Anacortes, Washington -- Day -1 and 0

Arrived in Anacortes, Washington yesterday for the start of the tour.  Travel was incredibly smooth.  I was really grumbling yesterday morning at 3:30 about the choice to fly from Minneapolis.  But, it was so easy, it was almost worth it (I'm not sure if Dale agrees).  No one else in line when I checked my luggage at 4:30 (that was a new experience).  Security took only 40 minutes or so, and was much worse by the time I got through.  On time into Seattle, then onto the shuttle to Anacortes.  And, thankfully the shuttle driver agreed to drop us at the hotel instead of the normal stop which was a mile away.  My theory is they try to drop you off a mile away to see if you can haul your luggage to the hotel.  If you can’t, you either –

a.Don’t belong on this trip, or (more likely)

b.You packed WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!

I ran into another rider at the Seattle airport so we made the remainder of the journey together, went to lunch in Anacortes and picked up bikes at the bike shop down the street.

Since our arrival, there have been others coming in.  It seems many have ridden together with this tour company before.  My experience with this company has been limited to the Texas Hill Country ride two years ago.  It was a different, but good experience.  The route sheets and SAGs are set up differently, but they prepare most of their own dinners using the kitchen in the back of the trailer.

It’s a bit ironic that at the time of the Hill Country tour that area of Texas was in a severe state of drought and has now been inundated with rain this spring.  Now we're in the northwest and the local folks are all talking about how dry it is here.  The only obvious evidence to me were the medians of the highway as we drove yesterday were all brown and dead.  The trees are not showing any stress, but if this "heat wave" continues that will probably change too.

80 degrees with no humidity to someone from the Midwest isn't exactly a "heat wave," but Seattle and Portland are both forecast to be close to 100 tomorrow.  We'll hope we will be on tree-lined roads by then. One thing for sure, all that cold weather gear (and weight) right now seems like overkill.  On the third day we climb Rainey Pass on a 90+ mile day.  Any heat is intimidating then.

We've completed ride orientation and SAG orientation.  It looks like a good group.  (Everyone is looking at day 3).  I'll be SAG on day 2, so day 3 will be a ride day for me.

Tomorrow is 37 miles to Sedro Woolley.

Another rider and I rode out to Washington Park this morning and a bit around Anacortes.  This is a great starting point.  Drivers are incredibly courteous.  The Park was beautiful with many views of the San Juan Islands.  Which you'll see in the photos.  There's a heavy population of deer in the area.  We had a doe and fawn in front of us, and all the traffic even stopped for them to cross!

I'm posting one photo today especially for biking friend Taffney.  Looks like you can have your pick of sail boats, yachts and catamarans here.

Here's the first joke of the trip, thanks to Natalie -
Q.  Why wouldn't the seed watch TV?
A.  Because there was no "seed" nal!

Awesome!

San Juan Islands and Puget Sound from Washington Park.

Riding in Washington Park

Cut outs like this all over the buildings in Antacortes.  This one, on an old depot building, made me think of the campers at Camp Wilson this week.