Island hopping in Washington

As it's only been 2 days since our last post, we haven't really covered a whole lot of ground yet.  Another 200 km or so.  However in that time we've cycled down small country roads, gravel roads, taken a ferry, and weaved back and forth both under and over interstates.  Yeah, so maybe not the most efficient route, but it's been fun.  

We started off in Sumas, just across the border, and hoped to cycle into Bellingham to find the REI, which we had been told by a fellow cyclist carried the new rear racks that we wanted for our bikes.  After an extremely slow start to our day leaving Canada and entering the US, we finally got into Bellingham just in time for the evening rush hour.  We made our way down city streets, back and forth over the I-5 trying to find the best way to get to the heart of the city.  We eventually made it there, and after waiting and waiting and waiting for somebody to help us, were informed that they don't carry them there.  Maybe in Seattle.  This wasn't the news we were hoping to hear, but with no real options except just to continue on with our current racks, we left the store, stopped for our first taste of some American fast food (Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers are only 99 cents here!), and made our way slowly out of the city.  We managed to pick the best route of the city, on a narrow city street that seems to have been built with the steepest grade possible.  We slowly crawled our way up the hills with lines of cars building behind us, and then zipped down the other side, only to slowly climb the next one.  Eventually the road led us out of the city, and we were able to find a very scenic road with our very first view of the coast.

With darkness setting in, we decided to abandon our ambitions of making it further down the coast and finding a free place to pitch our tent, and we pulled into a State Park campground.  There, we met another cyclist from Australia who was making his way down to San Francisco.  We split the cost of a campsite with him, and decided to spend the next day cycling together, seeing as we had the same destination in mind.  We had a good day of pedaling around Whidbey Island, taking scenic country roads, alternating between farmland, and views of the coastline.  We headed for a campground that our book had told us would be free - but when we got there we found out they now charge $10 per site.  We decided to just pay the money, but soon after arriving another cyclist, this time a young German, found us and we invited him to stay with us as well.  He was in search of the "free" campground too.  In the end, $2.50 each wasn't too bad a price to pay.

This morning we left in a convoy, with all four of us on our loaded touring bikes, making our way to the ferry that would bring us across to Port Townsend.  After a ride that would have been very beautiful had it not been so misty and overcast, we arrived in the cool little town of Port Townsend, where after buying some groceries we all split ways.  We'll see where we all end up in the next few weeks - there's a good chance we'll all cross paths again, as we're all heading for the same general destination, with similar timelines.

We're taking today to relax in the town, and get ready for our next push - maybe we'll make it to the Oregon border before our next rest day?  We're hoping to be in San Francisco in 3 weeks or so, so we'll see how well we can stick to that.  It was great to talk with other cyclists and see how none us of really have any idea when or where we'll go places on a day-to-day basis.  It seems like we are just about as unplanned as a lot of others.  Maybe a little more, but still - not too bad.  I guess we'll see how the next few weeks pan out.  We're enjoying our time here so far, that's for sure.