What better day to start your bicycle travels than a sparkling clear spring day in April.
That’s how it worked out for Wendell Poole III, whom I happened upon while completing a Green River Trail-Interurban Trail loop in Kent on Thursday.
Wendell Poole III
As I headed north and the temperature pushed toward 70 degrees early in the afternoon, here comes Wendell. He’s headed toward Portland on his Surly Karate Monkey loaded with bulging panniers, handlebar bag, and rear rack piled high. I swung around to talk with him after he passed.
A resident of Seattle for seven years, Wendell said he had just finished selling the last of his stuff on Wednesday. What he didn’t want to sell, he had shipped to his father in Maine for storage. Then he took off on Thursday morning.
He had planned this trip for a long time.
“I’ve been riding a lot the past seven years around the city, and I’ve done about 3,000 miles touring over on the (Olympic) Peninsula” and elsewhere.
In fact, Wendell had considered heading over to the Hood Canal to enjoy some oysters and camping at Quilcene County Park, one of the best camping spots that he’s found.
Instead he’s getting on with his travels by heading south to Portland. From there he rides down the Pacific coast through California, then begins his eastward wandering through Arizona. He knows he wants to end up in Maine, but his exact route is up in the air.
Wendell realizes that he’s carrying a lot of gear, and said he’ll probably get rid of some of it along the way. Something he’ll keep is the dynamo on his front wheel that powers his cellphone and electronic gear.
If you want to follow Wendell in his travels, check out dharmabikes.com; he plans to start adding content there in a few days. His Garmin Edge 810 GPS Bike Computer
Let’s hope he has a safe trip and that every day is at least half as glorious as his first one on the road.
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