Nancy got to Anacortes on Wednesday and was I ever glad to see her! We had a wonderful dinner out with Patrick and Nancy's old school friend Rainer. We stayed at the incredible Autumn Leaves B&B. What a change from camping! And when they heard Patrick was going to go camp in the park, they invited him to stay, gratis, in one of their rooms, complete with breakfast in the morning! (Thanks, Roger and Jean!)

After a wobbly-legged 75-mile ride yesterday we made it to Anacortes, Washington, and the SEA! The goal of the journey. Here we are.

Today, Chris, Patrick and I are going to take the ferry out to the San Juan Islands for some light cycling.

And Nancy arrives here on Wednesday!

I'm still riding with Patrick and Chris, up into the North Cascades National Park and scenic highway. It's a 3500-foot climb up Washington Pass, yet another of the big humps we've crossed in Washington. But glorious.

On the way up it looked like forest fires and their smoke were going to make our passage less than picturesque. It was just plain smoke as we left Winthrop; the sun was a red ball in the sky at midday. But it cleared with the afternoon, and we climbed into incredible sharp glacier-cut valleys.

The valleys are like none I've ever seen: There was no obvious pass out of the huge, jagged, glacier-cut cliffs all around us. But at the last moment the road cut up the side of one of the cliffs and over a knoll into a higher valley. The knoll was Washington Pass. It's incredible, though - the mountains were still steep on every side. It's not like the passes I've crossed before!

On Friday we spent most of the day hiking some glorious trails that gave us huge (and mostly smoke-free) views of the Cascades, incredible endless mountains. One set of peaks was completely enclosed with a glacier.

Finally we started down the mountain at about 4:45pm. We'd eaten all our food, so had to make it to the next town, 37 miles down. When we got there we found the store closed so Patrick led and we drafted and really screamed for the 15 miles to the next town as darkness closed around us. A glorious day.

Hey, for the first time in 1900 miles, I ran into two bike tourists going my direction! I was just getting to the top of Sherman Pass, a 4000+ foot climb (big!) and here they come by me, sprinting. I thought, of course, that they came up the whole pass at that rate. But it turned out they were sprinting to the top :-)

Chris Kval (from Connecticut) and Patrick Stevens (from England) are just getting to the end of their cross-country routel. They both rode from Virginia to here on Adventure Cycling's Trans-Am route. Patrick had already ridden down the east coast of the US from Montreal. Chris is nearing the end of his adventure, but Patrick still intends to ride down the west coast to at least San Francisco.

Anyway, we camped together last night and it's awfully nice to have some good conversation!

Well, I've been moving down the rivers (Flathead, Clark Fork, Pend O'Reille) for days at a pretty fast pace - 80 miles some days. But today I climbed up and over a divide and felt fine on the climb, but lousy on the descent. I just wanted to go sleep somewhere. It was hot (really hot up here!) and a hard day. I think it's time for a real day off. So tonight I'm at a motel in Colville, Washington, and tomorrow I think I'll just ride the 8 miles or so to Kettle Falls and find a place to camp there. Then comes the big climb.

Over by Missoula I met a bike tourist going east who was only 6 days out of Seattle! He was going 110 miles per day, if you can believe it. He had a road bike, just rear panniers, no stove ("I eat cold food") and looked really light and fast. (It looked like he had tent and sleeping bag and nothing else!)

It got me to thinking about the tradeoffs we make. I'm carrying 60-70 pounds of gear and food and can stop wherever I want. I have a much heavier rig. I can go on dirt roads. I can go cold places. He can't do all those things. But he can sure travel fast. It made me a little envious. I'll have to try it his way sometime.

I have slept near a railroad for several of the last few nights. The first night I was very near the tracks. So here are some tips:

1. Never pitch your tent on the tracks.
2. Even if you obey #1, you still need a vibration-activated flashing light in your tent that says "YOU ARE NOT ON THE TRACKS". That way when the train starts rumbling your way you don't have to jump out of the tent.

Well, having sampled the Salmon and the Flathead Rivers, I've decided that river baths are as good as showers, when you can get one. So you *don't* have to find a pay shower, if there's a river (minus a mosquito buildup) handy.