Day 1: People are awesome

We woke up at 4 in the morning in salem, got a ride to the airport from bob (thanks so much Bob!), said a long prayer that they would ship our bike box, and our insanely packed sleeping bags and tent (imagine two sleeping bags and a tent wrapped in trash bags and tape).

We then flew, in about 8 hrs, what it will take us the rest of the summer to bike.

As some of you know, Cormac took a pretty big leap of faith and got his bike off of Craigslist in Seattle. We found this bike because it is the exact same color and model of Lindsey's bike, and we had sent him a picture of Lindsey on the bike. He in turn, offered to meet us at the airport with the bike. This kind of kindness was a little suspect, even for we who have a pretty great faith in human beings. But, there Ed was, with his adorable daughter, waiting at our baggage claim, with my bike (which was in far better shape than we ever could have hoped). Thank you so much ed, may your kindness and trustworthiness return to you 100 fold.

Alas, we did encounter a couple of snags. First and foremost. I lost my phone. Second, we found that the charger that we thought would work for Lindsey's phone (which hooks it up to our solar/crank radio, and juices the phone up) does not actually fit.

So there we are in the airport, without Cindy's number (the person who we are staying with in Seattle's number--we didn't have the # because it was in my phone) and with Lindsey's phone quickly running out of Juice. We try to remain calm and un-anxious.

Our plans to bike to cindy's (we at least have her adress and biking directions) are foiled by the fact that I can't replace the pedals on my new bike (they require cleats that i dont have). The people at the baggage claim kindly lend me what tools they have, but without a long crescent wrench we are out of luck. So we take a taxi to the bike store that cindy recommended (wrightbrotherscycleworks.com), having gotten their adress out of the yellow pages. The cabi is about the nicest guy in the world, and doesnt charge us extra though we initially gave him the wrong adress. Seeing as he took us off the meter, he also gives us a brief tour of Seattle, where he has been cabbying for years. He drops us off, at which point we are still unaware of the level of kindness this man is capable of.

We go to the bikestore and drop off our bike, they say they can get to it by tomorrow, but the good word that the owner gives us, after discoursing on Cormac's namesake (google Cormac's encyclopedia, it's really cool), they figure they can fit us in.

We walk around town, have lunch, try to figure out where the Verizon store is, and just generally chill. We also try to figure out how to get in touch with Cindy. We have will (thank you will) leave a facebook message to call Lindsey's phone.

We find that the Verizon store is a bit of a walk, so we go to see if we can leave our bags at the bike store. While Lindsey goes into the bike store, the cabby, who had dropped us off about 2 hrs ago at the bike store, pulls up, and beckons Cormac over. It turns out, we had left 120$ in the cab by accident, and the next rider had found it, and given it to him. He came all the way back to the bike store (he is a cabby that works at the airport which is about 20 miles away) to give us our money. Cormac gives him an enormous thank you, and says "God Bless." The man smiles and hands Cormac a blank CD, but shyly says not to look at it until he is gone. After he drives off, Cormac flips looks at the CD, and finds that it is a recording of him singing the Q'aran.

It turns out that the people at the bike store are already done with Lindsey's bike, and Lindsey is discovering that she is short of cash, just as Cormac walks in with an enormous grin on his face. Everyone is very happy and moved at the bike store. Long conversations about our trip and the kindness of strangers ensues.

We get ready to bike to the verizon store, and spend a frustratingly long time figuring out how to work our panniers. Lindsey finally figures out how to get them to stay on, and we struggle through seattle rush hour traffic to the Verizon store, where we discover that any new phone we would get would not fit the charging adapter that plugs into our solar/crank radio. Everyone is very nice there, though, and gives us water. We decide to high tail it back to Cindy's (still not having gotten in touch with her) before it gets dark.

She is, very happily home, and also seems to have become a bike expert since the last time we hung out. She is very helpful, and we go out for Gelato. Her apartment is great, her street is great, and she is great. We talk about how to get to Anacortes (that is where our bike maps start), and Cormac and her shoot the stuff regarding their time at Tassajara together.

Cormac and Lindsey then crash like a T conducter using their cell phones.