Adventure

The less we spend, the more adventure we have. Last night, we rolled into our chosen campground, only to find out that it was full and there were no hiker/biker sites. We still scoped it out, and in the process found Kelly, the Forest Ranger for the campground. She told us that, about three miles up river, if we biked on an old unfinished railway (I’m not sure what to call it–they made a path for the tracks but never put the tracks down), we would find a primitive campsite (no cost!). Which we did.

It took a while to get there, but like most things in life, the effort was worth it.

Biking to the campsite.

B

Checking the map for the next day’s ride.

Coffee and thought

Today is a bit of a rest day–only 20 miles to our next campsite. We want to rest up a bit before ascending Washington Pass tomorrow, the last mountain pass we’ll climb in the North Cascades.

A rest day means sleeping in a bit in the tent. Kait was kind enough to get up just long enough to make us each some coffee in her Jetboil. Now I have as much time as I want to sit in the tent, listen to the birds sing, listen to the river flow by.

A morning like this is good for thought. I could care less what’s going on in the world outside of this campsite. All that has to happen, right now, is to be present, in this tent, grateful that my daughter wanted to make me some coffee.

Morning is the best time to write.

Planning for a big bike ride

In a week, I’ll be heading on a train to Idaho with my daughter Kait so we can bike to Washington, then Oregon, and then back to Minnesota. Preparing for such an undertaking is no small matter–and, it’s a ton of fun. This morning, I broke out all the gear I used on the last tour I did 2 years ago and combined it with all the new stuff I’ve been ordering on Amazon for the last couple of months. I got a new water filter, bear spray, cooking stove, set of allen wrenches, and camera. Everything else I already had, which is a nice thing about bike touring: once you have the gear, you have the gear.

A Ziploc bag holding 55 Starbucks Vias, Italian Roast. 

Credit card camping

This Memorial Day Weekend, Sue and I went for a ride out to Delafield and back, a bit of a “credit card camping” excursion. We rode the 40 miles out on a series of bike paths (the Oak Leaf Trail, which connects to the Hank Aaron Trail, which connects to the New Berlin Trail, which connects to the Glacial Drumlin Trail) to get to Delafield, then spent the night at the Delafield Hotel (and had an amazing dinner at their new restaurant–“small plate dining”), and then biked back today.

The highlight of the trip was spending time with my amazing wife, Sue. And, it was fun in that we didn’t have to leave on a plane or drive a car to get to our vacation destination. Also fun that the journey there and back was a big part of the adventure.

Heading out through the Minominee Valley.

A morning ride past Lapham Peak.

Breakfast at Mama D’s in Wales, Wisconsin.

Back in Milwaukee.