Our summer’s adventure

Scott: Just overheard Karla phone a friend and tell her, “Oh my god, we’re 3 weeks away from starting our trip.” Gulp, our tandem trip across North America following Adventure Cycling’s Norther Tier + North Lakes route starts in 3 weeks? Yikes, I’m filled with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Riding 50 or more miles daily with about 1 day off a week for 3 months seems like such a huge hurdle. I’m fairly confident that we can accomplish this goal but there are still so many unknowns swirling in my brain. What’s it like pulling the fully loaded trailer? How will Karla hold up? How will I hold up? What do we cook for food? How many thunderstorms will we have to endure? Will we have fun? How do we have fun? Can I fix the bike when something breaks? The list goes on and on. On the other hand, I have visions of idyllically pedaling down an empty, car-less, smooth road in the warm sunshine singing “I am a happy wanderer” with my honey, or exchanging stories of adventures with fellow bike tourers over a shared dinner, or immersing ourselves in the spectacular scenery of Glacier Park as we sweat and climb Going-to-the-Sun Road. Ah well, full steam ahead. We have lists to make and stuff to pack and more miles to ride before we begin our summer adventure.

2 thoughts on “Our summer’s adventure”

  1. Scott, I was wondering why you don't start from your front door and take the Lewis and Clark bike route to hook up with the Northern Tier?

  2. Ted, we did consider this (Lewis and Clark route to Great Parks route to Northern Tier) but we decided, in the end, that we wanted to ride the Northern Tier + North Lakes route in total. The challenge of 5 major passes in the first 350 miles and the beauty of Hwy 20 through the North Cascades also attracted (and scared in the case of the 5 passes) us to start in Anacortes.

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