San Juan Bicycle Trip - Day 5

The second half (upper) of San Island wasn't as nice as the first. WE made a ride into Roche Harbor, a place we didn't fit in. It was full of the yachting families getting the triple espresso and bottle of wine for a day out at sea. Even though we were out of place we still didn't care. One of the nice things about being dirty and stinky while on one of these trips. Because you put the work into getting to where you are on a bicycle, you feel like the stank is justified. That you have earned it. Not sure if the people who glared at us agreed.

After buying some donuts we hopped back on the bikes and headed to Friday Harbor to see if we could catch the 11:35AM Ferry. It think we would have made it, except we had our first bicycle problem. BOB trailer got a flat. Having somewhat become a pro at finding and fixing a hole causinga flat, it only took me about 10 minutes to pull the tube out, patch it up, put it back in, re-bead the tire, and get my gear all put away. Quick fix, but we still didn't make it in time. So, we spent the next few hours in Friday Harbor until we could catch the 2:20PM Ferry. This gave us a chance to look around.

Our first stop was to warm up with some coffee and tea while looking through some crazy postcards that were only a quarter each. Carey had been getting too cold at night and wanted a stocking cap, so we found the local thrift store. He picked up a nice pink San Juan island cap that is totally his style. After picking up dinner supplies at the local market, we had lunch and boarded the ferry for Orcas Island.

Orcas is hilly! Our fourth island is going to be a challenge over the next few days. From the get go your nailed with hills and it didn't seem like they'd ever stop. First stop on our way to Moran State Park was Eastsound. We walked around, but this tourist stop didn't have much for us. We did hit up the library to check our email. NOthing important, but I did clean out hte 104 junk emails I didn't need to read.

After Eastsound it was a hilly trek to where we would be camping. Moran State Park is a great place to camp, must be with 160 or so sites that the ranger said were almsot all gone. Good thing places like this set aside bike/hiker spots that don't require any reservations. The park is awesome. Spread out campsites. Some with lake front property. Tons of wildlife. In our short time here I think I've seen 5 or 6 deer.

The park also has Mt. Constitution. A task we face tomorrow. But, not before going back down from the hill we are up on to check out soem coastal place like Obstruction Pass State Park. We won't do a ton of miles tomorrow, but we'll get a workout. Than the next day, back to my truck in what should be our longest biking miles day.

Day 5: 34.32 Miles, 11.10 AVS, 3:05:28 STP, 36.9 Max Speed, 191 Total Miles