I left Mary and Tony's on Thurs. (8/23). On my way thru Sequim on the ODT, I received a phone call from Tom. He said that he and Beth could meet me on Friday (instead of Sat.). I said OK and would call him after my ride to let him know where I was and when I would be taking the ferry from Kingston to Edmonds.
The ODT was enjoyable again, going east. I had a wonderful tailwind going thru Sequim. Heading back to Hwy 20, I passed a couple of cycle tourists headed west. It was the same two who camped near my at South Whidbey State Park. It was good to see them again. I may meet them again as I head around Mt. Hood as they are heading to Bend after going down the WA coast.
I turned left on Hwy 20 heading back toward Pt. Townsend. About 2 miles up the hill, I turned onto Eaglemount Rd, which was a relief to the heavy traffic on the 20. This was a wonderful route on a tree-lined road. I had pasturelands and small lakes to look at and no traffic! I stopped for lunch on a freshly mowed lawn at an abandoned house and watched the birds on the lake.
This route took me to Hwy 19. It was pretty busy but had wide shoulders. I could have turned off at Oak Bay Dr. and headed toward the bay. I decided to stay on the 19, which was OK. Hwy 104 was not far and it was the main route to the Hood Canal floating bridge.
My route had me get off the 104 a mile or two before the bridge. The road was called Shine and it followed the water along the south side of this spit of land. It was nice to get off the busy 104 and the road was a nice one thru a residential area along the waterfront. I am going along nicely when I see in front of me the very steep hill. I wish I had an inclinometer as this was steeeeep! There were two driveways on the way up and I already knew I would use them for resting spots on the way up. I made it, but it was a pull.
The Hood Canal Bridge sits on the water. There are a couple of drawbridge type mechanisms on either side but it was open for me the entire way across. It is probably close to a mile across. At the drawbridges they had a metal mesh grid for the roadway. I got to the first one and saw a solid metal plate on the far right but was not sure the bike would fit (with the front panniers sticking out). I was going at a good clip and was able to negociate the grid, but my tires felt like they wanted to slip. The next grid I encountered, I tried the metal strip on the right and the bike fit just right, so that was a much better feel under me.
Across the bridge I decided to go into Kingston and it was only 8 miles. I was tired, but made the 8 miles in good time. The only hotel in town was the Blue Water Inn. I stopped, looked at the tired hotel and decided to check on other options near the ferry. There were no other options, the Blue Water Inn was my accommodation for the night. It was a 65 mile day.
I showered and headed downtown to get something to eat. I had salmon fish tacos at the ale house. Yummy!
I walked to the ferry terminal and asked if I could purchase a ticket for tomorrow morning. The ticket lady said it was free to bikes and peds when heading east! Yahoo!
I called Tom and told him I would be arriving in Edmonds at 0915. He said he and Beth would pick me up in their car. For some reason they decided not to ride their bikes to meet me. So I met them and we put the bike and panniers in the car and headed for their house in Seattle.
From their house, we headed downtown as Beth had us booked for a Free Walking Tour of Seattle. It was a fun 2 mile, 2 hour tour of the downtown area. We were able to sample smoked fish, chocolate linguine noodles, cheese and clam chowder during the tour. I learned a lot about the city and enjoyed the sunshine.
After the tour, we had lunch near the Space Needle. The Needle is celebrating its 50th anniversary of the 1967 World's Fair. After lunch we walked over to the Needle and looked at the line waiting to take the elevator to the top. Beth went to the reservation desk for their Sunday brunch and found a timeframe that worked for us. We booked the brunch which includes the ride up to the restaurant for free.
We walked around the Needle area and it is like Balboa Park with theaters, a science center and children's museum, free music, food court and museums ( I think Paul would correct me and say "musea").
After this wonderful afternoon, we headed home and had a bar-b-que. Tom pulled out the hibachi and bar-b-qued some chicken, potatoes and onions. Beth followed-up with fruit and it was a great dinner. We sat after dinner, reminiscing about past bike trips and just 'talked story.'
I was pretty tired when I went to bed just after 2200 hrs.
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