Petaluma, CA to Seattle, WA

A very good bike ride it has been following the white line from Petaluma, California, to the Olympic Peninsula on Highway 1, then 101. In all, we rode 1,010 miles on the trip and have just 70 more to get to our last stop in Seattle (I think my last stop is actually going to be Cherry Street Coffee). We made roughly 50 miles each day and took a couple days off visiting family and friends along the way. In all, we were on the road 25 days. We carried all our camp gear with us so we each had anywhere from 30-40 lbs in our panniers, depending mostly on how many groceries we were carrying at the time (meaning the nightly brew-to-share in camp). We had a little powerful stove that kept us going on oatmeal, coffee, beans, noddles, and even bacon one time. In between, we were never far from a pancake place, burrito stand, or some decent coffee.

I partly can't believe I actually rode my bike this far. And if I did it, I think it's something more people can do than who think they can. And, if you think about it even just 10 miles at a time, then 100 miles does happen sooner than you think. All you really need is a strong bike and a chunk of time. If you don't have the right gear, you can adjust from town to town. If you don't have biking muscles (like me), you will pick those up on the way, too. And you don't always have to do it gracefully (I didn't). Just getting on the road is probably a good thing. The best way to train for something is to just do it.

Josh and I had a great time together on the trip, and had and a ton of laughs too. We also came up with a few great road recipes (of course featuring peanut butter) and met some super cool people along the way. We crashed one night at a Tillamook dairy farm and got to feed calves with gigantic bottles, camped on the side of Highway 101 when we couldn't find a better camp, ate the best burger and garlic fries ever in Florence, Ore., and followed the beautiful coastline the whole way. In all, I'm so glad I/we did it.

Now, we are in Sequim at my mom's place for a week. We'll bike the last bit to Seattle this weekend and will then fly back down to the Bay Area to retrieve our camper out of its camper jail in Petaluma. Then we'll figure next steps for the last couple months of the year. Probably a couple last adventures to squeeze out of what's left of 2010.

Thanks again for visiting and tracking our adventures. I hope this finds you all happy and healthy. -- Robin & Josh