Cycling The Pacific Coast

Last night we camped on somebody's patio. They weren't home of course. It was an old barn house on hunting land, they allow hunters to camp on their land in exchange for a small fee. They probably didn't expect to have cyclists on their back porch, but you gotta do what you gotta do out here. We are cycling through a rainforest...which means lots of rain and lots of trees. It is beautifully green, but makes for a wet tent and two very wet people. Everyday  is a quest to find food, stay dry, and move forward...but along that quest we have seen the bluest of blue lakes, snow capped mountains, tide pools, dense rain forest, and some of the most beautiful campgrounds ever. We biked through a dreary rainy cold town called Forks, which is the town the Twilight series takes place in, for those Twilight  lovers out there. We also happened upon a massive bald eagle eating lunch next to the road which was pretty cool to see. Today we hit the coast and have the ocean at our side for t...

Our week in Canada is finally coming to a close right when our anxiety is building to start the trip! Both Gillian and I are very excited to hit the road today. Unfortunately the forecast looks like it will be raining once again. This coupled with one thousand feet of climbing will make for a challenging day.  We were able to squeeze in a big breakfast this morning at Floyd's cafe and contrary to what the forecast says, we have clear skies so far. Maybe we will have luck on our side for the rest of the day. Looking back at the week, we look forward to coming stateside but we're definitely going to miss the seafood here in Victoria. We both agree that we have had some of the best seafood of our life. We are now topped off with the best cycling fuel and ready to sustain ourselves on the road. Onward we go! - Colin

Crossing the U.S. border into Canada was a treat. Just before crossing the national line we were greeted by hundreds of bald eagles. The eagles stood at the edge of the ocean perched on rocks in the tide pools. I can't begin to explain what it was like to see so many bald eagles at once. Departing from the train station on our fully loaded bikes in a foreign city in the rain was a shocker. We were falling head first into this odyssey. After a long time spent gathering ourselves at the train station we hardly made it a block before we had to stop to adjust our bags, attempt at covering our gear with ponchos and fix our bikes-which were mangled from spending the train ride inside of a cardboard box. Our bikes were wobbly under the weight, our legs were wobbly from 30+ hours of sitting on a train, and Colin was wobbly from reading directions while cycling, but we clenched our teeth, cycled through downtown and within a few miles we were ecstatic and feeling awesome.   We are stil...

ITINERARY ========================================================================== Martinez, California (Mtz) to Seattle (Amtrak), Washington (Sea) Sunday June 3, 2012  10:54PM - Monday June 4, 2012  8:45PM ========================================================================== Train: 14 Coast Starlight Duration: 21H 51M      Departs:      Martinez, California (Mtz)      Sunday June 3, 2012  10:54PM      Arrives:      Seattle (Amtrak), Washington (Sea)      Monday June 4, 2012  8:45PM      Seat(s)/Room(s):      2 Reserved Coach Seats ========================================================================== Seattle (Amtrak), Washington (Sea) to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Vac) Tuesday June 5, 2012  7:40AM - Tuesday June 5, 2012  11:40AM ========================================================================== Train: 510 Casc...

Finally! The departure date is here and a train ride North has been booked with our names. Vancouver here we come! Getting to this point has been challenging, to say the least. We have agreed that getting this trip off of the ground could perhaps be the hardest part of the journey. Neither of us had any idea how difficult it would be to plan everything and get it all lined up.  Organization, we discovered, is an essential component. We have narrowed our lives down to four saddle bags each, and deciding what stays and what goes has been interesting. By interesting I mean its been downright thought provoking, creative, characteristically defining and emotional. Endless trips to REI, scouring bikes stores in multiple cities, attending used gear sales, countless checklists, first aid courses, grocery runs...LOTS has been done to prepare. Both bikes needed some modifications. We added pedal cages, relief seats, new tires, front rack, rear rack, speedometer, front and rear lights, water ...