Camping at Bay View was great. Showers were cheap, and Al paid only 12 bucks for all of us! I found out later Al even paid for TJs shower. Cool. A racoon did get into my snack bag that night, unzipping it even, and eating my red vines. I assume it was a coon, it could have been Roger anyways.

We parted, with Al heading back to the far North for his second hundred mile day in a row....amazing. We were all sad to see him go, and we all speant all morning reminising with eachother about some of the witty comments Al had made. We had great fun with him, and TJ noted that Al fit in with our group as if we had been riding the entire way together. This was such a surprise because our Midwestern sarcasm has not been well recieved in the 1500 mile humor gap called Montana and North Dakota. I found out later that Al gave katie several dollars in Canadian money for decorating her future Northern Tier pictures.

Thanks for everything Al.

We were soon off the ACA route and katie handed her navigating job over to me. The highway twenty stretch was great in sections, and horrid in sections. We were already warned that tomorrow will be the same...we will have a few miles of horrid biking conditions, followed by great sections. Man, it really makes you appriciate the value in the ACA maps. Other cyclists see that we have the ACA maps and are quickly and openly jealous.

We had a pretty good, but pricey breakfast in ?Whitney? near Mount Vernon just south of Bay View. We couldn't bike the Bay view Trail because it had these gates at each crossing which did not accept recumbents or non traditional bikes. Banished we were.

We had a traffic laden drive to Oak Harbor where we stopped for Tacos. At the pseudo-mexican fast-food joint, a friendly local fellow helped us with finding the ferry we needed. He also invited us to stop at his famlies flower shop on the way. At the flower shop, his wife was also really friendly. She gave katie some free post cards and told us to call them if we ran into any troubles. It always amazes us how friendly everyone is to us cyclists. Bike angels is what some cyclists call them.

Here is a picture of what Katie has been talking about for months.....

Just after Coupetown we boarded a ferry to Port Townsend where we found the best valued hotel in town, according to our new flourist friends. Unfortunately, I forgot what they told me! They told me to check the room first to see if it has hot water! We did not. Fortunately, it has hot water.....unfortunately the bathroom is falling apart! Always listen to flourists! The shower head is messed up, and the shower is like a sand blaster. TJ came out of the shower and said "It is like showering with bees!" Anyway, otherwise the hotel is decent, and has a decent location. No AC though, and we are all accustomed to sleeping in the chilling cold.

Tomorrow we need to get about 45 to 50 miles towards the Ocean, so we can hit the ocean before Dee is here to take us home! We are sure cutting this one close. The fortune Cookie TJ got says it all...."Its not the end yet. Lets stay with it."

My fortune brings up some questions. "Might forces will come to your aid." Hopefully that is talking about Dee.

42 miles (2131 total)