Green trek across Washington

One of GreenCupboards’ employees had quite the adventure this summer – a 501-mile biking and running trek across the state of Washington. This ‘Green,’ zero-emission trip by Chris Ennis and Conaer Monroe, took 25 days, and an average of 20 miles per day, east to west. Chris, a long-distance marathon runner, and Connor, a longtime bicyclist, found a greater appreciation of nature, made some great discoveries and had a memorable journey. Here are some highlights in their own words. (This piece will be continued in future weeks.) Connaer: In May, I was asked by my buddy Chris if I would accompany him on a bike across the state of Washington while he ran the distance; I agreed. The trip was to take a total of 25 days, averaging 20 miles a day. Starting at the western Idaho border in Post Falls, and ending in Ocean Shores, we were to take Highway 12 and Highway 2, and go over both Blewett Pass and White Pass. Chris is a high school cross-country runner from Spokane. I attend school with him, yet play no sport. It was not the bike ride that drew my interest; it was the idea of becoming a vagabond for 25 days that appealed to me. For Chris, this would be an athletic accomplishment of a lifetime, running 20 miles a day for 25 days takes extreme strength, skill, and endurance. On June 21, I spent the night at Chris’ house while we spent the evening loading up the bike with approximately 50 pounds of gear in a saddle-pack. The pack carried his gear, as well as my own. On June 22, we left the Idaho border and traveled 20 miles into Spokane (our hometown). We stayed our first night in a hotel, and had friends and family over to say goodbye. June 23 was a short day, only 13 miles; but ended up being Chris’ hardest day. At the end of the run, Chris said, “We might have overestimated our abilities,” and considered calling the trip to a very early end. However, he knew he had talked too big to turn back now. So he endured, soaking himself in an ice bath to help heal his body. Ice baths, according to Chris, can almost be as painful as the run itself. June 29 was my hardest day. Chris and I awoke from a night on the side of the road between Coulee City and Waterville, and had a giant valley to climb out of. Chris ran in the distance ahead of me at a steady 7-minute mile pace, the pace he maintained throughout the entire trip—only walking three miles on that awful second day. When Chris paused to wait for me, I told him that I was going to drop the sleeping bags because they were too heavy. Up the hills I would pedal, but would sometimes roll backwards due to the weight of the pack. Chris told me that my idea was illogical, as there is no way we were going to be able to sleep by the side of the road without sleeping bags. Out of all the elements we battled—heat, hills, wind (we were traveling east to west and were faced with a constant headwind), animals, the mere distance, and creepy people, the most frustrating and aggravating element was each other. For example, as we slept by the side of the road (with our sleeping bags), Chris expressed his concern about the rattlesnakes that may be lurking in the field next to us. I laughed, and told him that if anything was going to get us, it would be some big trucker looking for some teenage boy jailbait. So I slept with mace in one hand, and a knife in the other. Later that night Chris woke me up to ask me if I could hear the coyotes running around us. He said they sounded close. I told him that coyotes don’t attack people; but he told me how he thought that the coyotes might accidentally run into us, become startled, and then attack. I went back to sleep. For the first half of the trip, we constantly fought without resolution. Everything was Chris’ fault, and Chris thought that everything was my fault. However that later stopped. Without talking about it, we both realized it was useless. We were in this together. If we were to fail, there had to be blood, broken bones, and torn ligaments before we would turn back. Chris often talked of even finishing it in a wheelchair if he were to get hurt. To be continued …