8/23/18 – Vancouver to Birch Bay, WA

57.7 Miles

1935 ft Elevation Gain

Once again, I had a hard time getting my act together to start my first ay of riding. I need a crew!

Dale and I had a hard time saying goodbye to our accomodations for the prior evening. They were the forward and aft cabins on a boat docked in Vancouver Harbor. We both slept like babies, as the waves rocked us throughout the night.My start point was at Vanier Park, on the shore of English Bay and in front of the Vancouver Maritime Museum. I said goodbye to Dale, and headed out. Here’s the fully loaded rig. In a couple of spots, the ACA maps were tough to follow. The little bit below only makes sense when you’re looking at on a map. What you don’t see is that you are climbing bridge approaches and riding on super narrow sections of a bike path. The circled portion was more like a narrow single track mountain bike trail with about a 13% grade. Once I realized that that trail really was the route, I barely had the strength to push the bike up that baby. Most of the day’s riding was in city traffic with stop signs and traffic signals. Once I crossed over into the US, that thankfully changed for the better. Blaine is a cute little town just south of the border. I took a little side trip to see the Peace Arch, which was completed in 1921 and sits on international land at the border of Canada and the US as a symbol of the many years of peace our two countries have enjoyed. ‘This statue, named “The Vigil,” overlooks the harbor in Blaine and honors the loyal families of seamen.

Once outside of Blaine, there was little or no traffic, which was a nice departure from the first part of the day. The road passed through farm land and then followed the coast as it wound its way to Birch Bay, where I camped in a state park. Back when I crossed the border, the border patrol agent told me about a candy and ice cream shop just outside of my campground, so once I had my tent set up, I headed back to treat myself to a few delectable snacks. Okay, I’ll admit that I not only ate two scoops of ice cream and a large cookie, but I also loaded up on cookies and fudge, so I don’t starve tomorrow

After taking a 3 minute pay shower (that was NOT enough time!), I spent some time making a few phone calls and catching up on route planning before turning in. Long day.