“The Mountains are Calling . . .

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. . . and I must go.”

Our friend, colleague and supporter Daler (dahl-AIR) . . .

Daler wore our Ride button in NYC.

. . . who biked with us to the NYC line to see us off in 2014 (Great Lakes Ride) and 2015 (New England Ride), attributes this sentence to John Muir.

If Daler says it, it’s so.

After breakfast, our hosts David and Andrea took some parting shots, as it were.

And away we went!
Fields of flowers.
Woods and ferns.
Along the Cedar River.
Lebanese halva: good cycling fuel.
A purple paraglider landed in a nearby field. Jeffrey wasn’t quick enough to photograph it.
Marylander Jocelyn moved to Texas, then last fall settled with her family in Issaquah. She’s happy here. We had a delightful chat about the thoughtfulness of the local outdoorspersons, the sad state of American medical care, and the cold shoulder our laws give to worthy immigrants and refugees. Jocelyn gave us valuable route advice, and thinks we’ll make new friends on this Ride despite the recent coarsening of public discourse.
Rich is a retired tech whiz. When Jeffrey saw his hiking poles, he took Jocelyn’s advice to confirm her route suggestion. Rich agreed that some of the trails on our route are not as nicely surfaced as the trails and bike lanes that brought us from Seattle. Rich said that if we don’t mind sharing space with high-speed motor traffic, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to proceed on I-90. Jeffrey snapped Rich . . .
. . . and Rich snapped Jeffrey. I was in a bag.
East of Issaquah, bikes are permitted on the I-90 shoulder.
We pedaled up and rolled down for 17 noisy miles.
Sometimes we dodged gravel and debris. Most of the surface was far better than what Jocelyn and Rich said were the alternatives.
In North Bend, we met Euelle. He’s a kind, cheerful Washingtonian who spent most of his youth in the Philippines. He knows what it is to be bullied, yet he doesn’t let such incidents spoil his love for this area and its overwhelmingly good people. He invited us to park our trike in a spacious motel meeting room.

Today’s dry weather was a help. With 46 miles of ups and downs, we climbed a net 680 feet (207 meters) from sea level into the Cascades.

Tomorrow, after more ups and downs, we’ll gain another 2400 feet to reach Snoqualmie Pass.

In the rain.

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