Aug 23 (Day 235) - Pacific coast arrival!

I have officially reached the other side of the country! Yes, I know that the Puget Sound is not the same as the open Pacific, but given that I haven't seen salt water since I left the Texas Coast in late April, it counts in my book. Today was fairly mellow as I moved just 50 miles down the road towards Seattle. Since I had a shorter day, I decided to take the scenic route. This was a mistake as there was no scenery and quite a few hills. Avoid Marine Drive - Zzzzzzzzzzzzz! I had a bit of time to visit Mukilteo Lighthose and do some birding in the evening. At this gorgeous spot, I was able to add Glaucous-winged gull for bird #525. There was a range of plumages as there always seems to be with this species, but there were certainly some pure birds present. I also saw some large dark alcids that were almost certainly Rhinoceros auklets, but I'll wait until I get a better look to definitively tick this bird. I am going to return to this spot tomorrow morning to see if I can find a few more alcids. There was a fair amount of boat traffic this afternoon since it was a really nice Saturday. I imagine it will be a bit quieter tomorrow, Sunday morning.

2,400 feet of climbing  - a bit more than I 

wanted to do today.

Mukilteo lighthouse with ferry in back

My bike is absolutely beat to hell at the moment. It's actually a pretty close race between my bike and my body! My plan right now is to have a very mellow riding day tomorrow to reach Seattle, just 30 miles down the road. I am going to spend at least 2 nights in Seattle. I plan to have my bike completely overhauled during that middle day. During this time I will explore downtown Seattle, a city in which I really haven't spent much time. I can also use this time to plan out what will happen after the city. I think a Rainier run is now unavoidable. I think I might head that way on Tuesday/Wednesday. If anyone wants to spend a camping night with me at Rainier one of these nights, please let me know at bikingforbirds@gmail.com. Someone even reported White-winged crossbill from that area today, so you never know what's going to show up. 

On a more humorous note, I saw this campaign sign along the road today. I'd only vote for him if his campaign manager and/or best friend does the required dance!

Campaign by Napoleon Dynamite!

I will do this dance if I get 600 birds!

Although yesterday's post mush have made me sound as though I am suicidal at the moment, I assure you everything is fine on this end. Anyone, including myself, who thought this year was going to be all "kittens and rainbows" is smoking crack. There are going to be some incredible highs this year, but there will also certainly be some really low points. Most of these will stem from the physical discomfort that biking over 15,000 miles in a single year will cause! If this pain is the worse thing I face this year, that's fine with me. I may bitch and complain a bit, but I'll keep going. I also feel that it is important for you to hear about all aspects of this adventure: the good, the bad, and the ugly.