20 Nights in a Tent

& Upcoming Breathtaking talks

How to spend 20 summer nights in a tent in the Pacific Northwest (even if you do have a job, the campgrounds are full on weekends, and you don’t want to travel far). NOTE: backpacking counts, but it’s not the only answer!

Back in the spring, I came up with another one of my very ambitious (but not quite impossible) goals for the summer: spend 20 nights in a tent. We weren’t planning any serious long distance bike trips this year, and we’d used up almost all of Lorenz’s vacation time on our east coast trip and Yvonne’s graduation in the spring. But the Pacific Northwest is glorious in the summer.  So why not plan a lot of mini staycations under the stars?

Of course, if you do the math, 20 nights in a tent requires a lot of creative planning, since there aren’t even twenty weekends in a northwest summer (summer begins in July and ends in mid-September). And good luck finding a state or national park campsite on a summer weekend anywhere near Seattle. But determination always wins.

Our strategy? Completely avoid camping by car (or van or RV). Car camping sites are always booked up six months ahead in the PNW. But there’s an environmentally friendly, little known secret: many campgrounds on the US west coast have unique campsites set aside for people who arrive under their own power—by bike, foot or kayak. They’re never full. They’re always cheap ($12 or less). And best of all, the sites are often far away from the madding crowd in beautiful places, such as right on the water next to your kayak.

We squeezed together several extended long weekends, a ten day solo bike trip to Canada by Paula and a one week kayak trip up the Hood Canal together in September. And voila! A summer filled with two backpacking trips, two kayak trips, two bike trips. And most fun of all—our newest adventurous way to camp—four plane trips, where we camped under the wing of  Lorenz’s homebuilt airplane. (He recently signed off his forty test hours and it’s now safe for passengers–i.e. me). Who knew? Many small airports let you pitch your tent under the wing of your plane if you want to stay overnight at the airport. And so, despite the crowds on the weekends, we always found a lovely campsite and spent one absolutely glorious summer outdoors, right in our own backyard.

And the best part? We traveled carbon free (well except for the plane, but you can’t be perfect all of the time!)

After our spectacular summer outdoors, Lorenz and I are now back on the Breathtaking speaking circuit again. We just returned from a fun-filled trip to the Patagonia store in Ventura, California, where we had a wonderful time talking to the Channel Islands Bicycle Club about our adventures. We have several more exciting events scheduled this fall and winter (see below). For more details, or for updates on additional events, check out our calendar at: bike4breath.com/talks-and-events

October 18, 6:30-8 pm, Patagonia headquarters store, Ventura CA
Channel Islands Bicycle Club speaker series

Sunday Nov 12, 12:00-1:30, Bainbridge Island WA
Women don’t Cycle movie screening, Hosted by Squeaky Wheels

Saturday, February 10, 2024, 12:00-5:00 pm, Silverdale, WA
Barnes and Noble book signing

Friday April 19, 6:30-8 pm, Bremerton, WA
Enl!ghten Kitsap Community Forum