Blog # 1: Anacortes, WA to Priest River, Idaho (May 30-June 5)

Stats and Fun Facts

6 days riding
420 miles
4 mountain passes
Highest elevation – 5575 (Sherman Pass)

Our favorite sign/flag: Flapping below a Trump 2020 sign (BTW, did they ever figure out who won that election?) was a flag that read: “Mandate Freedom” Ok…
Josh’s favorite road sign (and one that makes his father nervous!)

At a cycling Pace

I’ve always felt, and I’m fond of saying, that bicycling takes you through the world at an ideal speed. It’s fast enough to cover ground (see stats above) and to take you from one world to another in 3-4 hours – from our house in Dorchester to horse farms in Dover, MA, from the ocean to a forest, from the heart of Boston to Henry David Thoreau’s cabin in the woods, etc. And yet you travel at a slow enough pace and along roads that allow you to appreciate the scenery and take in the surroundings. On my cycling trips, I’ve always enjoyed sizing places up – mostly inaccurately, but still. What would it be like to live here? How do people make their living? Where would I fit in in this town or city? I notice the anti-poverty organizations or the Housing Authorities and think, maybe I’d work there if I lived here.

A week in, this cross-country cycling odyssey has made me appreciate the 12-ish mile/hour pace all the more. Each day has taken us to – and through – completely different places: the Puget Sound to the foot of the North Cascade mountains; from snowy mountain passes to apple orchards, from cutesy tourist towns to down-on-their luck agriculture or lumber small city hubs. We’ve camped in a national park, stayed at a country spa/resort, and shared a Roadway Inn & Suites with a large group of migrant farmworkers, who cooked their dinner in trailers in the parking lot.

Roadside Inn in Omak, WA

Our campsite on our first night in North Cascade National Park

And along the way, we’ve seen rural poverty, lake resorts, lumber mills, breathtaking vistas, and 70 straight miles of unpopulated forests and meadows. (Oh, and we watched the Celtics beat the Warriors on Wednesday night!) And we still have 7 weeks to go!

We crossed from Washington into Idaho yesterday evening. We’re enjoying a planned rest day in the pretty little town of Priest River, which was first settled as a lumbering town. I’m in a hip café that would not be out of place in Somerville or Cambridge. The restaurant next store, on the other hand, has a flyer on their door promoting the American Legion’s fundraiser: they’re raffling off a semi-automatic rifle! We will mostly steer clear of politics while we’re out here – not that I’ll shy away from it when asked but but we won’t lead with it. We see it as a chance to, among other things, get too know and better understand people along our way. We’ll see how that goes, but so far so good.

Ain’t no mountain high enough

As beautiful as Washington State is, we’re glad and proud to be done with it! The Cascades are no joke, in case you were wondering. As you’ll see above, we crossed over 4 mountain passes. The first and worst, over Washington Pass on day 2, had us going from an elevation of 500 feet to 5500 feet over 40 absolutely grueling miles. During this and the other climbs that followed on days 3, 4 and 5 we spent hours and hours traveling at 4 and 6 MPH. Most people walk at 3 MPH, for perspective. This reminded me of what I told Josh as we prepared for the trip – bicycle touring with 45 pounds of gear should not be confused with road riding or racing on a sleek carbon fiber bike. A few weeks before our trip, Josh finished 4th in a 20-mile race in Plymouth, MA with a time of 54 minutes. Impressive! But I think those arduous miles up the Washington Pass and the others that followed at average speeds of 6-7 MPH were even more impressive. We’re pack mules, not stallions.

Climbing toward the Washington Pass in the North Cascades.

That’s a lot of stuff to carry up across the Washington Pass!

Ho-hum and fellow travelers

We’re traveling along an established cross-country cycling route – the Northern Route that mostly runs 50-100 miles from the Canadian border – with excellent route maps provided by the Adventure Cycling Association. As a result, we’ve come to meet a handful of people doing some version of what we’re doing, and we’ve had a great time riding with a few of them. The only downside is that it makes our Epic Cross-Country Bike Trip seem a little ho-hum. Like when I proudly informed the desk clerk at the Northern Inn in Republic, WA that I couldn’t give her the make and model of my car because my son and I arrived in Republic over the Wauconda Pass by bicycle, not automobile, and that we will be riding all the way to Boston! Take that!

“Interesting,” she said, “We just had two guys stay here who are also riding to Boston. And last week we had 3 men from Denmark ride through town. They’re doing 150 miles a day!”

“I see,” I replied “Can you suggest a good place for dinner?

On the other hand, we made a new friend. Ed Rodriguez is a 73 year old retired firefighter from Santa Barbara. He’s an avid cyclist – one of those people with about 10 bicycles. Eds’s wife died of cancer 2 years ago and he’s been writing his next chapter, which includes riding from Bellingham, WA to Virginia over the summer. For those of you in my and Beth’s family, there’s a lot of Rich Caputo in Ed Rodriguez. (For those not in our extended family (1) that’s a compliment and (2) take my word for it.) We rode with him for a day and a half. We kept each other’s spirits up through a few rainy days. Ed – and Jim and Kay, the 70-something year old, semi-retired veterinarian couple riding across the country on recumbent cycles – are inspirations to me and Josh. “Use it or lose it”, is Ed’s motto. Ed’s route diverged from ours yesterday but we’ll stay in touch and I told him I would engage him as my retirement coach.

Spending this time with Josh has been wonderful. We’ve had our moments, of course, but it has been great to spend this time with him. I knew he had the cycling skills and the determination to pull this off with me, but to see it everyday has made me proud and grateful. The other day I thought about how bad I felt when he fell off his bike 4-5 years ago on what may have been a too-intense ride I took him on. Look at him now! I’ve also appreciated his awareness of his needs and willingness to express them. Finally, he has cared for and about me right along, including asking if I’m eating enough, if I’m riding at a sustainable pace, etc. On his own, he’d be 50 or more miles further along, but he’s hangin’ with his old man, which I love.

Shout Outs:

There are a lot of people who have and will have a hand in this adventure. Beth did so much to help us plan this trip, and the work of our family and life is falling on her while we’re gone. She and Julian both had a “go for it” attitude about this trip that made it possible. They have and will keep us grounded and connected while we travel.

So many people at Just A Start, where I work, are stepping up in my absence. They also offered nothing but encouragement for this crazy plan, and their commitment and capabilities allow me to be completely relaxed about work over these 8 weeks. They should know that I brag about Just A Start and the work we do to anyone interested. (Amazingly, this may have yielded us a volunteer! It turns out that the clerk at the Golden Spur Motel in eastern WA was there on a visit from Belmont, MA. Before long we figured that he’s a biochemist at a bio-medical firm that’s moving to a new space across the street from Just A Start’s soon-to-be constructed Rindge Commons project, with it’s state-of-the-art training center for our biomedical and IT training programs. He wants to volunteer so he can connect graduates with jobs in the sector and at his company! Crazy! The motel was a little “sketchy”, to use Josh’s term, but Just A Start scored a volunteer.)

My cousin Ted and his partner and fiancée Herry get a special shout out for hosting us and sending us off from their beautiful Seattle home over Memorial Day weekend. And how great that my sister Emily came out to spend the sendoff weekend with us. Those were anxious pre-ride days and it was important for us to be with people we loved, including Beth and Julian, who flew out with us and drove us (in Herry’s car!) to Anacortes, where we set out with them cheering us on!

Dipping our tires in the Pacific/ Puget Sound, Washington - and we are off!

Lastly

Edit from Josh’s later in the day: We went to the supermarket to get granola bars and some other snacks and we met a very friendly cashier named Nicole and behind us in line was a gentleman named Bill Lewis from Cambridge who does James Maddison impersonations, how cool! That has been one of my favorite things about the trip so far, meeting so many interesting people with lives so different then ours, yet all of these people are still so wonderful and friendly!

As always PLEASE donate if you can and have not already and don’t forget to share our adventure with your friends on social media or through conversation!