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...and right out the other side. Today was short because we had a sometimes
unpredictable ferry from Whidbey Island to Port Townsend. In fact this
morning was a beautiful fog-shrouded ride that threatened to leave us
stranded at a coffee shop for hours because the first few ferries were
expected to be canceled. In the end, none of them were and we all caught
the half-hour ferry ride at 11:45 over to the Olympic Peninsula. By then,
and especially after the sprint for the ferry that we missed at 10:15, we
all just headed to our sites on the beach. Part of the reason is that the local navy base was flying F-18 Hornets in pairs to practice short carrier landings last night. So until 10:30 or fighters were flying low over our heads with flaps and undercarriage down, and then they'd hit the afterburner. Grrr.

The way these tours work is that we have 12 riders and 2 leaders. The
leaders alternate days riding "sweep" (following the last rider to ensure
everyone is safe) and driving the van, which is pulling the trailer that
has all our kitchen and other sundry supplies.

We have a rotating pair of cooks for each day. Ideally, the cooks and the
van driver leave the campground at 3pm to go shopping for the dinner, and
for breakfast and lunch supplies. In this crowd, the leaders have included
themselves in the rota, though this is a bit unusual, and very welcome. W/
a total of 14 people, this means everyone is cook for one day per week, six
total in this trip. Hardly honorous, though a bit stressful for those who
don't often cook (me). Appetisers (usually chips and veggies) are put out
at 5, dinner served at 6, and map meeting (where we discuss the coming
day's ride) is at 7. Obviously this sometimes needs to be adjusted for
longer or more difficult days (71 miles and 4030 ft of climbing tomorrow),
but since we aren't carrying our own gear we can usually get to the
site quickly when necessary. And the site is almost always a campground. On
the west coast, and especially in NoCal, this usually means beautiful
sites, ocean views, maybe a redwood or 100.

Down south it's a bit trickier and RV parks sometimes are necessary. This
isn't as bad as it sounds, as an RV park usually has washers and dryers,
and good kitchen facilities.

What the van has in camping sites is not bad, however. We have a standalone
3-burner propane stove, several big pots, and assorted cutlery.

Tonight is not a "blood moon", which is the red moon you see during a total lunar eclipse. The red comes from mostly red light skimming through the atmosphere to bounce off the moon (blue light is mostly scattered). That was yesterday. However, there was still a partial eclipse tonight and it is still very red. Thanks for pointing it out Dimitri!

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Climbing (feet)

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