September 17 33.16 in 3:16 I finally got back on the road today for a little test ride in the crappy, typical, Seattle weather. I think the high was 59 today, but it's so humid that you still work up a sweat pedaling, then you just get chilled to the bone. I missed some great sunny days over the last two weeks, and now I'm afraid that the warm air and sunshine may be very hard to come by.
Pam delivered me to Snohomish, which was the ending point of my last ride, eight days ago. It's a nice little Cascade Mountain Range foothill town. As I started my ride, I paralleled the Snohomish River, which must be a hotbed for salmon right now, because the road was lined with cars and boat trailers in many sections of the eight mile stretch that I rode. The river road was nice with very little traffic, and a 4-6 foot shoulder, so I could look around. My legs felt good, but I was riding at eleven feet above sea level, and it was flat.
That changed as I left the river and began looking for the Interurban Trail, which would take me through some very busy areas of the north Seattle suburbs, basically paralleling Interstate 5. Seattle is not a flat area, as the Cascade Mountains line the eastern skyline, the Olympic Mountains are on the other side of the Puget Sound, which is west of the populated area. I began to climb as soon as I left the river, and actually got to 500 ft above sea level, in the rolling hills of Everett. The Interurban Trail is a good concept, and I'm glad it was there, but it was one of the most unique rides of my trip. The trail consisted of some portions of paved trail, some roads, some sidewalks, some alleys, and it was really hard to follow for someone who had no clue of their way around the area. The trail followed an old trolley line, but development, including industries, malls, housing developments, roads, and everything else you run into in an urban area was constantly detouring the route, and I was all over the place. The trail was even closed and blocked off in one place for construction, and I had no clue, so I just portaged my bike through some weeds and was on my way. I made it to my destination, so it was marked well enough, but it was a challenge to find signs, as some were missing, some were faded beyond function ability, and others were spray painted by vandals . I crossed I-5 at least four times as I wound my way through the maze of roads connected by asphalt trails. Some of the trail was actually very desolate, with the fallen leaves covering the pavement, and the ever present blackberry bushes growing out over the route. Some of the trail passed through a few bad parts of town, as you would expect in an urban area. There are some STRANGE people in Seattle, especially in the less affluent areas. They dress in a very grungy style, have a tendency to look at the ground and avoid eye contact, and don't appear to be very happy. There are beggars everywhere along the roads, including the affluent business areas. In my opinion, the are fewer attractive people, male and female, in the Seattle Metro area, than anyplace I have visited. That being said, the people I have had to deal with in my three weeks here have been very friendly, including an emergency room nurse, and an anesthesia doctor, who both invited Pam and I to dinner at their home! It seems to be one extreme or the other.
I finally navigated the Interurban Trail to the town of Edmunds, on the Puget Sound, and met Pam at the Kingston Ferry, which will transport us across the Puget Sound tomorrow, and out of the Metro area, onto the Olympic Peninsula, which will be an entirely new adventure!
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