SCOTT’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE BEGINS
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- Ya know, he just never really moved on…
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- Scott’s the handsome one in the back. I think.
In 2020, my eldest son Scott had a very large birthday. Huge in fact. Biggest birthday in the history of the world so far. In fact his birthday was the absolutely most gigantic event of the year anywhere…crowd size, too massive to count… Whoops, fake news, almost forgot that darn pandemic…
First celebratory event of the birthday year was coming out to see his kindly old mum in the spring, she honored him with a family dinner of his childhood favorite (not) of Kraft mac&cheese. He had lots of plans for this most significant of years in addition to visiting the family. He and Sandra were headed for Barcelona for his actual birthday week and then later would come the biggie, cycling down the western coast of the US, Canada to Mexico, with two of his buddies.
I mentioned ‘there came upon us a pandemic of practically biblical proportions, didn’t I? Well, Scott and Sandra were literally checking in at the airport for Barcelona when the announcement was made that Spain had just ordered a nationwide lockdown. Nothing wrong with a birthday in San Diego after all.
However the plan for the month-long cycling-camping down the length of the coast never died. Scott and his friends trained all summer and even purchased tickets for themselves and their bikes, San Diego to Vancouver.
The summer went on and no one told them they couldn’t! Although Canada said, ‘no disease-ridden (trump-tainted) Americans flying into our country.’ Changed their tickets to Seattle. Kept training, going to REI, 60-70 mile rides on the weekends, the only rewards a six-pack of good beer at the finish line.
And last Sunday they left, flying into Seattle, collecting their bikes, putting them back together, Scott almost breaking his leg or bike or both on an escalator before even leaving the airport…and they were off to a first campsite at a place called Belfair.
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- Arrived SeaTac.
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- Putting the bikes together at the airport…just before he fell (almost) down the escalator.
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- There is still a world and a forest and adventure…
The whole family is excited…our entire year of family travel is all wrapped up in this journey down the 101, Seattle to Border Field State Park (almost, actually it’s closed too) on the Mexican border.
I’ll blog the trip, since it’s the only Time and Place entries about travel I’ll have for the glorious year of 2020. I have given Scott orders about interesting pictures. Not just photos of beautiful ocean or mountain scenes. Instead, you know, pics of dirty unshaven aging cyclists and their empty beer bottles at the end of a long day, road kill, forest fires, stuff like that. I’ve included the first few.
Sounds like a great trip/birthday celebration. I am sure the ride will be beautiful. For me, however, no camping…no tents. One night in the forest in a sleeping bag with strange noises just beyond the campfire…and kept awake by bourbon in my boiled coffee…right John Leach?