Mille Bornes - The Olympic Peninsula Ride Part 1

A pretty part of Bellingham called Fairhaven - note the shiny red scooter in the shadows...

It's always a bit disconcerting when someone knows more than you do. Especially if you're a teacher.

Actually, as a teacher,   I encourage my students to show me up if they can - but outside the classroom?

You see, Bobskoot commented the other day that my impending trip to the Olympic Peninsula would be nothing but asphalt because there was so much ground to cover.

Bah - I thought - I'll have lots of time to see things.

Well, did I? Please read on for the next couple of entries - and judge for yourself!

Tuesday - 7am  - 0  km

 I got up early - strike that - super early, especially for summer. 6:20am. I had a light breakfast, made sure I had all my stuff, kissed the dog and patted the wife good-bye (it was early, after all) and headed out at 7am.

It was a bright sunny day but, being cautious, I wore my very safe outfit - armoured motorcycle jacket, jeans and hiking boots. I had an uneventful ride to the border and, as is my typical experience of late, the border guard made me feel that I was bloody lucky that he let the likes of me in the US of A. It's really too bad because I absolutely love going into the US - generally the people are really friendly and there's enough differences to make things interesting.\\

After slipping through the crossing, I headed down Portal Way and the old Pacific Highway until I reached Bellingham. I tried to turn off just the data and phone service on my iPhone so I could use an app that only required the GPS as I had downloaded all the maps between home and Aberdeen. Try as I might, I could not shut off the cell service unless I went into airplane mode. I finally gave up on the GPS and did exactly that - luckily I had printed up my Google Maps route earlier and shoved the 7 pages of maps and directions in my top case.

Incidentally, some of the roads I took were the same roads I had taken before on my LX50. It was great to compare the ride, and, although the pace was much quicker, I really enjoyed being able to keep up with traffic effortlessly and not spend a lot of time stressing about where I was going to pull off next or, worse, riding along on the shoulder, hoping it wouldn't disappear.

Birch Bay Square 44 km

Fairhaven area of Bellingham

9:15am - Fairhaven

I rode through Bellingham and ended up in the Fairhaven district, where I made my first stop. This area of Bellingham is very nice with old buildings that look to be old stores, warehouses and the like, that have been renewed and look great. I went to a coffee shop called Colophon which made a great latté and sat outside in the sun as I sipped. My only beef is the girl behind the counter asked if I was staying or wanted it to go and I replied 'To go' and then I disappeared to find the bathroom (oops, they say restroom in the US - funny since I neither can have a bath or a rest in a public toilet!). When I returned, I was given my latté in a paper cup. Oh well....at least is was tasty.

Colophon Cafe

I continued on by taking Chuckanut Drive. Last time I was on this, I was riding my LX50 - now, on my Vespa GTS 250, the ride was a different story! Instead of a meandering peaceful ride with lots of nature (and a line up of people waiting for me) I had an exciting ride with lots of twisties and enjoyable curves. I never felt I was going too slow and still had time to pull over and take the occasional picture. Things did zoom by a bit quickly, however.

View from Chuckanut Drive

Sometime after Chuckanut drive, I ended up in Burlington where I had to make my connection to SR20 which would take me to Whidbey Island. I found the Tourist Info and the woman behind the desk happily gave me an assortment of maps to assist me. I was pretty pleased as they were all free - I'm sure the maps in Canada would have cost me $5. I carefully studied the map and, after a couple of false starts, ended up on the road that went to SR20. Funnily enough, it was the same road that I had just turned off of to go to the Tourist Info! Egads!

Pass Lake

 I went along SR20 for the next while and encountered a nice park just off the road. I went over to this lake - called Pass Lake - and took a photo before continuing on.

Pass Lake - 144 km

Bridge over Deception Pass

I then crossed this great big bridge that went over Deception Pass. It is truly an engineering marvel and is one of those things that is fine when you're on it but looks very intimidating before and after. I was then on Whidbey Island. This was still ground that I had covered before on the LX50 but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. The highway was pretty busy and there were even 2 lanes each way at some points and I had no difficulty zooming along. I went by Whidbey AFB which has 2 very cool fighter jets at the entrance, angled towards the sky as if in flight. I also went by Oak Harbour which seemed a nice place.

Deception Pass

I continued on, past Coupeville, until I approached the ferry. The ferry was on the left side so I thought I had to turn left. Nope. I had to continue on the road for another mile and THEN do a U-Turn and come back to the ticket booth. I would have turned earlier but I was worried that there was some sort of checkpoint that made it so you had to go there. Nope - just a turn around! I got to the ticket booth and the nicest old guy sold me my ticket ($5.50) and said that I'd just made it! I zipped over to the ferry and got on - last. Two minutes later, we pulled out from the dock headed to Port Townsend and the Olympic Peninsula.

Port Townsend Ferry

Departed from ferry 11:45am - 195 km

 To be continued.....

Friendly USA - Trip to Bellingham on a New Route

I had an amazing ride yesterday.

It wasn't so much the ride itself, it was the slight change of climate in the US when I went across the border.

Don't get me wrong, I find Americans can range from wonderfully angelic to cranky so and sos - much like Canadians - but yesterday was special.

First, though, I had decided to take a different border crossing because I can no longer take the Albion Ferry. The ferry service has ended permanently because the Golden Ears Bridge has opened. I used to take the Aldergrove crossing but now it makes more sense for me to take the Pacific Truck Crossing.


I left at 8 am on a rather grey morning and, after crossing the bridge, headed down 184th all the way down to Zero Avenue. I really like 184th because it is not a busy road and is quite scenic with all of the farms, horses, and generally rural environment.


At Zero Avenue, I turned towards the border, snuck into line and then found myself at the whim of the American border guard.


Things started out as expected - I got grilled a bit about why I was going to Bellingham for lunch (to shop) and who was I meeting there (no one) - but after he found out I was a teacher, he became quite friendly and chatty. He asked me a couple performance questions about my Vespa and was really positive. I took this as a good omen.


I rode into Blaine and then took Peace Portal Way which goes along the coast and then parallels the Interstate highway. It was a great route as there was very little traffic but enough interesting things to keep me going. This is diametrically opposed to the craziness on my last ride from Parksville to Nanaimo.

At one point, near Custer, as I was riding by, an old guy in a baseball hat stood up, grinned, and waved a peace sign at me. This is great, I thought! I then approached Ferndale where I was a bit confused finding the way. A guy in a truck pulled over while I was looking at my map and asked me if I needed help with my scooter. Awesome!

Ferndale was an interesting little town - not terrible scenic but some interesting stores on the Main Street - and then I worked my way to the Pacific Highway.

Unlike its moniker, the Pacific Highway is not a big expressway but simply a two lane road that was mostly empty, paralleled the I-5, and had interesting businesses and other sights as I went along.

A few minutes later and I was at the Bellis Fair Mall. I stopped into Target for some socks and some multi-coloured Goldfish crackers (we can't get them in Canada and my daughters call them Gay Pride Crackers because there is a rainbow of them...) and had a latté. I didn't like the look of the mall food so I decided to see what I could find on the way home.


I saw this top in a store and was struck by the slogan. I'll tell you, nobody in Canada goes around wearing an "I heart Stephen Harper" shirt - no one! Mind you Barack is cool, Harper is soooo not-cool. In fact, Canada probably hasn't had a cool prime minister since Trudeau. I envy you, USA!


Here's an intersting statue by the post office near the mall.


As I drove back on the Pacific Highway, I saw a sign for a casino on the Lummi Indian Reserve. A few minutes later and I was recklessly blowing my treasured US cash on slot machines. I went over my limit and lost $10 and then sheepishly left the building. Surprisingly, the casino allows smoking inside - possibly because it is on reserve land...


I made great time as I headed north and, when I was back on Peace Portal Way, I stopped at yet another mall, the Birch Bay Centre. It's pretty new as there are lots of vacancies. I was looking for a place to eat (Bob's Beer and Burgers?) when I spied a Jack In the Box. Now we don't have Jack In the Box in my part of Canada so I was pretty excited. I had a chicken club on sourdough bread which was quite good (although I must admit I have a weakness for processed cheese slices) and curly fries (which tasted OK but were really greasy).


I upgraded to a medium drink which was the size of a large in most restaurants. No problem, I stuck the drink in my handy dandy drink holder, thinking I could sip away while I waited in the border line up.

A few minutes later I was in the line. Unfortunately, just before it was my turn to go to the booth, my drink holder came unstuck and I had to hold the drink in one hand as I approached the booth. The Canadian guard was a bit cranky, too, which seemed strange but I stuffed my now empty cup in my jacket and headed off back home.

All in all it was a great trip - nice people, good feeling and another great route.