August 10, 2021
Day 89 - Deception pass, WA to Lopez island, WA
I'm on island time
The jets continued to break the sound barrier and my sleep patterns last night. I thought they would stop after nightfall, but the thought of spending more tax payer dollars was too tantalizing. We had oatmeal and as usual, I had to take a big #2 mid oat. So I took the long walk to the bathroom to find it closed for cleaning. I walked to the next one down but it was also closed for cleaning, wth? Who would do that? It clearly started a mini pandemic. I passed several dudes who asked me if the other bathroom was closed. I must have had some sense of urgency about me for these random people to know what I was doing. Why close both bathrooms when everyone is having coffee? I hiked to the farthest bathroom and luckily found it open. I didn't see any of those other guys, so I wonder what happened to them. Anyway, when I got back, Mary had mostly packed and we set off to cross the bridge. They were doing construction, so alot of the pullouts were closed, but it was still a good view. The following 10 miles to anacordes were uneventful. We bought some groceries and I found a fuel canister at ace hardware.
We rode to the ferry terminal early, but the worker there was ignoring us while talking to friends. She did say the ferry was at 11, which was weird because online said 1030. We sat down and I started to wonder if we were at the wrong ferry. We interrupted the attendant to find out that we were at the wrong one and would have to book it to the real ferry, 2.5 miles to the west. We did make it in time, but this ferry was also hard to navigate since there weren't any instructions for cyclists. Luckily we just followed someone else's lead and got on in time. This ferry cost more than the port Townsend one, but the ride was about 40 minutes. We tied the bikes up on the deck and sat in a booth inside.
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It was a relaxing ride and we ate lunch. I could have stayed on longer, but we arrived and hurried off the ferry onto Lopez island. Spencer spit state park was about 4 miles away, so we rode there first to get a site and unpack. The site was pretty remote and it is a much smaller park than the deception pass park last night. On the ferry we saw a family of 5 all biking onto the island with miss matched things strapped to their bikes. They ended up at the state park as well, but actually had a reservation for a specific site. It's pretty cool to see families riding onto the islands for a camping trip. The island is small and it doesn't make sense to pay for a car on the ferry. Also since you can just get a walk on site at most any Washington state park. Over the last couple days we have seen loads of local tourers because the ferry is so accessible and affordable. This is contrary to the Boston area ferries to ptown and the islands. When we rode one way from p-town to Boston it was $80 for us and our bikes.
Anyway, Lopez is a cool place and there seems to be alot of hippy people here. They also have a water problem here where they don't get alot of rain being in the rain shadow of the Olympic peninsula. The ground water is being encroached upon by the salt water and you can taste it. The park doesn't have showers for this reason, so we had a nice spigot bath.
We rode onto town - about 6 miles - to get the last items for dinner. We bought potatoes, spinach, carrot, and onion for our curry over rice. The town here is small and pretty touristy so we didn't spend any time there. Back at the site, we enjoyed a quiet evening and went to bed early again. The temperature on the islands so far has been mild, 60-75*. Lopez island has the most bugs we have had in a while though.
Mileage:20
Altitude gain:1400
Today's ride: 20 miles (32 km)
Total: 4,680 miles (7,532 km)
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