Slide Rule

For anyone who’s been to Bainbridge recently, this story may ring true for you.

During the ride yesterday, Jess & I decided, to visit the vehicle deck of the ferry in preparation for arrival. With a little research, I’ve discovered a few fun facts. It seems the Bainbridge ferries travel at about 18 knots, or 20-21 mph (for the record, this is much, much faster than it sounds.) They also weigh almost 5,000 tons which is roughly 10 million pounds not including cargo. Who knew?

As we stood on the vehicle deck, bow of the boat, watching the island draw near, it was suddenly apparent that no ferry dock could be seen. The route from Seattle to Bainbridge is pretty straight, so as the waterfront properties came into focus, their carefully selected trim & floral-print curtains now clearly visible, it seemed reasonable to me that I should see the receiving assembly of our destination. Yet no such structure was visible, and still we rumbled forth. No sign of slowing, turning, or waking, as from a dream, or a wandering thought.

In my final moments, I tried to imagine why this was happening. Who had fallen asleep, or what wire had come apart. Where the warning alarm was, and in the back of my mind, what I would have to do to avoid a very painful death. I imagined 10 million pounds of steel mass colliding with boulders, sharp rocks, and sand. Maybe 100-150 cars, trucks, commercial vehicles and anything else that isn’t welded down sliding to the front of the boat and over the front like freshly chopped vegetables from the cutting board into the soup. Maybe more like a meat grinder from my angle.

Seemingly less than 1,000ft from shore, the ol’ can veered starboard, making its way through an inlet just to the north and into the harbor. I’m sure the Captain and crew get a good laugh out of that one every time.

I knew this going in, let’s be fair. There’s a site dedicated to the topic, in fact. The problem, simply put, is that bainbridge is apparently well known for it’s sudden, drastic elevation changes. Not to be discouraged by gossip and shortsighted speculation, however, I thought it worthwhile to investigate for myself.

It was warm, but not overly so – a soft chill in the wind kept things bearable. Jess & I got up a little later than planned, but got ourselves together in time for the 10:40 ferry. They have these little ‘bicycle parking’ ties on the ferry now you can attach to, simple yet effective. This was probably news generations ago, but having never been through this process with a bike before, it seemed noteworthy. On a side note, they don’t appear to be idiot proof. Some guy’s gear got loose and slid down the deck. Poor schmuck.

We stopped at the island post office in search of binding tape. My handlebar wrap had gotten loose and was coming unraveled. I ended up using 6 or 8 “Priority Mail” stickers instead. Almost as good (actually, not even close) but a whole lot cheaper. We stopped again to grab sandwiches at the grocery store. Each stop means undoing my cleated biking shoes, taking off my socks, and throwing on some sandals. unpack the bag, repack the bag, shop, unpack, repack, ride. I’m glad they’re made with velcro. Also I’m not complaining or anything. Really.

The plan was to hook up with the 305 and see where it took us. I had glanced at a topo map of the island before we left, but… those things are so hard to read. Fair to say I was hoping for the best, but pretty well in the dark about what to expect. The backup plan was to keep an eye on the downhills that might be uphills on the way back. We sneaked through town and made it to the 305 with little incident, then across to Manitou beach avoiding any steep inclines. The scenery was enjoyable, but there was a stink of very fresh cow crap we never quite found the source of.

Island communities have this funny habit of putting dinky little 1/2 lane one-ways in the strangest places. To avoid breaking the law and maybe getting, at worst, a look of disapproval from someone’s dog, we followed the overly descriptive (and barricaded) “Do not enter! Do not enter! no cars, no horses, no bikes, no pedestrians, don’t even LOOK the wrong way down this road” signs and made our way through a wooded area, and eventually into a little crossroads with an auto shop, a corner store, and one of those traditional Pacific Northwest outdoor sporting goods stores. In every direction except the way we came was either long, steep inclines, or dead ends. Consulting a map, I found a side street that would take us back to the 305. It turned out to be a long dirt road very much resembling someone’s driveway, and not reassuring me in the least. As advertised, however, it pulled through for us. One short, steep loose-gravel decline, and one last big incline and we made it back to the highway.

Content with our effort, we made our way back to the terminal, and placed our fate once again in the hands of the maniacal WSDOT ferry operators (see later post). Worth mentioning at this point, once we were away from the dock and securely held hostage, the announcer made a point of letting us know he had crashed more ferries than any state operator. “Lucky for us”, he continued, “I’m not driving”. Very funny.

Up at 4am. I could blow away with any slight gust of wind. On a side note, www.onlineclock.net is a pretty cool service provided your computer doesn’t interrupt its effectiveness with sleep mode, hibernate or muted speakers. Fortunately none of my alarms failed, though the cats may never forgive the jarring interruption to their notably gentle slumber.

Airport terminals offer, for me, a nostalgic sense of privilege. Undergoing the exchange of considerable sums of personal finance, the lines, the unrivaled scrutiny. By the time one arrives at the enormous windows framing the vehicle of your demise, the experience becomes euphoric and accomplished.

The flight was brief & uneventful, though Virgin Airlines is a pretty classy way to fly. Very in touch with modern culture. I’m told most airlines these days have added a fee for everything they can – food, drink, snacks, movies, etc. Sadly Virgin is no exception. Somewhat of a disappointment over previous experiences I’ve had, but acceptable considering the ticket price.

San Fran is pretty cool so far. Very much the Cali atmosphere as I envisioned it – palm trees, ocean, “real” beaches. I’ll post photos when I can. We visited the Port of SF & waterfront – Seattle’s lake Union experience is drastically reduced in scale, though not dissimilar.

Next was Golden Gate. There’s really no substitute for seeing this monolithic feat of engineering in person. I envision giants big enough to crush godzilla under their feet working together to assemble this bridge as one would a model airplane. Human capacity to assemble such a structure seems absurdly impractical.

Next was Stinson beach. I appreciate that it was well out of the city to the north. This offered the impression of very clean ocean water, reaching as far as the eye can see (which, by the way, has a very nice look to it in the sunny/misty/hazy environment.) Getting to the beach brought back memories of travelling through dirt roads through the mountains in tropical 3rd world countries – windy roads on the edge of a steep drop with no guardrails & rocks. Jess also drives very fast.

We returned to the city to visit the Sutro Bath House Ruins. Not much left of what was, I’m told, a grand affair of bath-house awesomeness, but great location right on the ocean built into a bunch of rocks, very fun to just hang out. Also, it’s parked right next to the first “real” beach I’ve seen this trip. Certainly dwarfs anything we have back home.

Dinner at a hole-in-the-wall fusion place, then finally crashed around 10:30. After 3 hours of sleep & going since 4am, I can tell you I was *very* relieved. Today’s plan – going to Pacifica for a hike, pretty loose schedule, I’ll update later.

I’m heading to San Francisco tomorrow, and will be in LA later this week. It’s been a while since I’ve done any travelling like this, and I’m a bit excited at how spontaneous it is. I was invited though, which seems to be what made it happen. I’ll have to work on that. I’ve never really hung around in either of these places that I can remember, though I’ve been in the area of both at least once. If anyone has any recommendations, let me know.