First Week

We've reached Bellingham! Feels great to be somewhere we will stay for a while - definitely too much road time the past 5 days, but we had some good sights and visits along the way. Some highlights from the week:

July 5: continue through South Dakota along the 'Deadwood Mickelson Trail', lots of hay, wheat, ranches, and some bigger hills. Mountain bike ride near Sturgis (mostly Centennial Trail)- decent, but I had some despair at struggling up some of the longer climbs, I have lots of room for improvement!  Rudy enjoyed himself even though he was waiting for me half the time. We set up the solar shower and a makeshift screen at the back of the van, and that worked great!

Finally got onto the freeway :( Started seeing antelope, mule deer, sagebrush, and cool sandstone formations in northern Wyoming. Little bit of rain, little rainbow, cool sunset, and first sighting of the Rocky Mountains! The evening 'meal' was Wheat Thins, dried apples, and trail mix as we continued driving. Reached Lander, Wyoming to visit my cousin Dan.

July 6: Hiked the Sinks Canyon where the middle fork of Popo Agie River makes some nice waterfalls - lots of stops for looking at plants and such.

Here the river goes underground to re-appear 1/4 mile downstream

We even came across a open teepee and fire pit Dan thought may have been for a recent Sun Dance. It was a beautiful morning, but as we finished the hike the wind was picking up and darker clouds were around - amounted to nothing, but I felt like we lucked out. Next we had lunch at a surprisingly good Thai restaurant for mid-Wyoming, then headed toward Montana. Went through more sage brush country and red rocks. Soon we saw the Grand Tetons, pretty impressive! And I think some of the Absaroka range too.  Drove through Teton National Park, then Yellowstone, which was still fairly busy for a Wednesday evening! Only one short traffic slowdown with buffalo near the road, which is always fun to see (but do not touch!).

Also saw a few deer, elk, and coyote. Stopped at a park in West Yellowstone to eat, then onto Big Sky, Montana, to crash Rudy's biking buddy Dan on vacation (plans were made the day before - awesome!), with a mellow mountain sunset to help the long drive along.

July 7: Had my first coffee of the trip! I didn't intend to give up my daily habit, but I just didn't have any coffee for a couple days (did have some tea!) and it was no problem, and so good to know I didn't 'have' to have it every morning. Rudy and Dan made a big loop with ~2,000' of downhill, followed by climbing back up (for over an hour - yikes!), they seemed to enjoy it though.  My run was much shorter and shared some of their route, just less of it, and none of the steep stuff! I was a little concerned with the elevation (8,000') but it didn't effect me as much as I expected, though I was taking it easy. I got to chase a fox down the trail a few hundred yards, spotted some juncos, and appreciated the little mountain lupines.

we ended up over on those ski slopes (and the bikers went beyond that!)

We departed Big Sky early afternoon to cover as much as the 12 hours to Bellingham left as we could. Soon we were back on the freeway again, which doesn't have super-frequent gas stations through western Montana. When we estimated ~30 miles left on the tank, there were no stations to be found. After the fuel light had been on for a good 20 miles, we finally came across something. Definitely a little anxious with that, but found there were still 4 gallons 'in reserve' - we'll avoid letting it get that low again though! A few passes to drive through with thick trees and rocky hills through the rest of Montana and Idaho, then we were in Washington! Went for another hour before settling in for the night at a truck stop in Ritzville. A very busy and full truck stop! Felt a little out of place being there, but it really was the only good option for the next 40 miles.

July 8: Got a 6am wakeup when the truck we parked behind rolled back into the van! Even a tiny collision feels like a big bump, but no apparent damage. Rudy got insurance info just in case, and he had to capture the truck's little safety reminder. 

We wanted an early start anyhow, so back on the road by 7 for the final push to Bellingham. Eastern Washington is surprisingly flat for quite a while, with gently rolling plains and croplands. There was a 14 mile stretch west of Moses Lake where crop names were in the fence - I thought that was pretty cool to help non-farmers identify the wheat, corn, beans, alfalfa, potatoes, carrots, and timothy they were driving by. Soon we were seeing vineyards, and bigger hills, and then the Columbia River basin - beautiful!

unexpected sights leaving Columbia River Basin included wind turbines and sage brush

We went through one more mountain pass, then started descending on Seattle - fittingly with low clouds, drizzle, and listening to Nirvana.  Even 10/11 in the morning, traffic was a little ugly within 30 miles of the big city - though I'm sure it would have been much worse during actual rush hour times! Bellingham was arrived at shortly after noon. Spent some time catching up with Peter and Julianna, then Drew arrived a little after 2. I got in a little run in Whatcom Falls Park and didn't get too lost, while the guys ran some errands and checked out some places around town. We made some dinner over at the house Peter's parents were renting for the week - big salads, salmon, mixed grains, sour dough bread, and huckleberry ice cream - so PNW and delicious! Feeling ready to settle in to this area for a while!