Well, we finally made it to Olympia. We're at a place called Chez Cascadia. (http://www.chezcascadia.org). It is hostel of sorts that caters to budget conscious travelers that do not mind sharing a room with a stranger. It's basically a house that has bunk beds in a couple of the rooms. The owners showed us around the place and then promptly let Taran and I have the run of the whole house. It is 100 times better than spending 2 hours setting up camp, spending a cold night on the ground and then spending 3 hours putting everything back in the trailer and panniers. Hot showers are included (which is a luxury compared to a campground - the Dosewallips shower was cold and we had to pay 50 cents for 3 minutes).
So far we've stayed in the following State Parks - Sequim, Dosewallips, and Potlatch. There was a park we could have stayed at that we just liked the name of: Hamma Hamma.
We've met some really neat people along the way. Yesterday we were riding our bicycles when a car pulled over in front of Taran. A fellow jumped out and said "Cookie Break". I don't think Taran heard him because he was wearing his MP3 player. I heard him though and quickly made a beeline to where he had stopped his car. He introduced himself as Ryan and he offered me a huge chocolate chip cookie. They were awesome. He had recently ridden the same route we were riding and must have known how much we could use a cookie break. He also gave us some water. He also told us to say hello to the people at Chez Cascadia for him because he had been there a number of times.
Last night we became good friends with the lady in the campsite next to us. She was a gal of about 54 (birthday in December) that I think lived in her Van with her white chihuahua. She gave us a can of Lentil soup, some milk and loaned us a lamp. We shared our dinner with her and tried to help fix her bicycle. I was quite taken with her generosity. However, she did delay us leaving by probably 45 minutes cause she liked to chat!!!
One of the biggest challenges is finding food. We cannot carry tons of food with us so we need to buy it along the way. Finding places to buy stuff has been problematic. There were times when we might not see a store for 20 miles. Now that we've chowed down most of the nuts we purchased at Thrifty's before we left (okay so 5 pounds of nuts was too much) we have more room to carry more variety and not squish the bread so much.
Unlike Taran who apparently can sleep through and on anything, I have been finding it difficult to sleep. The first night I was worried the raccoons were going to chew through the panniers and eat our food. I don't think it's the fact that there is only 4 centimeters between me and the ground because I typically feel comfortable. However, the last two nights I don't quite know why it has been difficult. It could be that my bladder is telling me to go to the bathroom but my thermometer is telling me that it's too bloody cold to get out of my sleeping bag!!!
Ryan (the cookie guy) told us that we have already overcome one of the biggest mountains that we will encounter along our trip...and we did that on our second day out. I'm really proud of Taran, he is doing fabulously well and is being a real trooper. I am really enjoying my time with him. Thank you Phaedra for making this happen.
I noticed that a few people have made some comments. That's great and we appreciate your support. Please note that we cannot respond to any comments cause your email does not show up. I tried responding to some and I got an error message.
There's no pictures today cause this computer is running linux and does not have the proper hardware/software to allow me to upload any.
Cheers,
Fireball
So far we've stayed in the following State Parks - Sequim, Dosewallips, and Potlatch. There was a park we could have stayed at that we just liked the name of: Hamma Hamma.
We've met some really neat people along the way. Yesterday we were riding our bicycles when a car pulled over in front of Taran. A fellow jumped out and said "Cookie Break". I don't think Taran heard him because he was wearing his MP3 player. I heard him though and quickly made a beeline to where he had stopped his car. He introduced himself as Ryan and he offered me a huge chocolate chip cookie. They were awesome. He had recently ridden the same route we were riding and must have known how much we could use a cookie break. He also gave us some water. He also told us to say hello to the people at Chez Cascadia for him because he had been there a number of times.
Last night we became good friends with the lady in the campsite next to us. She was a gal of about 54 (birthday in December) that I think lived in her Van with her white chihuahua. She gave us a can of Lentil soup, some milk and loaned us a lamp. We shared our dinner with her and tried to help fix her bicycle. I was quite taken with her generosity. However, she did delay us leaving by probably 45 minutes cause she liked to chat!!!
One of the biggest challenges is finding food. We cannot carry tons of food with us so we need to buy it along the way. Finding places to buy stuff has been problematic. There were times when we might not see a store for 20 miles. Now that we've chowed down most of the nuts we purchased at Thrifty's before we left (okay so 5 pounds of nuts was too much) we have more room to carry more variety and not squish the bread so much.
Unlike Taran who apparently can sleep through and on anything, I have been finding it difficult to sleep. The first night I was worried the raccoons were going to chew through the panniers and eat our food. I don't think it's the fact that there is only 4 centimeters between me and the ground because I typically feel comfortable. However, the last two nights I don't quite know why it has been difficult. It could be that my bladder is telling me to go to the bathroom but my thermometer is telling me that it's too bloody cold to get out of my sleeping bag!!!
Ryan (the cookie guy) told us that we have already overcome one of the biggest mountains that we will encounter along our trip...and we did that on our second day out. I'm really proud of Taran, he is doing fabulously well and is being a real trooper. I am really enjoying my time with him. Thank you Phaedra for making this happen.
I noticed that a few people have made some comments. That's great and we appreciate your support. Please note that we cannot respond to any comments cause your email does not show up. I tried responding to some and I got an error message.
There's no pictures today cause this computer is running linux and does not have the proper hardware/software to allow me to upload any.
Cheers,
Fireball
1 comment:
Excellent updates, guys! This sounds like a great trip - I'm jealous.
Hope the weather gets warmer!
Dave
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