November 3, 2002 from Seattle, Washington

And we pick up from Yakima, Washington, where we are experiencing more unexpected hospitality...

10/28, day 70: Have a wonderful lazy morning in our new friends Eric and Melanee's house - take a shower, do some laundry, read the paper, air out my filthy-smelling sleeping bag, write some postcards. They kindly offer to let us take a rest day in their almost-bed-and-breakfast guest rooms and, since we were on road for six days, decided to rest on the seventh. In afternoon Glen and I walk into downtown Yakima, a mix of up-and-coming facades, antique shops, and empty buildings. Found a good taco at a little Mexican place, the kind where they have trouble taking your order in English. Talked about how for most people in the world life revolves around a regular job that takes up most of their time. Wondered if that's the way it should be. When Eric came home from work we looked at maps with him and planned our route through Mt. Rainier area to Seattle. Played Scrabble with Eric and some friends of theirs while Melanee whipped up an excellent supper served in elegant buffet dishes. So good to spend time with a couple close to our age and be able to relax in their beautifully decorated yet very lived-in house.

10/29, day 71: I woke up to an answering machine message from one of Melanee's friends saying that she is on her way to Seattle and it's snowing and sticking and they might have to turn around. Melanee called a few minutes later and said that it was snowing some places in town, sunny yesterday having turned into cold and cloudy today. We checked the weather on the internet and decided to head out anyway, even though our route will take us through a high mountain pass. Left the house a little sad to be out in the 32 degree cold, but grateful for warm bellies and full food stores. Riding out of town went through lots of apple orchards, a staple of Yakima area agriculture. Began to ride upstream beside a mountain creek, heading toward high ridges dusted with fresh snow. Still we ride on. A snowplow passed us and pickups coming down off the mountain had an inch or two of snow on their hoods; still we ride, knowing we might be in for a really cold night but both feeling adventurous. Glen expresses nervousness about the night and about our ability to make it over the pass that day, but I am more concerned with short-term comfort so we find a warm spot to eat lunch, a small laundromat at one of the last little store complexes before the climb to Chinook Pass. Talk to some of the hunters and find out there is some snow on the road at the pass, but it is open. We meet a hunter named Lowell who offers us a place to stay on the other side of Mt. Rainier if we need it. We ride out after lunch and realise that with two hours of daylight and thirty miles yet to the pass we will not make it today. Find a nice camping spot in a pine-sheltered area with picnic tables and privies. Go exploring through the snow up and down the nearby creek. Collect lots of firewood and build a huge fire to keep warm as the sun goes down. Cook dinner and drink some wine that Melanee gave us. Tear ourselves away from the fire to huddle in cold sleeping bags.

10/30, day 72: In the morning it is 22 degrees in the tent and 12 outside by Glen's thermometer/watch. We both get out of tent almost as soon as it is light to warm up by the fire. We wait until 10:30 to leave camp, but it is still only 20. However, the sun hits the road shortly after we start and, with the heat our bodies generate from pedaling uphill, we are soon taking off our jackets. It turns out to be a lovely clear day, the previous day's snow melting under the bright sun. We begin eight mile climb up to Chinook Pass, are treated to magnificent mountain views over the last few miles - rocky crags, long bowl of a valley, snow-dusted pines. Over the top we round a corner and there is Mt. Rainier all exposed in a cloudless sky, diamond hunk just plopped there, all snow and rock rising high above surrounding alpine scenery. Stand and stare at it for twenty minutes, then barrel down the steep descent, stopping several times to warm our icy hands. Since it is so cold and we already had a splendid view of the mountain and we have a place to stay in Enumclaw forty miles ahead, we decide not to do any hiking in Mt. Rainier park. Arrive at Lowell's house around sunset, he puts us up in an RV parked in his yard that he and his hunting partner Bob had just used for camping while they tracked elk. So nice to be in a place with heat and a stove to cook our dinner on.

10/31, day 73: It's Halloween. We think about riding into Seattle in costume, but it doesn't happen. Our hosts Lowell and Kay and Bob all putter around in their kitchen making us breakfast. We have a great time chatting with them, hearing stories from World War II. A tailwind speeds us to Auburn, suburb below Seattle, as we look back often at Mt. Rainier rising out of the plains behind us. Find a trail that takes us almost into Seattle, then it just ends under a bridge. Another cyclist gives directions and we are off again, up the side of Lake Washington. A little shocking to back in a metropolis. A bit lost, we start following a bicyclist who seems to be going our way. We catch up to him and chat, he takes us over back streets and through alleys to the university, where we get a bike trail that takes us right to Bill and Jan's house, the parents of a friend of Glen. They are not home, so we find the spare key and let ourselves in and unpack. Have dinner with Bill and Jan, getting to know them. Sit in the hot tub before bed. Plan to be here for a few days.

11/1, day 74: Today a rest and writing day. After finding breakfast I settle in front of the computer, typing poems I've written on the trip and writing emails. Had fun being in a nice kitchen, making lunch and dinner. (Am getting good at finding things in strange kitchens on this trip.) Glen went out to buy some postcards and other things, came back from the mall a little dazed from all the people buying all the stuff. He spends evening writing postcards to people we've met. Watched some sports, couch time that we crave on this trip since it's not usually available to us. I made cookies and watched late night TV.

11/2, day 75: Find myself getting up earlier and earlier these days, can't seem to "sleep in" past 8 or 9, my body used to following the dictates of the sun. Plus, I look forward to days and their activities, so why stay in bed? I said to Glen today that this may be the most worry-free time of my adult life. I wake up and there are no bad memories to come crashing in and ruin the innocence of sleep. More often, I shake off confining dreams and wake happy to find that they are not real. Today I went downtown by myself. Since we have access to a car here, both Glen and I have gone off to do things on our own, probably the furthest apart physically we've been since the trip started; when you are on bicycles it's hard to get too far away from each other. Had fun walking around downtown and visiting the Seattle Art Museum, a Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo exhibit, especially interesting to me since I could be in Mexico in a month or two. Felt good to be in the midst of so many people again. Bill and Jan took us out for the evening to a great Mexican restaurant where we stuffed ourselves on very large burritos. Looked at the lights of downtown from Queen Anne's Hill, then found dessert. Great conversations with them, so comfortable chatting - Bill also a biker and Jan a fellow arts-lover, so always something to talk about. After being on the road so long, felt like I was actually stringing several intelligent sounding sentences together again.

11/3, day 76: This morning I had fun continuing a tradition that I've started on this trip - making buttermilk biscuits and brunch for us and our hosts. So fun to fly around the kitchen, pans clattering and pots sizzling, then sit down and eat good food with good folks. We all went on an outtie to the locks on the Ship Canal, a waterway built around the turn of the century that connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington, a meeting of saltwater and fresh. Fascinating to watch the operation of the locks as they raised and lowered boats. Fun to see all the small craft out for the day and watch the interactions of the boaters and the lock people. In the evening Glen and I went to Compline at a local cathedral, a really laid-back, come-as-you-are service with mostly young white people sitting on pews, laying on the floor, leaning heads against pillars. A male choir sang the liturgy and a nappy sort of peace settled over me, drifting away in that echoing God-space, forgetting that I am in Seattle and becoming a part again of a universal family.

Keep in touch - Joe (lappjoe@yahoo.com) and Glen (glapp@juno.com)!