West Coast of USA to (possibly?) Indio, California

September 17th, 2014
Sidney, BC to Oak Harbor, WA

 

To begin with, I have to state that the ferry that I travelled on from Sidney, BC to Anacortes, WA is no longer in service. The hopes that it would restart once the Covid Pandemic had subsided have been dashed!

 

From the Washington State Ferries website...
"International service to and from Sidney, B.C. remains suspended until further notice due to continued significant crewing and vessel availability challenges. There will be no service to and from Sidney through at least Spring of 2030.

 

 

Today's was a relatively short ride route, but it was a hillier route from the Anacortes ferry dock to reach SR20 than riding SR20 through the town of Anacortes. My route was via the Anaco  Beach Rd., Marine Drive and Rosario Rd. to SR20 and was definitely shorter, but some of the short steep hills on the route brought back memories of struggling up those a few years ago. But I  managed OK without popping out a knee, and made it to the Deception Pass bridge without too much of hassle (this bridge connects Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island). After that, it was easy riding for the rest of the route.

 

 The sun was trying to come out when I left Sidney, but not long after the ferry started the crossing, clouds covered the sun and some light rain started. By the time that we reached  Anacortes (2:15pm) on Fidalgo Island, the drizzle had stopped. I checked through Border Security without any problems and set off up the hill out of terminal. About a half-hour later the rain started and kept up all the way to Oak Harbor making for a clammy ride in my rain jacket and fairly warm temperature.
 It was about 4pm by the time I reached my motel in Oak Harbor and late enough for today even though I only rode about 35km. I wanted to get here early anyway to buy some food supplies for the road ahead and picked this motel for it’s location opposite a large grocery store. Pure luck really, but the room is immaculate, king-size bed, big TV, fridge, microwave, free Wi-Fi etc. and super clean – one of the best places that I’ve ever stayed in! All for a very reasonable $65! A lot more than I expected at the Acorn Motor Inn when I booked it. Sometimes you get lucky!

 

And  that’s it for today – king-size soft bed awaits!...

 

AdamK and Basil, "Can we stay longer at this place!"

 

Oak Harbor to Quilcene

 I woke up to a light rain this morning and it didn’t look to appealing to venture out right away. So I dawdled and had the motel breakfast, pretty basic continental type, but I figured it would do for now. Packed up and went out into the hallway and met two other cyclists there – Bob and Scott from Vancouver, BC. They are heading to San Francisco on a similar route to mine. We set off together into what was now just a very light drizzle, but it was still relatively warm to ride in.

 Bob and Scott are very lightly loaded, unlike me! They’ll probably make much better time than me especially on the hills. Anyway, we stayed together until the top of the long climb out of Oak Harbor on SR20 when Bob had to stop to investigate a noise from his back wheel. I stopped too to take off my rain jacket as there was a lull in the drizzle. Actually and luckily, it didn’t rain for the rest of the ride as the weather forecast was for showers all morning! I left the other two as they seem to have things in hand and carried on to the Ferry Terminal to catch the boat to Port Townsend. I arrived there just before one boat was going to load whereas I'd figured that I’d have to wait a little while. No sign of the other two though, so I thought that would be the last I probably would see of them - hmmm!

 

 I thought that I had more images of Historic Port Townsend’s downtown, but I found out later that I had the wrong setting on my camera and ended up with a bunch of fuzzy ones – That Basil must have moved the dial!

 Not too much for scenery today again as all the riding was either through forested or agricultural areas. SR20, just as yesterday, had a good shoulder for me to ride on, but it was quite hilly all the way from Port Townsend until it a long downhill took me to Route 101, mostly my main road all the way to California.

 

 101 was a lot flatter than SR20 mostly for all the distance to Quilcene, my stop for the night. I rode into the parking lot of the motel – the only one for many miles – and Bob and Scott were there waiting to go the office and check in. Unbeknownst to me, they passed me in Port  Townsend while I  was in McDonald’s there for a second breaky! They mentioned that they had seen my bike there. Later we went for dinner together and had a nice visit with much to talk about the route ahead and some cycling stories from the past. We also saw a couple, man and woman, from Austria who are going to South America – they started in Alaska! They both had a ton of gear and the fellow said that his bike and gear weighed 90kg – that made me feel better at less than half that weight!

 

More tomorrow...

AdamK & Basil, "I never touched the damn camera"

 

Quilcene to Shelton

 All day on US101 today – about 90km south and I am in Shelton for the night. I met up with Bob & Scott at the restaurant next to the motel for breakfast and then set out a little after they left in a light drizzle and mist. First job was to ride the 7km climb up Mount Walker – a good wake-up for the legs! As I climbed higher it got mistier so I turned on my flashing lights even though the traffic was very light and I had a good wide shoulder to ride on. As I started the downhill, I spotted the two fellows way ahead, but what with I guess my heavier bike, I easily passed them and sped on – at least until the next uphill where I could see them in mirror a little ways back for many miles! The road then was mostly downhill all the way to Brinnon and not much of a problem.
 After Brinnon the road is twisty, roly-poly and space to ride on changed continuously from wide to narrow making for a challenging ride. It was warming up too as the sun was really trying to show its face and take away the dampness of the early morning.

 

 

 Around every corner was another short (some were longer) hill to tackle and as traffic increased so did my level of awareness. Not many issues though, other than a few redneck pick-up drivers and a few logging trucks whose driver’s sole aim seems to be to break the land speed record for a loaded truck! Some areas were very tight with those loonies refusing to slow down and give a cyclist a break.

 

 After quite a while I stopped for a break and the guys caught up with me. I asked where they were staying tonight and they found out  that they had booked a motel in downtown Shelton. I realised then that it was Friday and I probably should have booked something myself! Oh well, Basil forgot to remind me I guess?
 I stopped in Hoodsport for lunch and to see if I could post yesterday’s report as the Wi-Fi at the motel wasn’t good enough a signal for me to post last night. I got the post off and had a sandwich and drink before riding off to my destination. For quite a few miles south of Hoodsport, there was basically no shoulder to ride on, or it was very narrow, it widened to a decent size the further that I rode south.

 

 When I got to Shelton, I rode to the Super 8 Motel – no room at the inn!!! Crap! I must admit that the lady at the desk looked out the window and gave my bike a good look before she told me that she was fully booked, hmm! I’m not saying that she lied to me, but who knows? Anyway, I scrambled to find the number of another place that the guys were going to and phoned and took the last room. Unfortunately it’s quite, how shall I say it, aged and worn! Kind of like me, I guess! Well I’m not staying for more than one night so it will have to do. I found the guys a couple of doors down and we had a good laugh about how our digs were slowly degrading as the days went by.
 With it being Saturday tomorrow, I phoned the only motel in the next town where I am heading to and booked a room – hopefully the degradation will not continue!
 Headwinds reared their ugly heads this afternoon and were quite strong where the Hood Canal was exposed to the road. All in all though, I must say that this is one of the most scenic stretches to ride, or drive, of US101 in Washington State. And for the most part, the ride was at the eastern edge of the Olympic National Forest.

 

 I forgot to mention yesterday that the ferry that I took from Keystone is the link from Whidbey Island to the Olympic Peninsula where  I rode today.

 

More tomorrow...

AdamK and Basil, "It's not my job to remind the dim-wit!"