Default

Cycling America Adventure of Yvonne

Page 4: July 4 - July 8

Darn! Now you have to make do with a smaller message, now the original got lost in space.
Seattle. On July 4 I celebrated Independence Day with manybodies, as nobody from the WSL or esperantists was home to celebrate it with me. Alex and his wife were going elsewhere. after I got over it, I truly enjoyed being in Seattle. Had a good time at the market, ate at a small Chinese restaurant, and went to the pier to listen to music and see people pick-nick on the lawn. Later I descended to Gasworks and saw a fabulous fireworks.
July 5: Seattle - Anacortes. Finally a long cycling day, thanks to Alex, who couldn't lock up the house with me inside. Now I first succumbed to coffee, but still could hold myself back by taking a decaf: caramel mocchiato. The people at the subway were so nice to open up earlier too. It got just better when I finally tuned in to National Public Radio and listened to interesting programs all day. Finally, after having gone through an intellectual radio desert for a full month. The radio greatly helped me in sections where I otherwise would have hitch-hiked: lots of traffic and narrow shoulders. Took the sailing of 1200 at Mukilteo and cycled till late at night, since after I called at the 70K mark from Greenbank, I was told to go to Sidney in the morning so I could meet other esperantists. So, I obediently rode on, and only stopped again in Oak Harbor for a dinner (taco salad and fried ice-cream), and a look at the Deception Pass (beautiful, forgot to spit down!). Got to Anacortes in the evening and pitched really close to the ferry so as not to miss the boat if I would be late

July 6: Anacortes - Sidney - Victoria - Sidney. Got up early enough to catch the boat. Met with Wally du Temple, who took me home and then on with him, Olga (his wife) to meet 2 beginning and 3 experienced esperantists. I told about my trip as it had been and what my future plans were. since I took the bike, I cycled along the shore into Victoria, enjoyed it very much and celebrated my arrival by taking a meal in an expensive restaurant: lobster ravioli and vegetable samosa as a starter in Bravo. They just forgot to tell me that Mike's hard cranberry lemonade is hard liquor and has nothing to do with cranberries. Ah well! By now it was getting pretty late, but thanks to the long days, it was still light when I got to the Butchart Gardens at 20.30. not cheap at 16,50 Canadian dollars but beautifully manicured gardens. finding the du Temples without a torch was a challenge. I got to the right turnoff but was then on some really dark lanes, so I had to light up the mail boxes with a turn of the front wheel, to see the numbers.

July 7: Sidney - Swartz Bay - Salt Spring Island. Today (Friday) is Salt Spring Island day, but first had a social chat with the people I was staying with. For the last 3 nights I had had too little sleep so I was glad to sleep out this time and take my time again. finally descended (and ascended) to Swartz Bay in the afternoon and got on the 1650 boat to Salt Spring Island. Luckily I had been warned for the hill, so getting into the smallest gear wasn't a surprise. It did surprise me that my route was the 'easy route' as was confirmed by Katherine Ackerman at whose place I'm staying now. She's living on top of a killer hill of over 205 where I had to get off. I'm getting in better shape now, but this is too much. BTW: had a very nice dinner at the Greek restaurant; hummus & pita plus grilled chicken, salad & baked potatoes. While struggling uphill just before Ganges I was bypassed by a pickup in which were 2 Seattle cyclists, who didn't like cycling that much and h-hiked as well. So, I'm not the only one, though I'm now trying to do it less than before!
Will be going to Vancouver Island tomorrow, as I changed plans once again ;-). My host suggested to me, to go back to Crofton, cycle to Nanaimo so that I would be closer to North Vancouver, where I will meet Jane Lucas. then continue to Powell River, go back to V.I. and cycle on to Port Hardy. don't keep me to my promises though ;-)

and then..... there is a mysterious gap in Yvonne's travelogue.....
Next, this report comes from Prince Rupert, days later:
....I'll keep the secret for a while..
?

An update: let's see. I left Vancouver in good spirits. Although I hadn't seen a single 'sight' that's in the tourist book, I had a tremendously good time with Jane Lucas, who relieved me from a burden of no less than 12 floppies. We found a document vault at netdrive.com. Something to check out? Then I moved on to another WSL-host for romantic reasons.. ssh I won't say no more. Finding a host took some hunting, quite a few WSL-hosts weren't living in Vancouver at the time or at all, and others had things to do other than receiving guests. But I finally got 2 responses from Leon McDonald and the Malysh family. I had thought his name was Chellovek, but Jason just loves pseudonyms!
I wished Jane the best and headed for Danelle Laidlaw, the organizer of the big bike ride (RM1200) and we left to do a short 40 K ride with fellow randonneurs. It was fun, but it clearly showed why it was a good idea to do a DNS on the RM1200, I was dropped immediately! After a great dinner at White Spot, I headed 'home' to the Malyshes. Strangely, my real host was already in bed, and I would almost not see him altogether. Jason's parents were there though and we exchanged some experiences on h-hiking.

This website is hosted by Jan Boonstra's cycling pages

of page


Darn! Now you have to make do with a smaller message, now the original got lost in space. Seattle. On July 4 I celebrated Independence Day with manybodies, as nobody from the WSL or esperantists was home to celebrate it with me. Alex and his wife were going elsewhere. after I got over it, I truly enjoyed being in Seattle. Had a good time at the market, ate at a small Chinese restaurant, and went to the pier to listen to music and see people pick-nick on the lawn. Later I descended to Gasworks and saw a fabulous fireworks. July 5: Seattle - Anacortes. Finally a long cycling day, thanks to Alex, who couldn't lock up the house with me inside. Now I first succumbed to coffee, but still could hold myself back by taking a decaf: caramel mocchiato. The people at the subway were so nice to open up earlier too. It got just better when I finally tuned in to National Public Radio and listened to interesting programs all day. Finally, after having gone through an intellectual radio desert for a full month. The radio greatly helped me in sections where I otherwise would have hitch-hiked: lots of traffic and narrow shoulders. Took the sailing of 1200 at Mukilteo and cycled till late at night, since after I called at the 70K mark from Greenbank, I was told to go to Sidney in the morning so I could meet other esperantists. So, I obediently rode on, and only stopped again in Oak Harbor for a dinner (taco salad and fried ice-cream), and a look at the Deception Pass (beautiful, forgot to spit down!). Got to Anacortes in the evening and pitched really close to the ferry so as not to miss the boat if I would be late

	July 6: Anacortes - Sidney - Victoria - Sidney. Got up early enough to catch the boat. Met with Wally du Temple, who took me home and then on with him, Olga (his wife) to meet 2 beginning and 3 experienced esperantists. I told about my trip as it had been and what my future plans were. since I took the bike, I cycled along the shore into Victoria, enjoyed it very much and celebrated my arrival by taking a meal in an expensive restaurant: lobster ravioli and vegetable samosa as a starter in Bravo. They just forgot to tell me that Mike's hard cranberry lemonade is hard liquor and has nothing to do with cranberries. Ah well! By now it was getting pretty late, but thanks to the long days, it was still light when I got to the Butchart Gardens at 20.30. not cheap at 16,50 Canadian dollars but beautifully manicured gardens. finding the du Temples without a torch was a challenge. I got to the right turnoff but was then on some really dark lanes, so I had to light up the mail boxes with a turn of the front wheel, to see the numbers.

July 7: Sidney - Swartz Bay - Salt Spring Island. Today (Friday) is Salt Spring Island day, but first had a social chat with the people I was staying with. For the last 3 nights I had had too little sleep so I was glad to sleep out this time and take my time again. finally descended (and ascended) to Swartz Bay in the afternoon and got on the 1650 boat to Salt Spring Island. Luckily I had been warned for the hill, so getting into the smallest gear wasn't a surprise. It did surprise me that my route was the 'easy route' as was confirmed by Katherine Ackerman at whose place I'm staying now. She's living on top of a killer hill of over 205 where I had to get off. I'm getting in better shape now, but this is too much. BTW: had a very nice dinner at the Greek restaurant; hummus & pita plus grilled chicken, salad & baked potatoes. While struggling uphill just before Ganges I was bypassed by a pickup in which were 2 Seattle cyclists, who didn't like cycling that much and h-hiked as well. So, I'm not the only one, though I'm now trying to do it less than before! Will be going to Vancouver Island tomorrow, as I changed plans once again ;-). My host suggested to me, to go back to Crofton, cycle to Nanaimo so that I would be closer to North Vancouver, where I will meet Jane Lucas. then continue to Powell River, go back to V.I. and cycle on to Port Hardy. don't keep me to my promises though ;-)

	and then..... there is a mysterious gap in Yvonne's travelogue..... Next, this report comes from Prince Rupert, days later: ....I'll keep the secret for a while.. ?

An update: let's see. I left Vancouver in good spirits. Although I hadn't seen a single 'sight' that's in the tourist book, I had a tremendously good time with Jane Lucas, who relieved me from a burden of no less than 12 floppies. We found a document vault at netdrive.com. Something to check out? Then I moved on to another WSL-host for romantic reasons.. ssh I won't say no more. Finding a host took some hunting, quite a few WSL-hosts weren't living in Vancouver at the time or at all, and others had things to do other than receiving guests. But I finally got 2 responses from Leon McDonald and the Malysh family. I had thought his name was Chellovek, but Jason just loves pseudonyms! I wished Jane the best and headed for Danelle Laidlaw, the organizer of the big bike ride (RM1200) and we left to do a short 40 K ride with fellow randonneurs. It was fun, but it clearly showed why it was a good idea to do a DNS on the RM1200, I was dropped immediately! After a great dinner at White Spot, I headed 'home' to the Malyshes. Strangely, my real host was already in bed, and I would almost not see him altogether. Jason's parents were there though and we exchanged some experiences on h-hiking.