Day 1 May 25th

Day 1 May 25th

The alarm struck at 4:30, and quickly we were out of bed with the excitement of hitting the road. Denver International Airport is over an hour from Fort Collins, and with an 8:15 curtain call we headed out at 5:00. We were a bit worried about how checking bikes would go since neither of us had ever traveled like this before, and of course we packed way more to strap onto those bikes once on the road. However, the airport experience was smooth and easy, Molly wouldn’t let me tell the Southwest people that we were racing for the cure, or carrying fine art so we got stuck paying the $50.00 bike fee, but everyone was working to help us get things sorted out, even the TSA guy at security was telling us jokes. So we made it on the plane, step one!!

After 3 or so hours we were in Seattle, our starting point, and to our amazement, our bikes made the trip unscathed. We spent the next hour or so being watched by everyone passing through the baggage claim of Seattle Tacoma Airport as we assembled our parted monsters. I had another stranger tell me the ride would be great, “It’s all down hill,” which is another story for all you reading that will come soon! Anyway we got the bikes together and Molly’s brother Jamie and sister-in-law Sarah came to pick us up.

They live in West Seattle and late last fall finished a year of bike touring around the world! They had just moved into a new house earlier in the week as well as brought home a 4 month old Great Dane named Gretta, or Grech as the landlord wants to call her.

So we unpacked, played with the dog and then were whisked away to see the sights of Seattle. I have never been to Seattle, and was surprised to see blue skies and sunshine, since the stereotype made me believe I would be in depressing downpour listening to Nirvana at Starbucks. Anyway, we got to go to the fish market and have frozen yogurt, read the “10 Crack Commandments,” one of which is to not pretend thy art horny, and pick up a few last things at the biggest REI I have ever seen.

The rest of the day we spent relaxing and eating, we went to Cactus in West Seattle, which was amazing, have the Ten Dollar Nachos if your ever there, and we prepared for Day 2 which was the first day on bikes.