Harry Potter has made me lonely, but will make my parents very happy.

I woke up in Glacier National Park yesterday and intended to do a 77-mile day. But I felt so incredibly lazy that I slept until 8. At that point, I jolted up when I realized that it was Friday and that meant that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was playing nationwide! I scrambled out of my tent, packed everything up, and headed for the nearest theater in Whitefish, MT, 25-miles away. Becuse I hadn't done laundry or showered in 6 days, I compromised and allowed myself a short day in return for some hygeine.

I'm sure this is the story of many a Harry Potter fan, but I grew up right alongside Harry. He was maybe 2 years older than me throughout the release of the books and I've always been quite the magic aficionado. It helps that my little brother is currently obsessed so he keeps me up-to-date on all the spells.

Anyway, the movie was grand. I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers, but you should definitely check it out. It gave me an awful sense of loneliness afterward though. Walking out of the theater by myself, out to just my bike, and to a night in a tent also alone, I longed for the sense of strength in family and friendship that the movie was all about. I gave Mark and my mom a call then and chatted for a couple of hours with them. It made me feel better, but still bummed about how long I'm going to be away.

Then, I met a cyclist from Australia named Paul. He's a great guy whose riding from Flagstaff, AZ to the coast along a similar route as me. I mention him because I found out that he too was trying to move his trip along. Last night, he took an Amtrak train from Whitefish, MT to Seattle and saved himself the 9 or 10 day ride through the truly awful terrain of Washington. I mused on it for a while as I was falling asleep last night. It felt like cheating to me to quit on something just because it was too hard (not implying that that's what you did, Paul. Just that it would be my reason for doing it). Yeah, it sucks being away from family and friends, but this trip is a test of my independence and I hate to feel like I couldn't handle it.

But this morning, strangely enough, I met another cyclist from Australia and she was doing the same exact thing! I asked if she knew Paul and she had no idea who he was. So that planted the thought in my mind again (INCEPTION!!). I sat around the park this morning and ruminated on it for a while.

I came to the thrilling conclusion that this trip is totally and completely mine. Somewhere between not knowing any cyclists in Colorado and meeting all the others that I did while riding the Transamerica trail, I lost a sense of ownership of this adventure. It became something I was doing only because everybody else I knew was doing it. And the fact that other people are doing it is why I saw taking a train as cheating. It was as if I had people watching me, holding me up to some standard that I was supposed to meet.

But no more of that. I am on my own adventure and I'm taking the reins again. I'm taking the day off in Whitefish, riding to Eureka tomorrow, and picking up my package in Libby on Monday. On Monday night, I'm hopping on the Amtrak to Seattle ($91, less than the amount of money I would spend if I biked it). I've been pining for the coast for so long and I'm finally going to get it!

I'm going to organize a place to stay in Seattle through Warmshowers.com for a couple of days and then head up to Vancouver from there. I get to bypass all the awful climbs in Washington, shorten my trip by about 10 days, and finally get to the coast!! YES!!