Bitter parting.
Dad, Megan, and I set out early on Sunday. Megan was intending to ride as far as the Coleman ferry dock. Dad was intending to accompany me for a couple days….out to the coast and back.
We were inspired by the good feeling of starting out on this adventure. While we also wanted to avoid the difficulty of having to say good-bye. Megan decided to just ride the ferry across with us. On the other side, why not ride a little farther? Megan would go just ten or twelve miles down the road with us and then turn around. But after ten or twelve miles, Megan was still feeling good. We encouraged her to continue. And she valiantly took up the challenge. Megan would join us overnight in Sequim or Port Angeles.
But at the forty mile mark, after a difficult (wind-y, traffic-y) crossing of the Hood Canal Bridge, Megan was completely out of gas. It was apparent that she couldn’t continue. And, at the same time, she couldn’t go back.
The Kingston-Edmonds ferry was only about ten miles away. If Megan could get to that ferry, then my mom could pick her up on the other side. But I needed to keep going to make Port Angeles by a reasonable hour. And it would have been irresponsible to send a spent Megan back on her own. So we decided that my dad would accompany her back to Kingston.
On that hill above the Hood Canal Bridge, as traffic streamed by, each of us emotionally frayed by our physical exertion, dad, Megan, and I said goodbye.
Posted: August 14th, 2009.
Tags: Coleman Ferry Dock, dad, Hood Canal Bridge, Kingston, Megan Sykes, Mercer Island