Cycling Seattle to Oregon: Bike and Book tour Part I

It was misty and grey as we pedaled down the road from our front door, heading to the Seattle ferry. Goodbye rainy Seattle winter, I waved to our home one last time! We were cycling south to San Diego—towards the sun and summer—and off on our two thousand mile Bike and Book tour. Perhaps if it had been sunny, I might have felt a twinge of worry about whether we would make it by bike to all our book talks scheduled at the Patagonia and REI stores on our route down the west coast. But after more than two years of Covid challenges and one of the rainiest and coldest winters in Seattle for years, I simply felt excited to leave.

We were joined at the ferry by a few intrepid friends braving the rain on bicycles. Leslie Schneider, the owner of OfficeXpats (where I had spent over six years working our book, Breathtaking), snapped some goodbye photos. And we pedaled onto the ferry with our friends, Vicky and Charlie, who braved a soggy bike ride along Alki Point in Seattle with us, before turning back home completely drenched. We sloshed onto the next ferry to Vashon Island, huddled in our raincoats and rainpants and practically swam across the island through a nonstop downpour. I began to wonder why I thought biking and camping down the coast of the US would be better than sitting in our warm home.

Thank goodness for friends! We spent the next day drying out at Cyrus and Molly’s house, while watching the fourth of July fireworks in Tacoma from their deck. Then it was off again through more rain showers to Centralia and Chehalis, WA. We have driven past Centralia and Chehalis hundreds of times on Highway I-5 on our way to Portland to visit Yvonne and Stephanie. Like most people who explore our country on the interstate highways, we had only visited the gas stations and fast food, drive-through restaurants by the exits.

On our bikes, we pedaled through a completely different world—a slice of the small town, rural America that everyone is talking about in online political columns these days.  It’s not the black- and-white Republican versus Democrat world we are told to fear in the daily news reports predicting the demise of our country. Sure, we cycled past small shabby trailer homes with piles of rusted cars in the driveway, but also past lovely cottages with beautifully tended gardens and roses climbing along trellises around the front door. We pedaled past “Make America Great Again Trump” signs and then around the corner, we’d find another house with a “Rural America against Racism” sign. Downtown Chehalis and Centralia had lovely, though slightly fading, historic main streets lined with Indian and Mexican restaurants standing next to gun stores, a motorcycle shop, several churches and a lovely bakery featuring espresso and homemade bread and pastries that would rival any Seattle store.

We continued south to urban, blue collar Longview and Kelso and west along the Columbia River, camping along the way. In the Lewis and Clark state park we hiked through a grove of ancient Douglas fir trees stretching high into the clouds (now punctuated by some blue sky finally). At the Toutle River private RV campground, we chatted to a former logger from Shelton who had spent over ten winters working heavy equipment in Antarctica. We listened to his fascinating adventures of life at the south pole on a complex scientific research base. And at a little county campground along the Columbia River, we spent the evening around the campfire chatting to a delightful couple—a welder and his wife, who had traveled the US and Europe by motorcycle. As we shared stories of our travels biking (motorized or not) and camping, we realized that we had so much in common. Whether you see the world in leather on a motorcycle or in spandex on a bicycle, you both are open to experiencing and respecting other cultures and people.

If we want to understand our country, we need to stop reading about it online and get out here and meet our fellow Americans. They are actually lovely, complex individuals with many varied interests, perspectives and dreams. I highly recommend getting off our computers and out of our cars for a day or a week and traveling by bike or on foot or by bus or train. You’ll be amazed at the wonderful people you meet from your own country!