DAY 18

There have been a bunch of fires in northern Washington lately. Luckily they have not slowed our progress but unfortunately they've burned quite a bit of forest. On our was out of the strange western towns we climbed another mountain pass right through a section which had been burned. I wish I had gotten better pictures of the damage but I didn't. 

It was a big old climb that put us into a hot hot deserty place. 

And Mike's chain chose a bad time to explode, but he quickly repaired it. 

We rode through the shining metropolis that is Omak Washington and stocked up on supplies. We continued north towards tonasket and had a hot but enjoyable ride towards tonasket. 

Our host for the night was a professional bicyclist-houser. She immediately offered us beer and showers and told us stories and made us a ridiculous amount of food. 

She keeps a journal of all the cyclists she hosts and Mike and I were happy to be a part of it. 

DAY 17

On day 17 we woke up in our campsite by the river and began our ascent into the heart of the Cascades. It was real scenic. 

That picture is from the begininning of our climb, at about 2000 feet. Here is a bug I saw. 

This climb was probably the most difficult riding I have ever done. It combined the hottest heat of our ride, the longest distance without water, and the highest climb either of us had ever done. Its a good thing that mike and I are so tuff. Here's the view from the top of Washington pass. 

A couple of times during the climb we had to collect water from waterfalls and streams. We used Mike's fancy filter to drink it. 

The other side of the mountain was a desert. It was real strange. We rode into Winthrop, a weird western-themed town that looked like Disneyland's Westernland. 

After around 85 miles we called it quits and camped in a nice old couple's backyard

DAY 16

Day 16 was the day our northward adventure became an eastward adventure. We had to backtrack about 20 miles to get out of Bellingham, but it was very worth it. 

Highway 20 rolls through all of northern Washington, and what a highway it is. We experienced our first major tailwind as we started east. 

We rode through a long stretch known as the Skagit valley. It was real scenic but I did t get many pictures... Mmm and we stopped for dollar hot dogs.

At the end of the day we ended up at a beautiful privately owned primitive campground by the river. We used it to wash our clothes

And our dishes. 

I kept so close to the river that I thought my tent would roll into it in the night. 

Butt-shorts tree

DAY 15

I forgot I was on an island when I woke up. We walked down from our campsite to the beach to check out the Peugeot sound we had heard so much about. It turns out its a body of water. 

A real nice one. 

The rest of whidbey island was beautiful, but Description pass was definitely a highlight. This bridge is the only link between the island and the mainland. We hung out here for a while abd pretended to be tourists. 

And we ate some well deserved pop tarts. I can't stress how important those tarts have been to our success. 

And I realized I've got a funny glove tan. 

I failed to get any good pictures from here on... But we made it all the way to Bellingham, a city near the tippy top of Washington. I fell in love with this place. Go see it for yourself sometime, its great. 

We used Warm Showers to find a place to sleep for the night and we couldn't have landed in a better place. Our host had just finished biking from Seattle to Boston so we got plenty of insight/inspiration from her stories. She also treated us to some frozen treats from the local ice creamery. 

It was a real treat. 

DAY 14

After two weeks of pedaling and 1000 miles (approximately?) we finally made it to the land of Frasier and chowder. 

We planned for a short day so we slept in (until 6:30 or so). About 40 miles put us into Seattle's gooey center. But first we saw a few nice views. Here's Mt Rainier, which looms over much of northwest Washington. 

Once we were in Seattle we had to see pikes place of course.

It was real busy and touristy, so we went to this cool secret local hangout I knew of. 

We had thought we were done for the day but around 3:30 we had this crazy idea that we could spend the night on whidbey island, one of the San Juan islands. We raced the clock to cover another 45 ish miles to get to south whidbey state park.

Here is mike getting real seaworthy on the ferry. 

We made it just in time for sunset

DAY 13

As a note, I finally finished the posts for the last two days

Also, if you're not already, follow mike Wang on Instagram @bike_Wang. He's got a bunch if good pictures from the trip

Anyway here is a slug. 

After a whopping 90 miles we landed in the home of a real nice couple in Tacoma Washington 

DAY 12

Mike and I have agreed that day 12 was out worst day so far. But it wasnt thaaat bad. 

Our ride out of Portland was pretty painless but not too thrilling. Once we made it to Rainier Oregon, where we finally got to see the great Columbia river, we at least got some nice views. This is where we crossed into Washington. 

The bridge was surprisingly poor to ride on. Once we made into Washington we hit our second big setback. A rock miraculously sliced the side of my tire in what can only be called a freak accident. This is my tire I'm talking about - not the tube. So after some hesitation, I rode mikes bike a few miles into town where I purchased a new pricy tire and we were finally off again. 

This put us a bit behind schedule and we soon realized we had nowhere to stay for the night. We decided to bike until we found a good spot to stealth camp. We ran into a real nice spot by the cowlitz river in a own called Castle Rock. 

Here's a bad picture of the river. 

We camped in the woods right behind where this picture is taken from. All and all it wasn't such a bad day. After dinner I was in a much better mood. 

DAY 11

We decided to give Portland another try. Highway 6 crosses over a nice big hill from Tillamook into Portland. We got a decent bit of rain on the way up,

And Mike got a flat,

But it was a real beautiful and lush route. 

Once we got out of the mountains we rodethrogh scenic farmland for miles and miles. 

After around 70 miles we finally arrived in the beautiful city of Portland. Mike and I decided to treat ourselves to some good food so we visited a few food trucks as well as the famous grilled cheese bus. 

I love all the bridges in Portland. 

We also happened to be in town during a huge annual brewfest. So we checked that out as well as Powell's bookstore and the deschutes brew pub. 

We were treated to a nice home for the night by our friends from the university of Portland 

FOOOD

We have gotten a lot of questions about what we eat out here. So here is a comprehensive guide. 

NIGHT 1:  Fettucini al tuna - pasta from a packet with tuna from a packet

NIGHT 2:  Hot mamma mashed potatoes - dehydrated mashed potatoes with broccoli and "hot mamma" pickled sausage

NIGHT 3:  Riso con carne - Cheesey rice with spam and broccoli

NIGHT 4:  Mac n Tuna - macaroni and cheese with packet tuna

NIGHT 5:  Tiujuana Mamma mashed potatoes - same as night two but with the hot mammas spicyer counterpart

I will keep updating soon!

Here is a picture of what the meals usually look like.  In all seriousness, they are very tasty. 

We also eat a whole lot of pop tarts and snickers bars

These guys below are thimble berries. They grow all around up here. They probably you probably Dont see them in stores too often because they're real delicate. 

Donuts in hot cocoa 

DAY 10

Day 10 was kind of a bummer. But it did force us to take a well deserved rest. Our plan to ride about 90 miles into Portland was given a rain check. The rain came out of nowhere around 10 the night before. We biked 10 miles into Tillamook in rainy conditions, ourselves and our gear soaking wet. After spending some time in our hobo camp in front of Safeway, we gave in and got a motel for the night. 

But its alright because we toured the Tillamook cheese factory and ate cheese and ice cream. Those big yellow things are hunks of cheese.

We also checked out the Pelican pub and Brewery. Portland (and all the food were going to eat there) can wait just one more day. 

DAY 9

I'm a big fan of Oregon.  Day 9 started with a beautiful ride along the coast north of Newport, a real cool coastal city. A few miles in we hit Devil's Punch Bowl state park. There are a whole lot of Devil-named places on the Oregon coast. A lot.

Below is a picture of the famous devil's punch bowl. 

Hey look at us here enjoying the scenery. 

We also had the pleasure of riding on the old highway 101, another "scenic alternate".  It was a long stretch that climbed up through a national forest (don't remember which one) and joins back up with the new 101. 

It was a great day to be a bicycle tourist. After around 69 miles we pulled into my favorite campsite so far. Mike was real excited about it too. 

The Cape Lookout campground had a particularly awesome hiker/biker campsite. There were about 8 private sites amongst the trees and brush just a hop away from a beautiful shore. Not bad at all.