Arrival in Seattle

Okay, hi. Now I'm writing in real time (except, I'm still going to write about yesterday some).

On the shuttle to baggage claim, a middle-aged woman sitting across from us asked if our bikes were on board. We said yes, that we would be picking them up at baggage claim and then putting them back together. It's pretty obvious from our appearances what we're doing since our bags look funny, we're carrying helmets, and I'm sporting a neon (and I mean neon) bicycle wind-breaker (oh, and bike shorts-I'm wearing bike shorts). She looked excited for us and said she knew someone who had ridden across the country. She was sweet-looking, had a rolling bag at her side and was wearing a long skirt, sandals, her hair was swept up in a bun-very motherly.

Getting off the shuttle we parted ways with her, but she came back to us a minute later and asked where we were staying and if she could provide a bed for us. We told her about our hostel that we'd already made reservations for, and she said, "yes, that's right down town, you should stay there, you'll enjoy that." She wished us luck and walked away towards the light rail station. She'd mentioned that her husband thought she should use the time to figure it out (it was only built in 2009). I told her we would also be figuring it out later that afternoon.
Before we knew it she'd walked back to us with her cell phone open- "Do you know anyone in Seattle? Do you have some kind of contact here?" We told her that our friend was meeting us soon at the airport, and she decided we would be fine. She waived again and was off.

I couldn't help but think of my Aunt Sally who, when we were visiting her in Kentucky, told us about how a young woman, recently graduated from college, had come into the downtown library where she worked. Sally recognized her from the news weeks before where she was interviewed about what she was going to be doing after graduation. Her answer: walking across the country. So Sally took her home that evening and gave her a comfy bed and dinner, and then saw her off the next day by walking some with her.

I know there are people out there who don't like cyclists, or people who wear the same clothes every day, and we'll come across them. But we just set foot off the plane, and not 5 minutes later a woman offered to open up her home to us!

So I mentioned above that we would have a friend meeting us at the airport. What I didn't have time to post to the blog last week was that Ariel, the girl who sold us our bicycles at Hampshire Bike Exchange in Amherst, is in Seattle! She called a couple of times last week to check in on us, and even offered to meet us at the airport and help us build our bikes back up. After we found our bikes and dragged them (and our panniers -we looked ridiculous) to a quite, out-of-the-way place in the airport), we started putting things together. It was much easier than I thought it would be. We ate the last of our peanut butter and honey sandwiches before diving in (thanks mom), and then we did it. They were mostly finished by the time Ariel arrived, but it was comforting to have her check that they looked safe and normal.

Two security guards meandered up and smiled and asked where we were riding too "Seattle!" I said, tired and out of sorts. "Well that's not very far!" "I mean San Fransisco!" I corrected myself. I don't know where I am any more, and when people ask Lyon and I where we are from there's always a hesitation. "Umm...he's from Massachusetts, she's from Texas, and two weeks ago we lived in Massachusetts but as of last week we live in Texas and right now we're doing this. It confuses people.

On the futuristic Seattle light rail from the airport to the West Lake stop down town, we ran into a very tall man in a winter hat boarded and when he saw our loaded touring bikes his face lit up! (Oh yeah, it's cooold here! I already bought a sweatshirt. I tried not to bring one because of extra weight, but it's like 50 out!) After telling him what we were doing he said he'd done the same trek a handful of times. He told us it would be hard the first 4 or 5 days, but then we'd just keep getting increasingly stronger and would start to feel better and better. He told us we were going at the perfect time of year- with the tailwinds at our backs and and the rainy season not quite here yet. He told us he was addicted to bicycle touring and does at least a month-long trip every year. His energy and confidence invaded me and filled my head! This is going to be easy! (I've since come back to reality and realize that it will be difficult, but I'm still pretty pumped from his enthusiasm for us).

Ariel road with us to our hostel which is 3 blocks from the light rail stop, and 3 blocks from the aquarium and 1 block from the famous fish market. Our hostel (Green Tortoise) is awesome, and we're pretty sure we're going to stay an extra night. You get free breakfast that you make yourself-eggs, toast, pancakes, fruit. We ran into 2 guys last night riding from Canada to Mexico on their bicycles. They only had until Oct 15th to get to Mexico! That's when we are supposed to be in San Fransisco! Either we are slow or they are insane. Probably both.

After we got settled last night, we road to Ariel's friends house where she's staying. They're all sort of "organic punk" types, which was cool (there were doll faces and limbs glued to the walls and very strict directions for how to wash dishes efficiently and which compost bucket to put which type of food waste in). We ate bread, cheese and strawberries while we made warm lentils and cous cous. We were cold and hungry so it was wonderful!

Then around midnight we road back through Seattle from the university area to our hostel. This city is so pretty and clean and bike-friendly. I can't get over it.

Today (Saturday) we went to the aquarium. My favorite part was watching the octopus get fed. It was awesome.
















Then we ate sushi, then we took a long nap.

On the "free shelf" at the hostel, guess what we found...a little tank of butane for our cooking stove! Someone probably had to fly somewhere and couldn't bring it with them.