Day 5 - 6 Jun 2014

What a great day. This is why we rode 2000 miles to get to the start of the AK2 adventure. We said good-by to Dave and Susan and left at 0900 for Bellingham, WA. We took highway 101 north on the west side of Puget Sound to by-pass Settle traffic on 1-5. This was a good decision. We rode 50 miles on the coast of Puget Sound and had no traffic at all. We finally got to Port Townsend to catch the ferry across the sound to the mainland. We rode up just as the ferry was docking and met three other adventure riders on their way to Alaska. Motorcycles were loaded first so we five were allowed to get on the ferry at the front and had an entertaining time talking to our three new friends on the 30 minute ride over. They were just starting their ride from Oregon and were amazed to hear we had already ridden 2300 miles to get to the ferry. They were riding the whole way up to Alaska but were scheduled to arrive in Fairbanks about the same time we were. I got their leaders cell number and we will attempt to hook up in Alaska for the ride to the Arctic Circle. Their leader had made the trip several times and was really fun to talk to.

The ride up to Bellingham was beautiful. Puget Sound on the right and huge wooded mountains on the left on a winding two lane road. Occasionally we would see the snow covered Olympic mountains in the distance. It was just so much to take in and I wish I could provide the view in this blog but pictures would not do it justice.

My new tires ride perfect. As we got closer to Bellingham we got back on I-5 and was doing 70+ mph and the tires rode great. A little "gritty" at slower speeds but nothing that would prevent me riding to LR on these on the return trip.

We stopped by the ferry terminal and checked in to get our tickets to Alaska. We found a motel a few miles away that had a taproom and Mexican food spot within walking distance. After 3 beers and a big dinner I took a nap per the picture Jim took a while ago.

Tomorrow we will get up late then sort out the gear on the bikes and in our bags for the ferry trip. Once we load the bikes on the ferry we can't get to them so we want to make sure we have all the items in our "berth" that we want.

Having a great time now that we are done with the long ride to the mountains. I don't want to thank about the ride back across South Dakota right now.