I made it! I am here in good shape in Brich Bay State Park after my first full day of riding. The park is located under grand black birch trees which reminds me a little of the Giant Seqoias.
Weather today was great (mid 80's). The ride through Vancouver was varied - some highway/freeway , some suburb, and some rural riding. I started out riding along the Bay and later passed by a Buddhist Temple called Ling Yen Temple. None of the scenary except the morning ride along the Bay was spectacular, but it felt great to cross the border back to the States. There were two downers. The first occurred before I even started when I noticed that my mirror clip (normally attached to the helmet) was missing. Fortunately, I found the mirror clip in the grass area where I had unpacked the previous day! All I needed now was some superglue. The second downer happened when I got to Rice Mill Rd. (as directed by the book) to take the George Mason Tunnel bypass bus.
I had rushed all morning to try to catch the 8 AM bus: it was 7:10, but I couldn't find the bus sign! I asked around but no one knew of the sign though some vaguely recalled seeing vans that shuttled cyclists across. After milling about a bit more, I finally figured out that that the "old terminal" mentioned by the book was a wooden sign (facing the wrong way on a side street) and not a dilapidated ferry building that I had imagined!The van (not bus) arrived at around 7:30. The driver was nice enough. He wore a turbine and was initially stolid until I asked him about the muslim community in Vancouver when. He then became even more chatty after finding out about my trip and demanded to make suggestions. When those suggestions turned out to match exactly that suggested by the book, I felt grateful and a lot more confident. After I was dropped off, a northbound passenger in his 70's (and still occassionally biking 60 mile rides) came to give me further advice, including the location of the nastiest potholes on my way to the Washington border!
I arrived at camp around 2 pm. I hadn't made any sidetrips, except to stop at a couple of convenience stores. I had microwave burritos for lunch and beef/veggie stew - cup of noodle combo for dinner. I also had half of a mellon and a can of V8 earlier on. An important observation: though it wasn't very hot today (by LA standards), I still finished my entire camel bak of water by the time I got to camp.
Going to call Grace now. Miss everyone a lot. Talked to Mom and Sis earlier today. Sis, who sprang her ankle earlier in the week, is healing fast. So our Oregon rendeavou is still on!
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