Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington USA

Next stop as I travel south through the United States is Mt Rainier National Park.

 
I came in a bit late in the day and had a little look around.  Magical park, really like it here.  Barton arranged for me to stay in the rangers camp.. with nobody around, I set myself up for a rainy night.. Luckily the rangers camp is right next to the lodge, where I enjoyed a great book and a fireplace.. boring I know, but it was the perfect place and setting!

The next morning, the rain finished, the sun came out and I decided to head up the hill for a hike. 

Mt. Rainier

Many people tell me I was lucky to see the whole mountain as it's usually surrounded by clouds and fog!  So here she is!

I was on my own, I hiked past huge amounts of tourists, but at a certain point, more or less when the snow started showing up, the tourists dwindled away and it was just me and the mountain.

So maybe it has to do with the time of day.  Not long into the hike the fog did start rolling in.

                                      Not much "vista" happening now... ;-)

I guess this is what I should be able to see?  It's funny, other than Mt. St. Helens, I never thought that much of the United States as being so 'volcanic'.  They're everywhere!

Moving on up...

I must also admit, the higher I go alone, the worry I have that I might lose the trail and not find my way back.. Not like I'm prepared for bad weather or overnight on this hike.  I would make a horrible mountaineer.. hence I am not one!

Look, I see a person on the trail!  Worries fade.. thank goodness..

I love geology, and was fascinated by this mix of red and black..

I quite like it up here.. so peaceful.  A bit cold, but since I've been hiking up hill for what seems like forever now, I am more than warm enough.

Once I reached the top, it's time to start going down again.

I am coming out of the clouds.. so cool!

Slowly slowly out of the clouds.. what an awesome hike!  Great day..

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L...............

 

Well, I have a new love to add to my list of world loves, called Mt. Rainier.

Special thanks to Glen the ranger who let me stay in his house while he was away.. 

My Sleepless in Seattle Experience

This will come as an absolute shock to anyone who might have been reading my blog in the past and have found that after a very long time, I have another blog post ready!

Those who follow on facebook have the most up to date events for me. But as I said before, finding time when I am around a lot of people has been a challenge for my writing time since the United States down.  I am currently in Bolivia. There have been some big life experiences recently, but I am now coming to a place along the road I can start catching up this blog!

So now I have to step all the way back to Seattle Washington, USA!

Seattle is a very cool city, in more ways than one, and it was especially a pleasure to stop here for 2 nights because my friend Barton (who you would have seen when I met him on the road in Russia, as well as stayed at his house when I rode through Bozeman, Montana), has organized one of those super cool Sleepless in Seattle houseboats! 

Barton was in Montana at the time, but he gave excellent directions and I pulled right into the designated parking spot for the house.

And here she is.. how cute is this house!???  I think I'm gonna like it here..

I ended up staying here a couple nights.. I had a good excuse to stop as I needed a couple little fix ups from Touratech USA!

I had originally installed my heated jacket connection through my tank bag in Australia.  This worked well through most of the world, but once I arrived Canada, the wires where wearing down from me putting and pulling stuff out of my bag.  They eventually broke in the cold of Canada, so I was most interested in finding a new solution..  Problem number two with that tank bag is the zipper was no longer working, and generally worn down from every day use for many many months! A real problem for me as I like to lock it up when I step away for lunch or whatever.

Good news.. wonderful guys at Touratech,  gave me a whole new tank bag!!  Touratech Australia, Makan Touratech in Athens Greece and now Touratech USA have been awesome supporters of my journey!! 

Here we are trying to pick the best bag for the fit...

They also organized for me to go down to South Sound BMW to fix up heated jacket wiring and we devised a plan to have my connection without putting a new hole in my tank bag as it was before.

Back to Touratech USA and we finished up a couple small repairs.  They really took the time to make sure my gear was good for another few thousand k's. Didn't charge me a thing, and even ordered some new support bars for my panniers and sent them down to my stop in California (which I received when I got there) Thanks again Kimmo for all you gave me, and Paul for working so hard on my panniers when he had a busy day preparing another bike for a weekend event. Thank you all so much! All around great shop, just for this I was so glad to stop in Seattle.

Added to a great day is to know I am going home to my little houseboat. This was something very much to look forward to..!  There was a great big organic grocery nearby, I stocked up, and went home to make my own meal.. I love when I can do that!!

I was happily tinkering in the kitchen when I heard the airplane motor.. I know sea planes are popular around here, but this one sounded really close.. Went outside in time for a couple photos.

 

Wait, so I can't help taking another snap while I'm out on the deck in my very cool temporary neighborhood..

After dinner, a walk around for views of the city..

And then back home to find I missed my call from Tom Hanks..   Damn.. story of my life!! ;-)

This journey has opened up some of the greatest experiences of my life and always unexpected..

Thanks again for organizing the house for me, Barton.. You are the best!!!!