Water, Water Everywhere

In the rivers, creeks and babbling brooks and in puddles on the roads.  Oh - and coming from the sky and lots of it pooled in my shoes all day.  Well, I'm so happy we had such a nice day yesterday for our long and scenic ride.  Now that we're nearing the coast again the weather has turned on us.  We're definitely in the rain forest and I guess there's a reason for so much lush growth, moss, ferns, etc., etc.  The clincher, though, was when we rode past fields of crops of various types and there was not an irrigation device in sight.

We stayed in rather rustic cabins in the middle of nowhere last night.  The folks with single rooms were back in the woods and hoping the cougars didn't find them.  The weather lived up to the forecast today.  It was just starting to rain as we ate our breakfast outside.  It had turned into a steady rain by the time we got on our bikes.  Just about everyone agreed that if we were at home with the choice of whether or not to ride - we would be doing something else today.  I headed out last again today and was just going to hang out at the back of the parade, but then the rain started to come down a bit harder so I picked it up a bit, but still at sub-sweating pace.  Moisture management.........

Gotta say I don't really know what sights I missed, as I had my head down a lot - dodging puddles, stones, potholes, etc.  We were on backroads most of the day.  Plus - very little traffic.  Minus - fairly rough chip seal and no shoulders.  I only stopped for 2 pictures.  One of the Baker River.  I'm assuming this originates somewhere on Mount Baker - my favourite mountain of all time.  The second pic is a sign coming into our destination town of Sedro-Woolley.

I'm sure it would have been a pretty day in better conditions - lots of mixed forests, lots of moss, ferns, rivers and creeks.  Some trees forming canopies over the road.  And, finally, some agricultural areas similar to the Fraser Valley to the north.

Everyone was into the hotel early, and although some of the rooms were not ready, the hotel folks prioritized our rooms and got us in as quickly as they could.  Glad we haven't had too many rainy on the trip!  Last day tomorrow.........

We had a quick visit with Lynda C this afternoon.  She rode the Atlantic Coast last year with some of us.  She has completely circumnavigated the US, so also knew some of the gals from other rides (eg. Pacific Coast).  Great to see her again!  And - because of the weather (and the desire not to set up our lawn chairs in the rain) we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant tonight.

Stats for the day:
84 km / 52 miles from Marblemount/Rockport WA to Sedro-Woolley WA
1514 feet up
1743 feet down - getting closer to sea level!
Weather:  yucky!  A steady rain all day and temp didn't move from 9C.