Pizza, oysters & pasta

September 10, 2019

Day three began at about 6 AM with an alarm clock consisting of wild birds squawking in the trees high above my camp. As I slowly came out of deep sleep, I realized where I was which brought a smile to my face. Almost immediately it was quite evident I wasn’t in Colorado anymore… as I was staring up at the roof of my tent, I could see the moisture and dew which had accumulated on my rainfly overnight. I got up and started heating some water for some awesome instant coffee (from my good friends at Alpine Start) and for some freeze dried oatmeal with blueberries which actually was quite delicious. after returning from the impressively clean bathrooms, I ran into a couple from Steamboat Springs Colorado (Larry and Laura) and had a brief but fun exchange with them. I finally jumped on my bike around 10:30a and slowly headed south through the town of Ferndale and then stopped in Bellingham at a cool Pizzeria and had two delicious slices of New York style pepperoni pizza.

As I headed south out of Bellingham, the road started climbing steeply into a dark, dense, wet and mossy forest! Things got interesting as this beautiful road continued to climb and descend with undulations, twists and turns. I rode along side another cyclist who was out for an afternoon ride and chatted as we road for about 10 miles. As I was riding back down the steep decent into the valley, out of nowhere and completely isolated, I noticed a small oyster bar/restaurant. I decided to stop, went in and had the most amazing fresh plump oysters you can ever imagine. Off I went again pedaling south in hopes of getting to my next camp ground called Deception Pass State Park at Rosario Beach.

Nearing dusk again, I rode into and around the surprisingly small campground and as I stopped to chat with the camp host about a finding bikepacking site, a friendly guy with an French accent came up to me and said I could join him and his wife and camp in their site for free! Wow! I followed him over to his site and made quick introductions. Ben (Benoit) and Stephanie (from Quebec) are a few months into a year-long Adventure traveling around the US, Canada and Mexico in their camper pulled by a diesel VW Tiguan. So friendly and such amazing hosts, they gave me a place to pitch my tent for free, poured me wine, invited me to join them for pasta Carbonara, charged all my electronics via their big lithium battery and then cooked me breakfast with hot coffee in the morning! It’s so fun to make these kind of random connections in the middle of nowhere! We had lots of thought provoking conversations about life, priorities values, world and US politics and shared stories about life experiences, family, friends, travel… and much more! I slept well after many miles on the bike and hours of making new friends!