this weekend i loaded up the long haul trucker and headed up to south whidbey state park for some camping with my nerdcrew. while sitting on the ferry at mukilteo, who should i run into but loren and guenna? and what should they say to me other than “you never update your blog!”.

games night in the woods was pretty fun. basically a smorgasborg of food, drinking, and games with a couple 3-4 mile hikes up into the woods and down to the beach intermingled. the bicycle and bucket panniers got alot of interest, as did the hennessy hammock. several folks took naps in the hammock and everyone was quite envious of the comfort. i didn’t have the best options for where to setup, but it worked out alright. state parks are probably the worst environment for hammock camping, because they thin out most of the medium-sized trees and the natural clearings with thin underbrush of the forest give way to trails and manicured campsites.

on the way home on sunday i added a little american flag to my rear rack. i theorized that it might get me some more respect from the drivers of whidbey island, and while i didn’t do any serious data collection, i did have a pretty pleasant ride back to the ferry. riding on highway 99 through lynnwood however, was a different story. i was reminded of the peculiar patriotism of the places nobody cares about. a young gentleman in a lowered honda civic yelled at me as i rolled up to a stopsign: “america don’t want you!” doubly interesting was that this america, the america laid out as an endless line of strip malls, tobacco and gun stores, car dealerships and minimarts with giant parking lots wasn’t an america i wanted either. so in a sense we were in perfect agreement.