Friday 20 August 2010

Day 92 Gold Bar to Seattle

Thursday 19th August
Daily mileage 45miles Average Speed 12.1mph Ride Time 3hr45min
Total Mileage 3856

After a great night sleep we packed up and hit the road by 8am and as we opened the motel room door we were greeted by a miserable grey day with drizzle which we can not remember seeing since we were in Canada a few months ago. At least the wind was not noticeably strong. We got 5 miles up the road and stopped in Sultan for breakfast with the intention of not stopping again until we reached the finishing line.

We had researched a great bike path that runs right into the heart of downtown Seattle but unfortunately we had to ride on a few rather busy highways before reaching the start of the trail. Heads down, music on and great motivation to reach our goal we pedalled as fast as possible until we arrived in Woodinville where we had arranged to text John our host for our stay in Seattle. We met John in Yellowstone weeks ago and we have remained in contact and we are staying with him in his floating house for the next few days.

We found the start of the trail with Kris’s great intuition. The trail was smooth concrete but with many tree roots protruding making the ride slightly uncomfortable. After 35 miles we bumped into John who had ridden out of the city to find us. We followed him the final 10 miles to his lovely 3 storey home floating on concrete! On the way Betty (my bike) suffered a broken spoke in the rear wheel with 2 miles to go thanks to a nasty tree root.

It feels very different to arriving in Istanbul as we have yet to find our way north to Vancouver where we fly home from in two weeks time. So until the bikes are boxed it does not quite feel like we have finished for real but we still experienced great elation on finishing coast to coast, salt water to salt water with nearly 4000miles of fresh water in between! We ate lunch then chilled indoors for the rest of the afternoon while John had to run some errands. When he returned at 8pm we hopped in his smaller boat and crossed the water for dinner at a delicious Salmon restaurant.

I never knew that I would be able to do it but I always felt as though I could do it and now… I have done it! Thanks to Kris for helping this trip be such a success , I love you, and thanks again to all the kind people that have helped us on our journey, you have all made this trip so memorable for us.
 

6 comments:

  1. Well done to you both, great achievement. Looking forward to seeing ya.

    Rob and Nat

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  2. Congratulations! You saw this country in a special way and were able to meet some of its people. Hope to see you two again some time, preferably by bike.
    Patrick and Rachel in Boise.

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  3. Nothing is impossible for the two of you. It has been a pleasure to follow your daily adventures. Well done for another great achievement. Sam

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  4. Well done Ali and Kris, you both are great achievers. Have been following your every cycle. Congratulations on yet another chapter. Missing you both and look forward to seeing you xxxxx

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  5. aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH :o)it's been a BLAAAAAST

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  6. bbl

    well done cant wait untill you are how so we can have a drink

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