Made it! (Part 2, Day 15 + three days late)

, 6 min, 1062 words

Tags: biking transamerica-2021

Greetings!

Exciting news: I made it to Anacortes on Friday afternoon! I have a whole bundle of feelings about completing my trip, so this will be a combination of those feelings plus a couple summary stats and thoughts.

Numbers

First, the easy stuff: numbers.

  • Total biking days: 31
    • 21 nights camping
    • 8 nights with Warm Showers hosts
    • 4 nights in hotels
  • Temperature range (Fahrenheit): 34-115 (I was also indoors when it reached as high as 125)
  • States: 7 (IL, IA, WI, MN, ND, MT, WA)
  • Total mileage: a bit under 2000 miles. I estimate my odometer is 1-3% fast, so that puts me at 1902-1941 miles to the Anacortes Ferry Terminal, plus a few more since then

See Appendix A for a full list of where I spent my nights and whether I was sleeping in a tent, a house, or hotel.

Challenges in retrospect

Today I was flipping through the journal I sporadically kept throughout my trip. And I wanted to share a couple different excerpts I wrote about challenges while facing them.

  • Day 3: a list entitled "what hurts most now" (1) sunburn, 2) a specific quad muscle on my right side, 3) left shin, 4) saddle sores)
  • Day 5: "I should have put my rainpants on up front. Sheesh was I cold"
  • Day 10: "...the Great River Road, which managed both scenic, 3D views and some-might-call-it-boring-but-I-say-delightful relative flatness."
  • Day 11: "I'm so tired. My legs are starting a rebellion – no more hills."
  • Day 31: "it was HOT and hilly as hell."
  • Day 32: "another beautiful day in Montana. Fewer craggy, snowbound peaks than Glacier, but I spent almost all day traveling through national forest, with majestic pines and cute flowers and rolling hills (ow my quads)."
  • Day 36: "HOT. That was today. Tomorrow will be even worse, which uber-sucks."
  • Day 37: "Just mind blowing how oppressively hot it was, really"

It's funny – some of these were deeply demoralizing in the moment. But now that I've made it, they're just amusing anecdotes and fun to share

Feelings

I'll confess, when I reached the ferry terminal in Anacortes, I was a bit underwhelmed. I'd had this incredible, multi-week journey. I'd met inspiring people, seen incredible landscapes, sat with myself for days and weeks. And in comparison to all that, reaching this sort of arbitrary endpoint was a bit...I don't know, underwhelming is the best word, I guess. In my journal I noted "...it sort of felt incomplete. Maybe because I no longer had a map to show me the way, both literally and figuratively. Maybe because I was alone, and so much of my journey was about my relationship with others. Maybe just because."

I definitely felt sad. Honestly, as soon as I finished crossing the Cascades, I started realizing that my trip was coming to an end. And even though it was hard, and long, and sometimes lonely, I was surprised to realize how much I'd miss it. Now I'm feeling a bit nervous about how I'll stay sane with eight hours a day in front of the computer instead of riding.

But since my arrival, I've been welcomed with open arms to both Anacortes and Bellingham by friends and friends of friends. I'm not sure whether it's just a bit of distance, or the ability to see my adventure through the eyes of people I care about, but now I'm feeling genuinely proud to have done the thing, and welcomed into community, and just suffused with love and warmth and a little sprinkling of joy. It feels good.

I did it.

Approaching the end – first entry into Skagit County... A road sign reads ENTERING Skagit County

...and into Anacortes! A road sign reads ANACORTES CITY LIMITS

The ferry terminal, the official end point of the Northern Tier A Washington State Ferry loads passengers at the Anacortes WA ferry dock.

Zeph's cycle computer shows they're going 0.0 mph, with a total distance covered of 1961.4 miles

Appendix A: full accounting of where and how I slept on the road

  • Day 1: Odell, IL (camping)
  • Day 2: Henry, IL (camping)
  • Day 3: Cambridge, IL (warm showers)
  • Day 4: Just past Muscatine, IA at Fairport State Recreation Area (camping)
  • Day 5: Onslow, IA (warm showers)
  • Day 6: Just past Dyersville, IA at New Wine Park (camping)
  • Day 7: Monona, IA (camping)
  • Day 8: Onalaska, WI (hotel)
  • Day 9: rest day! (hotel)
  • Day 10: Nelson, WI (camping)
  • Day 11: Just before Stillwater, MN at Afton State Park (camping)
  • Day 12: Lindstrom, MN (camping)
  • Day 13: Milaca, MN (hotel)
  • Day 14: Albany, MN (hotel)
  • Day 15: Between Melby and Ashby, MN at Ashby Resort and Campground (camping)
  • Day 16: Barnesville, MN (camping)
  • Day 17: Moorhead, MN (warm showers)
  • Day 18: rest day! (warm showers + Amtrak)
  • Days 19-24: anniversary party (home x 6)
  • Day 25: hop on Amtrak (Amtrak)
  • Day 26: hop off Amtrak at Cut Bank, MT (camping)
  • Day 27: Marias Pass, MT (camping)
  • Day 28: Sprague Campground, Glacier National Park, MT (camping)
  • Day 29: opposite of a rest day: bike up Logan Pass and then back to Sprague Campground, Glacier National Park, MT (camping)
  • Day 30: Just before Fortine, North Dickey Lake, MT (camping)
  • Day 31: Along the eastern shore of Lake Koocanusa, MT (camping) (first shower since Chicago)
  • Day 32: Between Noxon and Heron, MT at Bull River Campground (camping)
  • Day 33: Sand Point, ID (warm showers)
  • Day 34: A bit before Ione, WA at Panhandle Campground (camping)
  • Day 35: Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, WA (camping)
  • Day 36: Republic, WA (warm showers)
  • Day 37: Omak, WA (warm showers)
  • Day 38: Mazama, WA (warm showers)
  • Day 39: Just past Newhalem at North Cascades National Park campground (camping)
  • Day 40: Birdsview, WA at Rasar State Park (camping)
  • Day 41: Anacortes, WA! (friend's backyard)