The Party's Almost Over.

After almost three weeks of temperatures of between 90 to 105 degrees F. we are now back to reality.  The temperature was in the low 60s when we left Wilsonville, OR, this morning.  It was a good day to be wearing chaps and a leather jacket as the clouds were low and it looked like it was going to rain as we approached Portland.  However, rain was not the problem. 

At 100 kph in busy traffic, reading a GPS while  trying to decipher signage that is at best ambiguous, and at worst misleading, it is easy to miss a turn.  I did, heading for The Dalles instead of Seattle.  Following the GPS I turned off the highway onto a city street where I was directed to make a turn that would take us back to I-5 North to Seattle.  One problem - the exit was closed so I had to continue to the next turn as directed by the GPS.  It too was closed.  Finally, we rode through a part of Portland where a street was closed for some kind of festival and eventually made it onto the I-5 crossing the Columbia River into Washington State.

The ride to Seattle was a chore more than anything else.  South of Centralia a very light mist began to fall but it didn't go past that.  It has been our closest brush with rain to this point on the trip.  We also faced traffic jams in Centralia, Tacoma, and Seattle.  And this was on Sunday.  I hate to think what it would be like on a regular work day.  Not only is there heavy traffic, there are even signs restricting traffic speed to 45 mph and then 30 mph on the freeway through central Seattle. 

North of Lake Union traffic sped up and we made it to Sound H-D in Marysville running on fumes. We took a break at the dealership, gassed up and headed north to Burlington where we pulled into a motel and wrapped it up for the day.

Essentially today we just rode for more than four hours in medium to heavy traffic just putting in the miles.  There was not much to see or to stop for.  For the first time in twenty days of riding we saw nothing that even warranted a stop for a photgraph.  Today was essentially a work day under cloudy skies.  I was surprised though when I was waiting for Garry to check in and I was sitting on my bike in my leathers, I did not feel uncomfortable even though the temperature read 77 degrees F.  I appear to have grown accustomed to hot weather and already I'm missing it.

Tomorrow we'll cross the border, catch a ferry and ride the 170 km from Nanaimo to Campbell River.  As great as it will be to be home, it will be somewhat of a change not to be thinking of where we will be going tomorrow.  This has been a great trip and we have seen a lot of country that neither of us had seen before.  I'm not sure what I'll do next year but I'm sure that over the fall and winter I'll figure something out.