Spent the day resting, mailing stuff home already, and re-nourishing ourselves after our first ride in the west yesterday . . .

. . . our rebuilding regime included a hearty and nourishing breakfast back at our new favorite restaurant in town the blowing alley’s, Family Restaurant.

. . .  where in typical road warrior fashion there wasn’t much left on the plate 15 minutes later.

Had to climb a hill on the way to church and the old pegs were really howling  . . . problem?  Yes, probably not enough nourishment yet.

Remedy: continue to replace those valuable calories we  burned yesterday with burritos ‘as big as the size of your head’ and several beers . . .

Here is my ‘road wife’, Denise, enjoying a waffle cone ’as big as your head’ a perfect finish to a perfect day in Anacortes . . .

. . .  and having been in the medical field she can dispense anything you might need  to help with ‘overindulging’ from her right, front pannier pocket!!!

Officially our big adventure starts tomorrow!!!!

 

We all slept better last night only because we had not slept well the night before, had eaten too my much during the day and had not done a lick of exercise, except walking down to the dining car. Soon we were into the Northern Cascade range and near the end or our train adventure.

We de-trained in Everett, Washington two hours later than the expected 8:04am scheduled arrival time. I suppose for a 52 hour journey that’s not too bad!!

On of the things that set us back was the difficulty they had in Spokane, WA at 2:00am hooking a privately owned rail  car to the back of the train.

Nice setup though!!! The cars range from $10,000-$75,000 to rent and that doesn’t include the $10,000 hauling fee Amtrak charges to attached the car behind whichever line you decide to use. But . . . you do have your own balcony!!!

We said goodbye to all the new friends we had who were seated around us for the last 2.5 days and soon were standing at station in Everett as the train tooted it’s whistle and rolled away. End of Adventure #1.  . . . onto Adventure #2!!!

Although the bikes were ‘hung’ in the baggage car like a side of beef, there is till ‘some assembly required’ and the need to make sure everything is securely attached . . .

. . . and by 12:30pm, we were ready to roll on.

I had marked on the map where Cherie, our semi-conductor, had told us where she lived and her house was still there, we reported to her.  Green in color  and sitting next to a large two story tan colored house . . ‘

. . .  there it sat waiting for her return. She and the Seattle based train crew work 6 days on and then are off for 5 days, unless they are on the Stand By list which means they can be recalled or another trip within 48 hours of getting home.

We stopped to get a sandwich before getting on the ferry. Jim bought a Powerball ticket with a payoff of $485 million. He told the store owner if he won he would buy him a new car and the rest of us dinner. I suggested if he won he also buy his riding compadres a Class A motor home to accompany us eastward on our ride!!!

The 1:00pm ferry arrived just as we got to the dock and bicyclists are the first to load before cars and trucks.

Lisa, Cherie’s sister, checked my ticket to make sure I had not ‘accidently’ received the Senior discount. I was good to go!!!

Also lining up with us on the bow of the ferry were the motorcycles. I had a nice chat with Liam. from the UK, who has been on the road since June of 2016. He was on his way to Alaska. An engineer, who lives in London, he took a leave of absence to see the world . . .

. . .and he had!!! The red line represents the route of his current tour. He met a couple of Aussies when he was down under and they convinced him to accompany them on a trip next year for a three month tour from the UK through Russia, China, Mongolia and points east shown by the blue line I added. Typical of many many conversation with folks we will have in the next three months, a great conversation with Liam ended after about 10 minutes. He roared off on his BMW at 60 miles an hour and we roared off at 10mph . . . never to see each other again!!!

And what a ride we had. We‘de-boarded’  the ferry at 1:00pm and headed north on Whidbey Is towards our destination for the night, Anacortes.

There is basically one main highway that runs up the middle of the island and everything motorized or not seems to take it. But folks are tolerate of bicyclists and there was wide shoulder most of the way.

Houston . . . pretty close to Huston who I am already missing!!!

Great scenery along the way including these two in a kayak. Picture perfect day with blues skies, mid 70’s, no wind and smooth roads. Perfect riding, a mellow experience . . .

. . . and if you were not mellow enough, you could stop by the Vapor Dude and pick up whatever more you needed!!!

The road did meaner along the coast in a lot of places and afforded some wonderful scenery .

mmmmm . . .hope that does not include bikes!!! Denise, with her recumbent, really has some fun descents. Yesterday her top speed was 34.9mph but she has reached over 50mph on her recumbent.

We soon passed over the Deception Pass bridge where we de-biked and walked back to the middle of the bridge where we were had . . .

. . .some great views. Beautiful cycling. We are hoping everyday could be like this. As we rolled into Anacortes we were ready for the day to end though having biked 64 miles and climbed 3,595.8 feet . . . loaded!!!

And we were hungry! Right across the street from the Anacortes Inn was the bowling alley that also contained the Family Restaurant. WHICH . . . claims the best fish fry in the state. However, we soon learned the menu said only the best fish fry in Anacortes. But we all three had it and it was EXCELLENT.

Our serve Pam was excellent too and gave us the whole scoop on Anacortes . . .

. . .  Oh, they even had a wall of accolades for the fish fry. We add our ACA (Adventure Cycling Association) approval. It had been quite a day and by 10:00pm it was time for bed. Laying completely prone for the first time in 2.5 days was sooooooooooooo nice. We’ll be on the ground soon for the next three months!!!

Inside . . . there was lots of drama regarding folks who were traveling by them selves trying to take two seats with either their gear or trying to lay across both to sleep. The train has basically been full since we left and there are not many spare seats.

Here the conductor tries to calm down a belligerent rider who was bout one stop away from being ejected from the train in Havre, MT!!! You can see from the woman on the rights face, she had had about enough of the whole thing.  So had the rest of us.

We finally left ND and entered MT,  which in the east looked a lot like ND, but before long we we abut ready to enter Glacier National Park. Unfortunately, due to the constant pulling over on sidings to let freight go by, we were now running behind schedule and went though the park at night.  Although Amtrak has the right of way on rail lines most freight trains are 160-200 cars long and will not fit on the siding . . . so guess who pulls over instead.  Time for bed!!!

Our ‘official trip’ starts on Sunday but Denise and my adventure starts a little earlier.

She lives in Muskegon, MI and took the high speed ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee where I picked her up and we traveled to Madison and spent the night at our house.

The next day emJay and neighbor John shuttled us to Columbus, our nearest Amtrak station that takes checked luggage, for our 5:00pm departure.

Thanks to John for the use of his pickup and his time transporting us north. Lots of gear!

At Columbus we met ‘Amtrak Bob’, right, who handled our checked luggage and got our travel plans all squared away. On the left is Jimmy who lives in Milton and is a ‘train spotter’. Bob says Jimmy is it at the station everyday! Even has his own earmuffs!!!

A pleasant surprise was that Amtrak no longer requires bikes to be boxed for travel. You just roll the bikes down to the checked luggage point . . .

. . .  and ‘Amtrak Bob’ hands them up to the loading staff. The are evidently hung from the ceiling of the luggage car. Easy on, easy off . . . just like on the Continent!!!

The train pulled out at 5:02pm, two minutes early. Soon we met Cherie, who we termed our semi-conductor. She works across three cars and reports to the conductor. She probably has an official Amtrak title but we thought Semi-Conductor seemed appropriate. She ruled the roost in the three cars. When we arrive in Everett, on Friday, we ride 7 miles to the ferry that will take us to Whidbey Is. Ends ups she lives two blocks from the ferry landing in Everett! She also found our fellow rider Jim, who had boarded in Chicago, ahead of us. We all had a nice chat and we invited ourselves to stop at her home in Everett for showers. Unfortunately she is traveling to the end of the line in Seattle before returning home..

At  7:15 we were seated for dinner in the dining car as we passed over the Mississippi River at LaCrosse . . .

. . . where we shared a table with Joan from Illinois and Steve from New Jersey. Steve is a retire vocational instructor and is traveling to Seattle. Joan is only going as far as Fargo where she will ‘detrain’ at 3:30am to attend an in-service massage seminar starting tomorrow. She specializes in ‘foot massage’. Not massaging YOUR feet, but using her feet to massage your back, arms, legs, etc. More surface area in her feet than in her hands.

Lynne was our waitress and was a real character. She is retiring after this trip ending a 12 year career with Amtrak. She uses Lynne or Shirley as a name. Lynne when the customers fill out the service survey and they feel she has done a good job and Shirley when they are not happy!!!! I had the Amtrak Angus Hanger Steak, mashed potatoes, veggies and Whiskey chocolate bundt cake for dessert. l washed it all down with a half bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon!!! Fell asleep right away!!! But it didn’t last!

Always a good idea, if one has the time,  to do a pre-ride about, ‘rideabout shakedown tour’,  I have the time and was anxious to make sure Connie ‘the Clydesdale’ Cannondale, had one more big ride in her, the new equipment I had installed and my body all worked OK!!!

Connie received a new bottom bracket, chainrings, chain, cassette, shifters and brake levers. Also a new headlight/taillight, USB hub charging system and a new Sella Atomica saddle.

I checked in with George, one of my mid week riding buddies, and he was anxious to test out his new Lindsey framed touring bike.

So we headed off for a four night, five day ride through the hills of SW Wisconsin, camping along the way.

260 miles latter I am hear to tell you the tour was a success!!!

Below are the details:

We decided to go out and be done before the big Memorial Day weekend so we were not on the road during that mess. Our camps would be at state parks, except at Spring Green where Tower Hill State Park has no showers!

Leaving at 9:00am on a Sunday morning we quickly arrived in Mt Horeb, home of the Grumpy Troll. This one is happy because he is on two wheels!

Along the way we me Pat and Greg from Platteville heading east to Milwaukee, north to Cedarburg and then back home. Nice couple!

After fighting a headwind most of the way, we finally arrived at Gov. Dodge for night Number 1.

The Campsite had plenty of room for all our our gear . . .

. . . and more!

Always amazing how it all fits back in ones panniers . . .

. . . .mmmmmm who owns the NeoAir, in the black stuffsack,  and who owns the air mattress bed and banana carrier????

Here is George’s new tent that he nicknamed, ‘the circus tent’. A 17 foot long Big Agnes tent he bought in the REI Garage Sale area after it had sat there for sale for a year. Finally, they dropped the price to where they all sold.

. . . big vestibule. Evidently the tent was marketed to outdoor enthusiasts who own dogs and want to bring them along on their adventures. They have their own bedroom.

No dog, but everything on the bike fits under the cover. During inclement weather one could also cook under in the vestibule.

George served as ‘chef du jour’ each day, whipping up some tasty viddles!!!

. . . yes, we ate the whole thing.

Of course the chef had a little ‘creative enabler’ to help the cooking process!

The next morning as we rolled through Dodgeville I saw this work of ‘rural art’ of repeating patterns.

This themed hotel put Dodgeville on the map during the 1980-90’s Kinkiest thing west of the Poconos’s!!!

The well outfitted touring biker! George’s Lindsey buildup worked great although he may need a new fork.

Near Montfort,and the wind farm , as it started to rain . . . out came my new Showers Pass rain gear. Worked great!

As we climbed through the valleys and hollers’, the road names kept getting more unique!

Night Number 2 at Wyalusing State Park . . .

. . . this looks like a good site. During mid week, we had our pick of sites.

Home sweet home overlooking the Mississippi and Clayton, Iowa.

George produce another great meal with all the ingredients coming straight out of his panniers!!

It started to rain again after dinner and rained most of the night. The several times I had to get up, there were tremendous lightning shows, 360 degrees around. As we biked across the Wisconsin River in the morning, we could look over our shoulders to what we had climbed up to yesterday. The red oval shows the campground. mmmmm . . . maybe being on top of a bluff, in the middle of an electrical storm was not the safest place to be!!!

Great riding the next day through Crawford and  Richland Counties. Scenic, good roads and low traffic . . .

. . . if only the sun had been out!

Pride of ownership displayed in this farmer’s front yard!

Night Number 3 would have been at Tower Hill State Park, but with no shower there we opted for Wisconsin Riverside Resort . . .

. . . we were the only tenters. ALL sites had electric hookups!

They had a nice restaurant where we spent three hours out of the cold and wet, drinking beer, eating Cuban sandwiches and also this dessert our server, Andrea, suggested. George only had ONE BITE  . . but I was able to devour the rest (and he paid)!!!

Classic private resort ‘summer places’. The additions were usually bigger than the original trailers. Almost bought one for a western  mbbt clubhouse!!

We only had coffee in camp because we planned to shop for tonight’s dinner and to have breakfast at the General Store, a Spring Green tradition.

This breakfast burrito kept me going until noon!!!

George has three thermoses along and filled one with this special ‘Bike Fuel’. With all the caffeine in him, I had a hard time keeping up !!!

Speaking of fuel . . . we were beginning to run low on fuel for his stove and we had more cooking and coffee drinking to do in camp so we wheeled into the local Shell station, got in line and topped of the tank up . . .

. . . NICE!!!!

Into Sauk County we ventured, where I stopped to admire the Harrisburg School Historic site and met Dean, one of three individuals building a historic gallery and display next to the school . . .

. . . using all 4/4 sawed poplar from local farms. No nails in the building, all screws.

Should be completed by next year. We will have to do a ‘bike by’ sometime when it is open to tour the final result.

With all the wind and rain lately, we were both happy this one decided to blow down in a northerly direction and when we were not around!!!

As we biked closer to Devil’s Lake we had to get up and over over the Baraboo Range. Up ahead, you can barely see George as he approaches Freedom Rd where it tees, turns left and is a 14-16% grade to the top!!! (lots of walking on that part).

Nice scenery at the top as we bicycled along the four mile ridge line.

Then it was time for a BIGGGG downhill!!!!

We passed under a bridge right outside of Baraboo that is part of the new Hwy 12 bypass.

Nice artwork that is either a representation of the Ice Age Tr that passes nearby or the Circus World Museum located in Baraboo.

Our last night on the road will be spent in Devil’s Lake. NO CROWDS. YEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!!

. . . and a BIGGGG downhill into the park.

After dinner we biked over to the visitor store located in the Beach Chateau for some ice cream. They closed at 5:00pm and it was now 7:30pm. NOOOOO!!!

The next morning it was time to head south to Madison and the end of our ride about.  Considering we had had a quartering wind most of the way and rainy, cool days we were looking forward to the predicted sunny skies, variable winds and a 70 degree day! Unfortunately the sun didn’t come out until we got to Middleton.

We did cross the river via the Merrimac Ferry which is always a fun time.

Lots of ‘funny looks’ from folks in their cars looking at our loaded rigs.

This was a familiar routine we kept up right through the ride 10:00am  . . . snack time!!!!

We passed through Lodi on the way south which of course is the Home of Susie the duck . . .

. . . who unfortunately for any tourists stopping by was nowhere to be seen!!!

We followed Columbia County Bike Route 11 through Lodi . .

. . . and Lodi Springfield Road to Middleton. Nice riding  . . .

. . . as the cranes we had seen so often along the way bid us farewell.

All the new equipment work superbly and my bod did too. No sore knees.

The new tent emJay gave me for my b-day is fabulous!!!

George was concerned about the new Sella Anatomica that replaced the Brooks saddle I had had for many years. He has also ridden Brooks for many years on all his bikes. As a retired engineer, he was concerned about the shape and support, which he came to call a ‘hammock’. I told him EVERYBODY was very comfortable and happy. Ride on!!!

Connie’s back home for a little rest . . . but don’t get too relaxed girl, we are on the road again in a couple of weeks!!

 

So . . . it’s been nine  years since I rode the TransAm route from Williamsburg, VA to Florence, OR a total of 4,389 miles. Adventure story here.

Seems like time for another ride-about!!!

 May 2 – August 2, 2008 – 4,389 miles

March 1 – May 2, 2015 – 3,053 miles

Two years ago five of us rode Adventure Cycling’s Southern Tier route from San Diego, CA to St Augustine, FL. Adventure story here.

I’ve got one more crossing to do to finish my personal goal of the ‘trifecta of nation crossings’ and that’s the Northern Tier which should clock in at right around 4,240 miles. 2017 is the year to do it!

What’s changed in 9 years . . . lot’s of things in the world as we know it and a few in my life, too!

Our dog Kali passed over the rainbow bridge . . .

. . . but a new girl came into our lives, Daisy.

Ruth, my mother in law, now has Alzheimers, a terribly debilitating disease. emJay and her brothers have been a wonderful support network for Ruth, and to each other.

In 2015, I rode the Southern Tier and through the generosity of many friends raised over $10,000 for Alzheimer research. emJay and I and thanked them all after the ride by hosting a picnic.

I shaved off the beard I sported for 45 years,  now wear glasses . . .

. . . and nearly cut off two fingers!!

I traded in my 17 year old Toyota  and replaced it with an energy saving Chevy Volt.

I bought a another new bike TREK Domane SL7, with electric shifters . . .

. . . plus a mountain bike and haven’t injured myself (seriously) yet!!

Connie ‘the Clydesdale’ Cannondale, got a new hub generator and a set of bar end shifters (after MANY hours of contemplation to make that switch from STI shifters) and will, for the third time, carry me across these great United States!

But the main thing that has remained a constant in my live is being VERY happily married to my bride, emJay! Her ‘approval’ of my latest adventure is fantastic.  I owe her deeply . . . literally.

Every time I leave for an extended period of time on one of these crazy rides, she remodels something in the house. A trip this long means new kitchen, flooring and island. The flooring and counter people have already made several visits and they are beginning to feel like family. I am not even out of town yet! I hope she is holding the line on cabinets)!!!

The ‘before’. Check back in about 4 months for the ‘after’!!!

What lies ahead . . . one never knows what is going to happen on the road!

One morning on a tour I woke up and my toenails were painted . . .

. . . on the Southern Tier, I woke up one morning and my hair had been dyed!

course, it is easier to make new friends when you are a redhead!!!

Who knows what will happen on this trip.

Eight years older you know . . . but any wiser?