Here We Go!

Take off

A million small last minute decisions to make before we leave. I always over-pack and end up tossing and turning the night before a trip fretting over bringing this or leaving that behind. I try to imagine a scenario where my extra small down pillow won’t be needed. I can’t. Nevertheless, I know it must stay behind. I’ll have to turn my down jacket into a pillow like usual. This “work-around” is an easy fix. Other items like the candle or the tiny speaker for music are just crazy attempts at holding on to civilization. Some call it “glamping.”

Rudy arrived on Saturday from Colorado. We planned to leave on Sunday but the hottest day of the year sort of nixed that plan. Instead, we swam in the Puget Sound and social distanced outside on the grass the rest of the day.

On Monday it cooled down to a balmy 86 degrees. Perfect day for a start. First stop, Port Townsend. Holy moly, after 6 months of sitting on my couch in a corona virus stupor, these legs are not what they used to be. My 60lb. bike and gear combo feel like lead. At times, I wonder if I’m even moving forward. I wonder, as I often do on the first couple days back on my bike, how I’m ever going to pull this off?

Day one 45 miles and trashed. Thankfully, on day two we only had to take the ferry to Whidbey Island and ride a cool 25 miles to Coupville to my friend’s house. A “rest” day and a “Warmshowers” stay. This is the kind of riding I can get my head around.

After a morning swim in the cold water of Skagit Bay in Coupville, we said good-bye to my friend Ann and continued on our journey to the hiker-biker campsite at Deception pass. Actually, let me back up a minute…after I pulled a pile of odds and ends from my panniers and left a bag of “extra” stuff for Ann to take back to Seattle, we rolled out of Coupville. Hey, every biker overpacks. It’s part of the game we play.

San Juan Islands

The San Juan Islands just never get old. When the sun is out and you’re on your bike, there is no where on earth that is better. Unfortunately, the first two days on Lopez Island it rained. Oh well, who cares? It was still heaven on earth. We stayed at Spencer Spit at the hiker-biker camp site and sort of hid under the trees. My Hubba Hubba tent did it’s job like a mighty warrior. I stayed dry and cozy both nights.

After Lopez we set sail for San Juan Island and Friday Harbor. After realizing that there were about five loaded bikes on the ferry and less than five camp-sites for the hiker-biker camp at the San Juan County campground, we flew off the ferry and hauled-ass across the island to get to the campground first. We lost. Thankfully, we were pathetic enough that they let us stay anyway.

Blue skies and warm temps almost convinced us to ditch our plans and just stay forever. Alas, we decide to move on trusting that the islands will always be here and that I can return next summer as I have for many years.