22-52-2013: You’ve Got Mail

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June 2, 2013: I love rural areas in the US if for no other reason than the mailboxes. Today was a bit unplanned, and aren’t those types of days the best? We took a look at the MLS for any new listings that might be of interest. Nothing. Open Houses? Ditto. So that left the day free for other things. And since the weather looked great, it was a perfect day for a ride.

We figured the first weekend of June was a bit early for Mt. Baker, so we opted for Chuckanut Drive and lunch in Edison at the Longhorn Saloon. The traffic was relatively light, and once we crossed the border it always seems friendlier as far as drivers attitudes towards riders goes. We took a route I found that makes a normally short trip to Bellingham take almost two hours.

It’s awesome! The route winds along the coast, through small idyllic communities, along a few rivers, and through some peaceful forest roads. Birch Bay was quiet, the onslaught of tourists hasn’t yet arrived. A few children splashed through the shallow waters and the wind gave seabirds reason to play on the air currents.

We took the opportunity to investigate a couple of other roads that connect different loops of roads that we play on down here. And as usual, when I should have taken a right I took a left, and we looped back through Birch Bay State Park for a second time. But it’s so pretty that it deserved a second visit anyway 😉

Chuckanut Drive was a bit crowded, not surprising on a Sunday though. A quick right and into Edison for lunch at the Longhorn Saloon. Love the place. It’s tacky, outdated, is usually filled with Harley riders, backs onto the river, has great beer (Pyramid Heffeweizen), and a killer chicken club on bread baked next door at the Breadfarm, complete with curly fries.

Can someone tell me why curly fries taste better than regular fries?

Strangely, when we arrived, there wasn’t a Harley in sight and all the bikes out front were sport, touring, and even a scooter! Very unusual.

Over our beer we weighed our options on what route to take home. We opted for Colony Road and into Alger to find the road we scoped out on our last trip to Seattle in December. The road was great, and we explored a few other roads on the way back to Highway 9 before heading back up towards the border and home. The sky was less than friendly when we rode towards the Sumas crossing, so we aborted and headed West towards the Huntington crossing. But the traffic there was heavy, and there isn’t a Nexus lane. So we dove off again and headed West on H Street, which carried us on a straight, but scenic, route straight into Blaine. The road may have been straight, but it was narrow, and it rose and fell, which kept it interesting. There was no traffic at all, and it was a wonderful alternative to sitting in a line of idling cars.

The Nexus lane at the Pacific Highway crossing was light and we crossed back into Canada and headed home to wash the bikes and put them to bed.

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So my new motorcycle is now fully broken in and ready for its first service next weekend. We are getting along just fine 🙂 One thing I am hoping for though, is that the seat softens up soon! I wish I could recall how long the seat on my SV took to become comfortable on a 300km+ ride…