Jimmy and Leslie’s Mini-Adventure

Today’s Date: September 15, 2025

Today’s Start Point: Elmhurst, Illinois

Today’s End Point: Seattle, Washington

Today’s Miles: 1,730 Miles (by air)

Cumulative Miles: 0 Miles (counting miles travelled by air would be cheating)

The day started with Les and I taking an early morning Uber to catch our flight to Seattle. Anxiety built as I left the bike in its cardboard box with the luggage handlers, but I was pleased to see that they didn’t throw it onto the conveyer belt (at least if they did they had the decency to wait until I was out of range). The flight was uneventful, so no amusing anecdotes (which seem to arise out of embarrassing incidents caused by the author).

Our luck held and we did not have any issues renting the car, which seems larger than my first apartment. With car in hand, so to speak, we had last minute errands to run which I had meticulously mapped out ahead of time (which means we only got lost a handful of times).

I had left my bike case at my friends’ John and Julie Duggan in connection with last year’s trip, so we quickly picked it up and kept moving. Unfortunately the Duggan’s were not home as they are taking a four week “van life” trip around Alaska. Lucky for us that they have a lot of nice things at their house that I am sure they will not miss.

Following the pickup, we tackled the holy trinity of stopping at the bike shop to put my bike back together (Gerk’s Bike Shop, with Todd doing an excellent job), stopping at Costco for a case of 5-Hour Energy Drinks (still the secret elixir of life), and REI for on-bike nutrition. Believe it or not, no matter how many times I try to play the product placement card, I can’t seem to get any royalties.

With all the mundane tasks accomplished, we checked into the hotel that Les had found for us. For any of you that read my blog last year, you may remember that I either camped (minimally) or stayed in quirky accommodations. Quirky is a nice way of saying extremely cheap and almost sanitary.

When we pulled up to the hotel, a doorman greeted us and whisked our luggage to our room. Yeah, I am literally nor figuratively in Kansas anymore. The room had a sweeping view of the waterfront and was steps away from Pike Place Market.

We ate dinner at Pike Place Market and finished the night with drinks at the rooftop bar at the top of the hotel. For the life of me, I do not recall any of the Motel 6’s that I stayed at last year having a rooftop bar.

Tomorrow is the first leg of the ride, going from Seattle to Shelton, Washington. It should be a relatively easy day with a ferry ride to start.