved Seattle. But I am convinced that's because we saw it on the only sunny days they had out of the whole year. It was beautiful.

The journey to get ourselves out of New Mexico and Colorado, and to make this travel dream reality wasn't always pretty and enjoyable. But when is life always pretty and enjoyable? Those rough times, and stressful situations only make the joyous ones THAT much more of a miracle and appreciated. Looking back, I would NEVER trade a second of what we went through and what we got to see and feel and experience. I could not have asked for a better partner on this journey. Blake is determined and sees everything in a way I don't, just as I see things in ways he doesn't. I had a travel buddy, my best friend, and my lover by my side every day, and to be able to have him know every feeling and know every sight of where we were is the best gift I could have asked for.

The next move was to get out of Seattle and on the ferry to Bainbridge Island.