May 4, day 1

May 4, day 1

Starting odo 6090

After a green eggs and ham breakfast at the caboose diner, I head out
to mail back the huge duffel bag and tools I used for transport.

It's another beautiful day, almost totally clear sky's that stay sunny
as a light film of clouds gather towards afternoon.

Only a few miles out of town I stop at a farm that makes cheese. I buy
a small wedge of their farmhouse cheese after sampling their
varieties. She fills up my water bottle since I had left with
it empty.

Riding through ferndale, I stop ata McDonalds to use the wifi and get
a coke. Two dollars for a large coke! It is one dollar in austin!

Stopping in Bellingham for lunch at a hawiian BBQ place. I was curious
about it but end up getting Singapore noodles instead. The tv is
buzzing in the background, and the host is saying something about
valentines day. It strikes me that on tv, any day can be valentines
day.

Looking down, I am surprised that the formica on the table is the same
as our breakfast table.

I have been considering the concept of the northwest accent. I'm not
sure it's an accent as much as a characteristic rhythm and maybe a
kind of even volume in it's delivery. A phrase that might be
distinctive is "Oh, Wow!"

I will make a comment about the food - you can pretty much be assured
that it's not going to be too hot (spicy)! Even medium hot at the
Thai restaurant is just the starting point on the hot scale in TX.

Bellingham, BTW, looked like a pretty cool place. Lots of cyclists and
interesting looking places.

After leaving Bellingham I enter Chuckanut Drive which is an
incredibly senic road that is just sort of hung off of the side of the
mountains right above the water.

Descending, I make my way along the edge of Padilla bay before doing
some climbing to Deception Pass, which features a bridge 100+ feet
over the swirling water.

I camp at an RV park right across from Deception Pass and it's
inaccessible showers.

About 2am I wake to the sound of light rain on the tent. I get up and
put the rain covers on the panniers and take rain clothes back into
the tent.

About 5:30am I wake because I feel something pressing and moving along
the side of my right leg for about two feet. That's alarming, and then
a loud snort/exhailation of breath about a foot from my head outside
the tent. A bear! I am really awake now, and hyperventilating like a
steam engine, I am totally seized by terror. After about half a minute
I calm down enough to quit making the steam engine noises, and I unzip
the tent about 12 inches and look out but nothing is to be seen.
Later I can find no evidence of any visitor. Maybe it was just a
deer, raccoon or somebody's large dog let out to do it's morning
business. The snacks I carry were undisturbed in their odor-proof bags
on the top of the picnic table.