Blaine to Anacortes - Day 4

Today I covered about 60 miles from Blaine (right past the border) to Anacortes, WA. I rolled in to Blaine, well actually a little resort community called Birch Bay, at about 6PM and had nice caesar salad at a funny little beach side karaoke bar called the Blue Fish. It was a really beautiful spot right on the water. Being the resourceful chap that I am, I snuck into the pool at a little condo complex filled with tourists and took a nice long soak in the hot tub. I met a nice couple from Spokane and talked about the weather.

I threw up my tent right behind the complex, woke up early the next morning, snuck back into the building and took a nice hot shower. It was heavenly because it got a little cooler than expected at night. Actually, I froze my balls off.

The ride south from Blaine was stupidly beautiful. Like a postcard around every corner. Everything was perfect except that my disc brake had been howling like a wolf all the way from Vancouver. I was so tempted to call the boys back at Bicycle Habitat, but felt like I probably wouldn't hear the end of it, so I decided to take the damn thing apart and reset it myself. And it worked! Ha! Apparently I'm not as feeble with a bike as I thought I was. Actually, I am. No sane person would ride a hundred miles on a squelly brake.

I spent the morning roaming around Bellingham, WA which was a really great town. I only wish I had sucked it up and made it down there to camp overnight, because there was a lot to be seen. It had a pretty nice downtown and the people were ridiculously friendly. I went into the library to ask if I could rest my bike inside while I browsed the internet. What did I get? The librarian handed me a brand new Kryptonite U-lock and asked me to leave my panniers as collateral. She even said "panniers"! Gotta love progressive bike culture.....

In Bellingham I went to their amazing food coop and got a big bag of Tings, which I munched for about 20 miles down the coolest road in the world, Chuckanut Drive. About halfway down the drive, a nice guy named Spencer (I only know because it said it on his uniform) pulled over and told me how to get up to the Interurban Trail, which was an awesome bikes-only trail running through the forest down to Edison, WA. Easily the most beautiful 20 miles of road I have ever seen.

It started getting dark as I pulled onto WA-20, a big highway that took me out to Fidalgo Island, better known as Anacortes, WA. As it got dark I stopped to eat some Udon soup... and then the mayhem ensued. But that's a whole nuther entry. Stay tuned.