Donald and Mimi ride their bikes all the way to Vancouver Canada part 2
Start at the beginning(since Donald sent 100 people the wrong link)
After we left Lake Stevens, spirits were high; and the next place we stopped was just a tiny minimart where we had a close encounter with an amphibious vehicle. We doubtlessly amused the natives and the owner of the mini-mart who was less than impressed by the number of cyclists not being able to read the large sign that said "Please don't block the gas pump - Please don't park bikes in front of store." We, of course, passed first grade reading and were able to follow directions.
Next was Mount Vernon where we had an interesting altercation with a rude driver in a giant black (Ford F-250 of course) pickup truck. He screamed obscenities at bikers as he came up the road, and actually tried to run us off the road at a stop sign. Unfortunately for him (and his hapless passenger) this occurred directly before we all arrived at a construction area where he was suddenly stranded in a sea of bicyclists, the same ones he had been cussing out. After my husband confronted him and took down his license plate number and we all talked about who would call the police, he carefully backed out of the line and left. We waited for 10 minutes before we could move again. We all felt very empowered, but didn't call the police.
All morning we'd been talking about the hills of Chuckanut drive. Out of Mount Vernon we could see them for the first time, looming in the distance. Outside of Mount Vernon, we encountered something else for the first time, a stiff headwind. The closer we got to the hill, the stronger the wind blew. Finally, we started to climb and suddenly, the shady lane on which we found ourself climbing was sheltered from the wind, and we were able to smell the wonderful aroma of the old growth forest through which we were climbing.



The scenery was beautiful, the roadside was bordered by a stand of fireweed and everything bent in the wind.
Once in the hills, we discovered they were not too bad to climb, being actually a series of climbs with nice descents between that allowed us to keep our speed up a little on the next big hill. We arrived at the scenic viewpoint where directly west was Puget sound. This is some of the loveliest country in our area, a place where people drive to have picnics and hikes. We decided we liked hills a lot more than headwinds. At least hills have downhills. Wind just keeps pushing and pushing (and so did we)!







Mimi and the Burley Rock and Roll named Sherman.

a fellow traveller looks out over Puget Sound.
We finally reached Bellingham.
Of course, once we got there we had no idea how to find our hotel, and no one was around to tell us. Our friends were already at their hotels, settled into the hot tub. We got directions finally from a man who probably hadn't ever ridden a bike, but gave fantastic directions for a direct assault on the tallest hill in town, which just happened to be the shortest distance from our location to the hotel. Between the steep hills and heavy traffic, Donald got grumpier and grumpier the farther away from the course we seemed to be going. Mimi panicked at the top of the hill and went into the Washington State Archives, where she got a detailed map that a kind librarian drew. Unfortunately, by this time she was so tired, frustrated and nervous that she couldn't read the map. Fortunately, Donald used his taxi driver's senses once again and found the hotel.
There are no photos that show what happened after we got into Bellingham. But things did get better. Our good friends (a few shown here) carried us in their car to a wonderful spaghetti dinner in Ferndale served by Matt and Albie. Both Mimi and Donald were tired from lack of sleep, 107 miles on the bike and too many calories expended for the number of calories burned and the whole club made sure we got to the head of the food line, and we discovered we were not too tired to enjoy the good food and company provided here. The next day we all set out together which was really fun, but after a few miles, we were split into 3 groups. We were in the last group, which was not a problem. We were happy and ready to go.
CANADA!!
A little more than 20 miles out of Bellingham is the Canadian Border. In this photo, please note that there is a ditch to our right. To the right of the ditch is a different country. Yes, this small ditch is armed with a few blackberry vines and even a few Canadian thistles to keep the illegals from crossing into Canada! We all felt rather strange going down this little street knowing we could easily just walk across the border. The white obelisk is a border sign. We were told there were cameras everywhere but we never saw one.


Here is the border crossing. We all buzzed right through, welcome to Canada!
In Canada, we noticed that the weeds at the side of the road were green and the crops were pink. No one knew what they were growing there.


We are approaching THE WALL. It was about a 12% grade, I am told and it seemed a whole lot steeper than it looks in this photo. I do know it is one of the harder grades we've ever attempted on the tandem. The good news is that we made it up to the top without stopping or hurting ourselves.
At the very top, flew a Canadian flag and when we arrived at the summit, ALL of the friends that started out with us in the morning were there cheering us on! Talk about group support, Redmond Cycling Club has proven itself to be filled with some of the greatest folks we've ever had the pleasure to ride with.
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