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.....

Trip to Seattle

As I sit here in front of the computer, I am basking in the glow of success after completing my Vespa ride on 50ccs to Seattle and back. Woot!

Monday

Odometer Reading - 8661 km


I left yesterday morning,, taking the Albion Ferry once again. I take a photo almost every time I cross lately because the ferry will stop running when the Golden Ears Bridge is complete in 2009. I’ll miss the ferry, especially since I get to jump to the front of the line on my Vespa!

When I got to the border, I had a good chat with the US border guard who couldn’t quite believe I was headed for Seattle. He was pretty amazed at my mileage and wished me luck. Pretty cool!

As I rode into Bellingham, 2 hours after I left home, the weather was still sunny but wasn’t particularly warm. I stopped in the downtown area and parked at a meter that thankfully had some time still on it as I didn’t have any US change on me. As I looked at a couple of restaurants, I was famished as I hadn’t had any breakfast yet.


The first place that grabbed my attention was the Horseshoe Cafe. Looking closer, it seemed pretty empty and was more a bar than a cafe. Around the corner, though, was a restaurant called Little Cheerful. It was busy and smelled good!


I sat down and the waiter greeted me with a “Howdy”, not something I usually hear in Canada. The breakfast I ordered was the Cyclops (one egg) and was very tasty - especially the hash browns mixed with fried onions. I didn’t feel that the portions were huge - they were just right. The coffee was excellent - heady praise from a guy that usually drinks only lattés.



I left Bellingham and headed down Chuckanut Drive. I stopped near a viewing spot and took a snap of the ocean. Sad thing was, there was a car parked beside me with a person living in it. I’ve heard about people living in their cars but this is the first time I’ve actually seen it happen.


Chuckanut Drive was one of the most beautiful rides I have taken.


Imagine, I’ve lived just a couple hours north of the drive and I’ve never taken this scenic route.


It was delightful!


At Burlington, I took the road - under construction, lots of rocks, “motorcycles use extreme caution” - to connect to SR 20 and headed towards Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Islands.


Just before I crossed onto the island, I went to the Swinomish Northern Lights Casino. I spent my customary $5 and lasted almost a half an hour!


I liked the dedicated motorcycle parking at the casino - I’d love to see more of that sort of thing.

The island road was a nice ride but because it was a main highway, and I didn’t really go off that road, the scenery was just OK.


The photo above was one of the exceptions - Pass Lake just past Desolation Pass. This part of the ride was over 40 miles so it took a while.

Odometer Reading at Deception Pass - 8807 km
Fuel used - 0.879 gallon


At the south end of Whidbey Island I took the ferry to Mukilteo on the mainland. It was a $3 ferry which lasted about 20 minutes.


It was a very enjoyable ride on a mostly empty ferry. I had time to eat a bowl of Ivars clam chowder.


Before I went back t the car deck, I took this photo from above of my Vespa.
After docking, I rode south into Seattle. As the weather warmed up, the traffic increased - something that I’m used to from riding in Vancouver (I actually don’t mind riding in traffic).

Odometer Reading at Seattle - 8925 km


Last night I stayed at the Moore Hotel - downtown, clean, and cheap ($74). It was a pretty small room but fine to sleep in. I dumped my stuff, parked the scooter in a secure parking lot, phoned the family to tell them I had arrived safely, and headed to Pike Market to grab a bite.

I ended up at the Soundview Cafe and had an excellent meal of crab cakes accompanied by a nice glass of zinfandel.

That night I got together with Navin, a university fraternity buddy I hadn’t seen in over 25 years. We had a great time catching up on each others lives and mutual friends.


We went to an area called Fremont (Fremont Troll pictured above) and hoisted a few pints at a bar called the Red Door. The years seemed to disappear as we chatted and laughed about things past and present. We finally ended up at the Whisky Bar, near my hotel, for a final night cap before I retired to the room at about 1 AM.

Tuesday

Feeling a bit fuzzy in the morning, I had a cereal bar and headed out into Seattle.

I like Seattle. I like Vancouver more but seems to be a similar type city - sort of a parallel universe version of Vancouver.

I went to the secure parking which only charged me half price because I was on a scooter. Nice!


I left the garage and rode north up a series of giant hills. Poor Vespa! I made my way past forbidding I-5 signs through different parts of Seattle - Lakeview, Kenmore, Bothell and ended up in Woodinside! This was a surprise because that’s where Navin lives! I didn’t try to find his house but at least I’ll know for next time.


I eventually connected with Highway 9, making my way through traffic and construction, stopping at Snohomish for breakfast/lunch. It’s a great little place with western looking false fronts...


That is, except for the neo classical Roman building!

Stopped at Grilla Bites for a great coffee and and sandwich (turkey, avocado and bacon).

Big Lake - Odometer Reading: 9070 km
Fuel used - 0.952 gallon

I continued on Highway 9 because around Big Lake, the traffic disappeared. It was a great riding highway, nice curves, not too hilly, lots of trees.


I stopped at Sedro Wooley for a pop and, despite the beautiful square downtown and the nice residential streets, the rest of the downtown core looked pretty nasty.


Maybe the fact that it started to rain coloured my impression.

I continued on Highway 9 until the Lynden turnoff and then through the border and home. It was the soggy portion of the ride but I stayed warm and relatively dry as I had expected a lot more rain than I actually got.

At home, I parked the Vespa, hung up all my rainwear to dry and sat back, feeling success at completing what was for me a challenging ride. And only 2 or 3 near death experiences!

Now, where to go next summer.....

Final Odometer Reading - 9183 km

Total Distance - 522 km

Average consumption - 94.5 miles/gallon OR 3.65 L/100km