Port Townsend to Anacortes, WA

This morning after a lovely breakfast with our hosts, overlooking the Strait of Juan du Fuca, we loaded our vehicle.  As we were doing so it began drizzling rain.  The weather predictions for today were not the best, but as long as it is just a drizzle we will go ahead with our plans.  Cal started where he left off yesterday, in a drizzle, but within 15 minutes the rain stopped.  The rest of the day was mostly cloudy with the sun shinning late this afternoon.  We consider ourselves very fortunate to be having such good weather, so far!

Today we needed to ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island.  This ferry uses a reservation system, so the other day we made a reservation for 9:30am today, however since we did not travel as far yesterday as we expected, I changed the reservation to 12:45pm today.  Well things went better than expected this morning, so we actually went ‘standby’ and sailed at 11:15am

Mussel Farming near Coupeville Washington

Rachel spent a little time in the village of Coupeville – neat shops and wonderful bakery.  I picked up an afternoon snack for Cal.



Waters Edge of Strait Juan de Fuca



I did not have to ‘pilot car’ Cal very much today, which was nice, but where the shoulder was narrow or nonexistent it was a necessity. Most of the time I go ahead and when I see an area that I do not feel is safe, I stop and wait for him to catch up to me.  Usually I am no more than 5 miles ahead or behind Cal.  While I am waiting I am looking at a ‘Lonely Planet’ book on Thailand – thinking about a trip for next May - to attend Rotary International Convention. Waiting is no issue for me.   



View of Deception Pass from 1935 Bridge



Cal is doing well, tackling one hill at a time, except for a 5 miles stretch this morning – he was frustrated with his bike before he realized he had a low tire. Once it was pumped up, he was back in business!   

Tonight we are outside of Anacortes in a nice Mom & Pop hotel along Lake Campbell. We went into downtown Anacortes for dinner.

Tomorrow we will be going through the bulb and flower area of Washington. The tulips and daffodils are over for this season, but maybe the strawberries will be ready.  Tonight we picked up some beautiful Washington cherries.

Tomorrow will the last day before we start climbing the Cascades!  We just made reservations at a small motel in the town of Concrete, WA.  However they do not have internet, so unless we find an internet café, we may not be blogging for the next few days.  We know there are no services for an 80 miles stretch, and Cal will not be able to ride that far in one day (up the mountains) – so snow camping is a high probability! Will tell you all about it later!