Safe Return Doubtful

75 miles (121 km) – Total so far: 75 miles (121 km)

Getting there..

Taxi from Preston to the airport late Saturday night for a hotel room for a few hours and a 4:30 am check in. British Airways shuttle to Heathrow and on to Seattle, arriving on time at 11:30 am. The US airport with the worst passport immigration time average was having a slightly better day. Within an hour I was on the shuttle bus north with an undamaged bike box. Two hours later into Burlington and a half mile walk with a bike box to an unglamorous motel.

Only a few small issues exaggerated a long day, a broken track pump which needed replacing, the inability to buy stove fuel in anything less than a half gallon (which means pouring most of it away), but really these are very testing days, and this one went pretty well.

It’s 8:30 pm here and 4:30 am in the UK. No jet lag, but tired, so to bed and up to get going at 7 into the 30 plus temperatures.

If i am where I should be tomorrow, I won’t have Internet, so will update when possible.

Monday 31st July

I was up at 5:30 still putting various bits of bike together. These nasty motels offer a dreadful but free buffet breakfast. I took a couple of bananas and a bagel for lunch and was over at the supermarket for 6:45 for a coffee and a sausage sandwich.

It was pleasantly cool at 7:15 at 16 C and with pretty flat riding gently up the Skagit River I was averaging 14 mph. Probably after 1 pm riding for Cumbrians becomes more of a challenge with the temperature over 30. Early starts are the answer.

I had stocked up on some food at Marblemount not sure that there was much after that. Newhalem has quite a bit of housing for the hydro-electric dam workers and actually has a new and well-stocked grocery store. There is an ice cold drinking water fountain and free wifi for the village. Knowing that I uploaded some photos and read a quick 3rd Test report.

After that there are two steep climbs, each of about 1000 feet. Probably nothing to be concerned with later in the tour, but after 70 miles on day 1 and in 32C, they were hard work, and slow.

Colonial Creek has a ‘first come first served’ campsite, so no hiker biker spaces available always like on the west coast, and these are full most nights. Fortunately with quite an early arrival there was space.

Early breakfast in Burlington, away at 7:15.

Town of Concrete

All day along the Skagit River – so a great shakedown with very little climbing. A chance to get used to the heat. 32C right now at 2 pm –

The story of the day – these will appear most days and are memories, often humorous, of my brother.

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My early visits to Houston had to include watching Nigel play for Houston United on a Sunday morning. I saw quite a few over those early years and met many other expats from the team, some of whom went on to become good friends. The one that particularly sticks in my mind is a pre-season friendly against a team of Mexicans. It had been hastily organised and a couple of days before Nigel asked me to referee it, adding there would nothing at stake, so played in a very friendly manner. He omitted to tell me until the day before that it was a 9 am kick off, meaning we needed to leave the house just after 7.
It was anything but friendly. I only just managed to find a whistle, let alone any yellow cards, which would have got a lot of use. I remember Nigel missing a couple of good opportunities playing up front, and had to be in goal in the second half as the regular keeper was missing. The game was settled late on with a controversial penalty from Jeremy. It was before my Chilean days, so my Spanish was non-existent, which was probably a good job after awarding the foul I could only guess the word of abuse.
We were in the Ashford Arms by 11 and watched a game from England. I don’t recall exactly, but the Sunday continued in a beery vein until late.
A top day.