Ferries

Mikals pedal fell off so we are working on getting that fixed. We have my bike all geared up, I remember why her name is phatty patty, feels more like a motorcycle. 

Mikal is on the phat bike with a backpack and we just bought tickets to Orcas Island. 

There is a big storm coming in this weekend and we plan to be biking the Olympic peninsula, I think we are gonna get wet.

I'm feeling really self conscious abou my bike. She just feels so bulky. I would really like to get new panniers, especially for the front, but I am so sick of spending money. I know I can get the gear cheaper offline or pro deals, this trip just came up so fast. I know getting new front bags would help streamline the trip. I only have a few things in them for their size, it's like I have sails on my bike. 

Met an interesting guy on the ferry. He looked Mexican so I was checking him out. He lives on the island and is a yoga instructor. Told us we could camp in his yard at otter pond. 

The island is beautiful. Rolling hills and old trees with sunshine. It reminds me a lot of bar harbor, lookin out over the hills next to the road down into a bay filled with sailboats. 

My small gears aren't working and there are a hell of a lot of hills. They have bike turn off areas. I just used one to take off my clothes. It's gotta be close to 70 and humid. 

Not really sure where town is, probably shoud have grabbed a map. Just flagged down a car. The gentlemen inside told me four miles, up and down. 

It's starting to get dark. Didn't take that into consideration. The sun sets around seven. It's six now and we haven't made it to town. Really slow going. Mikal is on Beyoncé and her upper gears aren't working. We could probably walk faster. 

I should probably boil my shoes. They smell so bad it makes me feel a little sick. 

Everyone is in town at the bars for the Seahawks game. I really wish Mikal had an id. This is going to be our new save money plan. 

It's really getting dark now biking out of town. We keep seeing little areas and are tempted to try to poach a camp site. We have the state park and otter pond about five miles up and decide to try to book it.

There are so many hills and I packed so much shit on my bike. I honestly don't know if I can make it up this hill. I'm about ready to say eff it and pitch the tent on the side of the road. It's dark, there's no shoulder and we have been going up for a good mile or so. Maybe I'm not ready for this tour. Maybe I shoud have gone home first to regroup and get the right gear and my bike fixed up. If Mikal wasn't hear trucking on up ahead of me I might have hitchhiked to the park. I don't think id ever quit, to stubborn to quit. 

I took a minute to take off my jacket, grab a quick drink, re adjust my handhold and burrows my head and pushed on. The hill is finally starting to level out. The burn in my legs is starting to ease and I about run into mikal as she's stopped in the dark in front of me. We both look down a dirt path, same thought to check it out. There is a chain up but don't seen a no trespassing sign so we go for it. 

Tons of cobwebs crossing the path and it opened up a hundred yards down and we set up camp. 

We are super short on water so decide to make refried beans, the same ones from my NOLS course a year and some months ago. We whip out some tortillas too. We don't have salt or pepper so I grabbed the honey. The beans taste like plastic bag but really not that bad, could be a New Mexican desert. 

We just checked the gps, otter pond is a few hundred yards up the road, guess we should have checked that before settling in. 

Found a plug out here!