Day 85-89: Virginia Beach, VA to Burlington, WA
Monday – Friday, June 29th – July 4th
After spending an amazing weekend with the Steinmans, which was somehow simultaneously incredibly relaxing and very eventful it was time to head home. It just so happened that Jonae and Spencer were planning on driving to Minnesota for a family reunion and would be leaving on Tuesday morning. I checked the Amtrak prices and if I were to catch a ride with them it would be saving me about $150. Um… let me think about it… YES! So on Monday I made a checklist of things I had to do to get ready, a very short checklist of two items.
#1- Mail my bike to Denver.
I figured it would be cheaper and make more sense to mail it to my friend Jade in Denver rather than mailing it all the way to WA only to have to move it to Denver anyway. The folks at Bike Beat provided me with a box as well as the space and a little instruction on how to take my bike apart and store it in said box. It took me the better part of two hours to get everything just right. I then took the bike in box to the FedEx next door and had them mail it to Denver. I had expected it would be around $80. It was twice that. But it had to be done. At this point I think I have spent more money on bike repairs, maintenance, new parts, and shipping than the bike was worth. Oh well.
#2 – Haircut
Yup, it was now time for my much needed haircut. I decided to go to a barbershop for a cut and a shave. I had never been to a barber shop before. Every guy in history who has ever shaved a beard has done something silly with it, usually something along the lines of a Hitler Stache. My fantasy for the day was much less controversial: I wanted to look like Wolverine from the X-Men movies. The barber was less than thrilled at the idea, and had never even seen the movies. However, he began to get into it as patrons started recognizing the dew and shouting their complements. Although I did take pictures every step of the way, alas, I seemed to have accidentally misplaced the pictures and cannot find them. After the haircut was completed, I paid the barber the cost for the haircut, got back in line, and had him destroy his beautiful work and cut me something normal. I had been living with ridiculous hair and beard for three months, it was ready to join normal society again.
Where I mailed my bike
Clean Shaven!
On Tuesday morning, we all piled into Jonae and Spencer’s car and began our road trip. Something you need to understand about me is that I suffer from a self-diagnosed condition called “carcilepsy” causing me to instantly fall asleep whenever the passenger in a car. I was out like a light by mile 15 and only woke up during brief occasions such as border crossings. To be honest, it was one of the best road trips I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of. Between naps, conversations, alphabet road games, audio books, music, and pit stops the time flew by. Before I knew it, it was 11:00 at night and we found ourselves passing through Chicago. Tuesday night we split a $90 motel in Whocares, Illinois, near Chicago.
Let the road trip begin!
Wednesday morning, after less than 6 hours sleep, we woke up to catch the opening of the continental breakfast, unlimited waffles included. I ate 6. We were on the road by 7:15. We passed the Basketball Hall of Fame in New Castle, Indiana and shortly thereafter I tried my first White Castle burger for lunch that day. I was underwhelmed, truth be told.
At about 11:00 AM, roughly, the Steinmans dropped me off at the train station in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota where I had tickets for the 10:30 PM train that would take me all the way to Everette, WA. We group hugged, and although Spencer was drowning himself in tears he was slowly able to pull himself away and get back in the car. He was so devastated that Jonae had to drive. Maybe I’m exaggerating, slightly. So here I was in St. Paul, with over 12 hours before my train left. I checked in my luggage (and found out that it would have only cost me $10 to bring my bike on the Amtrak with me… lesson learned) and then set out to explore the city.
I spent the rest of the day going through several museums, hopping on a free tour of an awe inspiring cathedral, walking along the Mississippi, and climbing skyscrapers. Towards sunset I found the tallest skyscraper in downtown, an apartment/condo building, waited for a resident to exit, and very skeakily snuck in before the coded door could shut behind her. My plan was to walk right up to the elevators and push the button for the top floor, watch the sunset from the roof, and sneak out. Seemed legit, right? However, I was immediately greeted by the building manager lady and she told me I wasn’t allowed in the building. But she was nice enough to introduce herself and then noticed the Young Life shirt I was wearing. That gave me the opening I needed to introduce myself and tell her my story. She was a genuinely nice lady and after hearing about my travels offered to give me a personal tour of the building and of the observational deck and communal areas. SCORE! See pictures below.
St Paul.
Mississippi River.
Cathedral of St. Paul
Cathedral of St. Paul... Lego Version
That night I hopped on the train, which was about an hour and a half late. The seats on a train are significantly more comfortable than a plane or bus. They recline to be just about flat and I purchased a blanket, ear plugs, and pillow. They came in a pack together. I slept that for the better part of the night and spent the remaining 38 hour train ride between my passenger car and the lounge car where I chatted up the other passengers, played cards with whoever would have me, and listened to the remaining of my audio books. I slept just as often during the day as at night so I usually had a cycle of 3 hours sleep, 5 hours awake, repeat. It was about $100 cheaper to just go to Everette instead of Mount Vernon’s train station so Thursday morning before arriving in Everette I put out a Facebook request asking anyone driving that way if I could snag a ride. I figured if that failed I would just hitch hike. I was honestly kind of looking forward to hitch hiking. I had such luck with it during my trip thus far there was no doubt in my mind I could find someone to take me. Unfortunately, I had no such luck. I immediately had responses from several friends offering to pick me up. Not that they were passing through, but they were willing to go out of there way to pick me up and take me home. It was really one of those, “awe, I’m loved” kind of moments.
I accepted an offer from Sarah French, a former coworker of mine at Skagit Valley Hospital. She picked me up at the train station and drove me all the way to Burlington where, to show my appreciation for the ride, I treated her to lunch at Bob’s Burgers. Well, to be honest, when I tried to pay she quite literally slapped my card away and insisted she pay. I put up a fight on the matter but to no avail. Hey, at least I tried to be chivalrous… really I did.
After lunch she dropped me off at home. I spent a good second and a half lost in nostalgia before saying goodbye and walking through my front door. Three months, and 4,000 miles later and I was finally home. I commemorated my arrival with my families traditional arrival quote, “Home Again, Home Again, Jiggidy Jag!” I then proceeded to sleep for three days straight.
Pool Party with the Young Life guys. Nice way to celebrate coming home.