Day One of the Bike Ride Anacortes to Marblemount

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Sunday was a sun day. What a fantastic day to start our ride in Anacortes Washington to Marblemount Washington. The weather was a little cool this morning as we dipped our rear wheels into the Pacific Ocean at 8 am. We had clear beautiful skies all day long with minimal wind. This is what we call perfect biking weather... God is good! We weaved in and out of roads within Anacortes and Sedro-Wooley. The bike route which is suggested by Adventure Cycling Association tries to avoid traffic and narrow shoulders on the roads. Kevin entered the entire 71 mile route into my Ride with GPS last night and it proved very helpful. Ride with GPS actually called out the directions during the ride and those who are following me on Ride with GPS can leave texts and it will read them to me. Those were so encouraging today. While still in Anacortes we traveled on a bike path with great views of the Northern Cascade Range in the distance and Yacht Storage. I could not believe the size of some of those yachts, I am sure they cost more than home. They were beautiful and had some really funny names painted on them. There was a bridge on the bike path and we saw seals swimming there, it was rather entertaining. The traffic on HWY 20 was horrendous. We were glad that we had the maps from Adventure Cycling Association in my Ride with GPS. The route took us to some beautiful countryside with magnificent views of the mountain ranges and beautiful farms. One thing I have noticed about Washington State is that they can grow the most glorious Azeleas and Rhododendrons. I did not know they came in so many colors and grow into such huge trees. The red ones were my favorite. They are such a deep beautiful red and it seems that there is not a place on the tree or bush without a brilliant bloom. We were routed into a little town called Concrete and it was such a cute place. The Police dept had a mural painted on it with the words “Concrete, The center of the known Universe.” I am not sure about that but it is a great little place. There was a man driving an old Ford Truck, I asked him if I could take a pic and he stopped the truck and posed. Kevin met us at the Concrete Bridge which is really unique and took our pictures as we crossed the bridge. Gale and Margaret met us in Lymon Washington with lunch! They supplied us with sandwiches and potato chips. We headed back out on the road. Kevin met up with us many times for pictures, water, snacks and encouragement. We had 10 miles left to go and we were on an country road with little traffic but huge on views. I kept looking for Bigfoot they said that it leaves up here but I have not seen it yet J We were blessed with fantastic views of the Northern Cascades (much closer than earlier in the day), thick forests, rivers, falls, and some steep climbs. We completed a climb and were resting at the top when Kevin drives up with Gale and Margaret in the car. With on 2 ½ miles left, they gave us the most encouraging words…we have dinner reservations at 6:00 pm so you better get on it. So we did! We made it to the restaurant who has about 30 different flavors of milkshakes that I had been dreaming about all day long…but they were out of ice cream!!!!! Bummer! So after dinner we had homemade Dutch Apple Pie (no ice cream) but it was really good. Tomorrow the real climbing starts so rest, Aleve and Volaren for the knee.

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Comments

[David Biland]

Beautiful scenery!!