Everything was covered in a heavy dew when we woke up, and the temperature was only 46 degrees. We ate breakfast in the tent and packed up everything wet.

Our first destination for the day was Port Townsend and the ferry to Coupeville on Whitbey Island. We rode WA-112 along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We couldn’t see the shore, but Beth enjoyed the twisty road. We also enjoyed not riding 14 miles of chip seal on US-101.

Beth had made reservations for the ferry, but one bike was scheduled for the 2 p.m. crossing and one for the 3:30 p.m. crossing. We got to the dock around 11:30 a.m. The ticket taker said, “No problem.” and put us on the 12:30 p.m. boat.

The crossing was smooth and took a half-hour.

Beth did some grocery shopping at Safeway and we got ice at Walmart. With the “chores” out of the way we found a coffee shop where we could plan our next step.

Beth called a Bunk-a-Biker host, Tamera, in Sedro-Woolley, who agreed to host us.

We parked our bikes out front and setup the trailer in her side yard.

She has a beautiful view of the lake from her deck.

Tamera also hosted Rani from Israel. We had a great dinner and conversation.

Observations

Oregon

• Where you can’t pump your own gas (exceptions for motorcycles) or even put your credit card in the pump.
• Where BigFoot and cannabis compete for advertising.
• Where they fix highways by paving only the two tire tracks. (This cheapskate practice creates four edges that complicate steering.) They do this in Washington as well.
• Where the maximum speed on secondary highways is 55 mph.

Tent Trailer Camping

• It’s still a tent and subject to ambient conditions. We’ve been lucky that we’ve had no rain since the first two days, but we’ve had some pretty cold weather.
• Managing ice for the coolers is a constant concern. Having a refrigerator would be a welcome addition, but we have to figure out a way to manage the extra weight.
• Grocery shopping for two people for one or two days requires ingenuity. Most items are packaged in larger quantities to feed a family of four and/or with a refrigerator and freezer. We thought we would be buying more just-add-water, dry items. Pasta is the only item we’ve bought in that category. We found pre-cooked items work well because they survive better in a cooler. Large grocery stores with a butcher are great because the butcher will re-package meat to order.
• Good coffee is hard to find. (Starbucks is terrible coffee.)

Highways

The roads across the country have been neglected and are in bad shape. Most cannot be repaired; they need to be rebuilt. I notice the road conditions more on this trip because the trailer tells me it’s unhappy every time it hits a bump or a dip.

Health

We are in better health, more active, less sedentary, and eating better. I think the low humidity is a big contributor as well.