Port Townsend to Annacortes

 Here we are 11 and a bit years later in the same campground from which we launched our west to east Transam ending in Bar Harbour , Maine.

Washington State Park 5 miles right on the Sound 5 miles from Annacortes. But a lot harder getting here this time. In 2011 it was a ferry from Vancouver Is. This time slogging it up Hwy 20 from Port Casey . We were lazy this morning and didn’t get the ferry out of Port Townsend till 11.30. But very relaxing and breakfast while packing up the tents with that fabulous view out to sea.

Heavy traffic on Hwy 20 but a good shoulder. Had a lovely chat wit Chen Wu who was heading for San Diego.

Only 35 miles , but we felt it . Hilly!

Pitched tents, dinner, watched a phenomenal sunset and good to get horizontal  after shower in pretty grotty facilities. Very different to last night.

Pics all out of order and no idea how to fix. Not even going to try. The last pic is the precise spot we “dipped” back tires in 2011. Need to go back to that crazyguy blog entry.

Seattle to Port Townsend

 Kevin guided us through the city streets up to Edmonds where we caught the ferry across the sound to Kingston and from there a beautiful ride up to Port Townsend where we pitched Camp at Fort Worden State Park. Great weather and superb cycling conditions. Not too much traffic and a good shoulder most of the way. Tomorrow we take another ferry and ride up to Anacortes from where we will take another ferry a day later out to the SanJuan Islands. 

Johannes and Jane please note we’re using your fabulous present to cook our evening meal  by our tents. Too tired to bike back in to town. Emergency rations living useful.

A 53 mile ride to ease our way in to the first bike tour we’ve had in 2 years. M was a star! 

Day in Seattle with Heidi

 We had a bit of hairy ride from King St. Station Seattle to the home of our Warmshowers house in the dark and with heavy traffic late on Thursday evening. We made it safely though and were given a lovely welcome by Kevin and Sun Young, keen cycle tourists, musicians and librarians by profession. 

A leisurely breakfast with our hosts on Fri morning and then biked in to meet Heidi at her new abode. Heidi was Mary’s Susuki violin teacher in Aspen and has been a good friend for the past 15 years. She has just started a good  new job in the Music School in Seattle and has taken to the city like a duck to water. She happened to have that day off work and was a great guide as we toured the city on foot visiting the Space Needle, the glass spheres, the Amazon city within a city including the unstaffed Amazon Go where merely lifting goods of the racks is recorded by weight and overhead cameras through your cell phone and debited instantaneously to your credit card account. Remarkable. Also the extraordinary Bill and Melinda Gates Museum of gadgets of the future. See the self composting toilets below ! 

Kevin and Sun Young came in and joined us with Heidi for dinner in a Lebonese restaurant and then the same slightly scary cycle back to our Warmshowers hosts.

Seattle - almost !

 This is the third day on the train and too much food and too little exercise. It’s been a fun journey though and we have seen a lot of beautiful country and read a lot of interesting articles ! Not much sleep last night . Cold and sitting up all night. Woke up going through the fire ravaged area of Weed / see last posts. A good decision.

Now between Portland and Seattle and once we have retrieved our bikes and panniers  we will cycle the 6 miles or so to our Warmshowers host Kevin for a couple of nights. Tomorrow we will spend the day with Heidi and see some of the downtown Seattle sites.

Then off to Annacortes ( from where we started our first trans am crossing in 2011 ) on Saturday and the a ferry out to the San Juan Islands a couple of days later

starting with Lopez Is. 

Truckee , CA. abandoned

 How lucky we were to be able to change our plans so easily .. it depended upon availability for our unboxed bikes on to the Sacramento to Seattle train . Success! 

We had a comfortable night on bunk beds as we trundled through Utah and Nevada. Got up early enough to identify the precise road/rail crossing that was almost out undoing in 2011. Had that gravel truck that broadsided us been either 2.5 seconds ( as I calculated at the time and on watching the NTSB reconstruction video prepared for the Public Inquiry ) earlier OR later , we would have probably been killed . If earlier, our train would have hit the truck head on and would probably have derailed; if later the truck would have exploded in our carriage instead ( and Mary and I were sitting on that side ) . Every day since has been a blessing for us. Hardly a day goes past that I don’t think of that .

It was always going to be a risk for us as to whether we were going to be allowed  to get our bikes off at Truckee. We

discovered when we got to that staton this morning we would not have been allowed, so how lucky was that , that we changed our plans!

Now in Sacramento with a 5 hour layover . To Seattle at 11.50 pm and there at 8 tomorrow night.

Seattle and San Islands

 Plans have changed dramatically in the last 24 hours. We had intended to take Amtrak to Truckee, CA and cycle north from there through the Sierra Cascades up in to Oregon. We read that there are serious wildfires on our route and particularly around Weed, CA and Mt Shasta

Therefore literally at the 11th hour, we have extended our Amtrak travel all the way to Sacramento and then Sacramento up to Seattle. Having just left Glenwood Springs, we are pulling in to Grand Junction on route to Sacramento. When we reach there tomorrow afternoon, we have a seven hour layover and then train all the way to Seattle leaving at midnight, And arriving in Seattle at 8 PM on Thursday evening. We have booked in with a Warmshowers host and will have some time with Heidi who has just moved their permanently

We will then explore the options cycle touring on the San Juan Islands. Watch this space.

in the San Juan Islands. Watch this space!