My ride out of Vancouver started out in a lovely fashion. I wound my way through tree-lined residential streets, past flourishing gardens and people walking their dogs. After a gradual uphill out of East Van, I cruised down a gentle slope into South Vancouver.
Then, I crossed the somewhat terrifying Knight Street Bridge into Richmond, and began finding my way through a maze of industrial parks. This was not quite as lovely. I crossed the Alex Fraser Bridge (not as terrifying as I had been led to believe), and carried on to my friend’s house in Delta.
After eating a lot of Indian food together, my friend and her family wished me well. I think her mother was actually quite worried for my well-being, but she kept that to herself (mostly).
When I finally arrived in White Rock, the community right before the American border, I found the home of my first Warmshowers host.
You may be asking yourself – what is Warmshowers?
Well, it’s essentially Couch Surfing, but only for cyclists. Basically, people across the world volunteer to open their homes to travelling cyclists. I’ve never used Couch Surfing, but something about the niche cycling aspect of Warmshowers made it seem… well, safer, I guess.
And it’s been great so far! My first hosts, Cathy and Mike, welcomed me into their home, fed me dinner, and even bought me ice cream. We traded adventure stories and dog stories, and I think we were all a bit sad when I had to leave the next day.
I was even more sad when I realized I had to bike to into a headwind all the way to Bellingham. The sadness increased exponentially when I got to Bellingham and realized that the grocery stores and mobile phone provider outlets were not at all central to downtown Bellingham.
BUT the sadness disappeared completely when I met my next Warmshowers hosts, Coty and Brit. They regaled me with tales of bike trips across America and various European countries. I like to think that if I moved to Bellingham, we would hang out all the time.
Biking from Bellingham to Deception Pass was my first really big-seeming day – 80 kilometres! I didn’t think I would be doing such a big day so early in my trip, but there wasn’t really a logical place to stop in between. Luckily, it was a beautiful ride. At Deception Pass State Park, I stayed in my first hiker/biker site. These are designated areas of state parks that are only for people travelling without vehicle support, and you can’t be turned away. In theory they will squeeze in all the cyclists they need to, although that night it was just me and one other guy.
They tell me Deception Pass State Park is really cool, but honestly I wouldn’t know. I fell asleep almost as soon as I got there.
The next day, I went on an absolutely lovely ride to Port Townsend. Port Townsend is incredible and I would recommend it to anyone. It’s a historic little spot with an old fort, a beautiful state park, adorable key shops, and just an all-astound good vibe. I took a rest day there.
I need to give a shout-out to The Recyclery, Port Townsend’s non-for-profit bike shop. I stopped by to get my brakes looked at, since they were being a bit funky. Not only did the shop make time for me on a moment’s notice, the manager did the labour FOR FREE and gave me 20% off on the part I needed. He said it was because I was touring, and he just wanted me to be safe and have a good time. the whole experience made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
The next day, I biked from Port Townsend to Bremerton. This was… well, it wasn’t a great idea. I think I miscalculated the distance, and I ended up biking over 90 kilometres with over 1000 meters of climbing. Whoops.
I arrived sweaty and exhausted at the home of my next Warmshowers hosts, Brian and Carmela. But as it turned out, I had come to the right place – they were some of the most hospitable people I have ever met. They took me to their family barbecue, where I got to hold babies, meet some of their adult children, and eat a giant and delicious pile of food. They were also hosting another cyclist, Amy, at the same time. She had just finished biking sections of the Trans-America route with her 73-year-old friend Woody.
So far, one of my favourite parts of this trip is getting to know local people and hearing the stories of other cyclists along the way. I’m finding America to be a wildly friendly and hospitable country, and least the parts I’ve experienced so far. As a Canadian, it kind of feels like I’m finally getting to know a neighbour – one that I’ve had for a long time, that I see frequently and hear about from everyone, but that I haven’t had a lot of in-depth conversations with until now.
Although if I keep with that line of thinking, it’s going to turn into a rather long bike trip. There are 50 states, after all.
Comments