Bright and early like a neon bullet train, we were up and at’em between 5-7am. East Coast mindstate on West Coast time. Instant coffee granules plinked about the pot as H2O molecules danced the Charleston until steaming like John Henry’s iron opponent. At this point, the two merged like sputtering corporate entities into squid ink black java which could cauterize Luke Skywalker’s severed arm.
We sipped, packed, adjusted, tightened, yawned, brushed and watched a featherweight stray dog chase one of Whidbey’s quintillion bunnies, ears floppier than the state of 1990’s disk storage. Five miles in, we ‘petaled’ to the beautiful Flower Cafe for drinks or pastries of choice. Charged up like Nissan Leafs, we took leave and fluttered towards the grocery store to buy our next three meals.
Another five to a coastal garden lunch spot with some bodacious hills which had us down to a crawl. A bird perched atop Zach’s head for at least one Geico commercial’s length, and we strolled a bit before another run of the hills. We’re gonna be putting on some serious quad muscle this week…
Breaks made plenty more time for our game du jour, Contact, and a scenic coastal ride to another store for fruits, chips ‘n fudge ice cream replenished our glycogen reserves enough to power us through to the home stretch. Opting for a short cut, we found a delightful gravel bike trail that put us near camp. We then portaged through a woodsy labyrinth of a mountain bike trail and emerged at Ft. Ebey campground, where Elliot, Annabelle and Jacob produced an angelic gnocchi as the group stood as a living halo around the fire.
We arose to meet the challenging hills, and the road unfurled before us, blossoming into a day of color and fragrant comestibles. Next up, Lopez Island.
