Adventure Gestation

And so it begins. Tomorrow morning, we depart from Anacortes, Washington with two bikes, twelve waterproof bags, four pedals, six water bottles, two helmets, a bit of trepidation but mostly, a plethora of excitement.  

The beautiful Yellowstone River
 (and Allyson Carroll)

The marvelous cake pop

After a relaxing weekend spent passing through Montana (Jake in Gardiner, and Dory elsewhere), we drove the eight hours to Seattle in style.  That is, two bikes precariously perched on the rear end of my adorable blue car. Despite our moral dissent towards a certain large corporation, we enjoyed a new culinary innovation, the "cake pop." Additionally, Dory gave me a crash course on the inner workings of the male and female brains, respectively. 

   

It's strange to think that nine months ago, I was planning on spending my summer preparing to leave for Spain and Dory had a summer of changing diapers and feeding grilled cheese sandwiches to toddlers to look forward to.  We were hiking up the Rattlesnake one Saturday and started talking about camping on the beach.  And then bicycling.  And then how much we'd both like to have a grand adventure and spend a summer free of all the things we both carry around.  So it isn't a philanthropic venture, or really even a vacation, but rather an experiment in corporeal freedom.  How far can we travel on our own bodily power?  Add some nuts, bolts, steel and waterproof panniers, and here we are in Seattle at Bender's lovely Queen Anne home with an idea that's completed its nine-month gestation. Stay tuned...

Before...

...after