Jimmy and Leslie’s Mini-Adventure

Today’s Date: September 16, 2025

Today’s Start Point: Seattle, Washington

Today’s End Point: Shelton, Washington

Today’s Miles: 45.4 miles by bike; 14 miles by ferry

Cumulative Miles: 45.4 miles

I have to admit that I feel a little anxious/nervous/scared before starting these rides. It’s been a year since the last long ride, and even though it is shorter and I have the lovely and talented Leslie to make my life easier (as usual), there still is some apprehension.

I had a zoom meeting first thing in the morning and luckily it was mercilessly short. Lucky the camera on my laptop did not have a wide lens since I was sitting in cycling kit.

Today’s route would start with a short ride to the ferry that would take me across Puget Sound from Seattle to Bremerton. After that, I would travel south over rolling roads through what I thought would be an uninteresting landscape. I was pleasantly disabused of that notion.

After heading out the door and saying so long to Les, I headed for the 10 minute ride to the ferry. Of course it took me 20 minutes once I realized that I had passed the ferry and had to backtrack to get to the dock.

While waiting on the dock, I struck up a conversation with the transit worker that lets you onto the boat. A lifelong Seattleite (I looked this up on Google and it is a real word), he works from 10:00 pm till 8:30 am. Mine was his last boat then he was off to sleep for a couple of hours and then he was taking his sailboat out (he of course showed me photos of the boat).

Also while waiting, I met a “cyclist” (he was on an e-bike so I use the term loosely) named Sam who lives in Seattle but builds decks in Bremerton. A nice guy that gave off Big Lebowski vibes. I was sure that with the flannel shirt, long hair and full beard he must be from the grunge era of Seattle. Needless to say I was surprised to learn that he was from Topeka, Kansas and had only been here for five years.

The ferry ride was not only fun, but quite beautiful as we moved across the Sound. Seattle is drop dead gorgeous, and seeing it from out on the water is spectacular.

The ride to Bremerton took about an hour and then it was time to say goodbye to Sam and start the trip south. For the first five or ten miles the traffic was heavy but there was a nice shoulder to ride on. Since the ride last year, many have asked me about riding in traffic. This year I have a GoPro Video Camera on the front of the bike that I turn on now and then. One of the clips below shows what riding in traffic is like, including the sound as they go by. It will take me a day or two to get used to the whooshing of the cars, but it will come back to me like riding a bike.

After the first ten miles, I was on less trafficked roads that were mostly flat but had five or six half-mile climbs with average grades of about seven to nine percent. My legs have now been officially christened for the climbing to come.

What I thought was going to be uninteresting landscape was actually wonderful. I rode between huge forests of soaring pine trees that offered me continual shade, which was good since the temperature was in the upper 80’s. According to some locals that I talked to last night it has been a dry summer in the Northwest, which means the road shoulders have not had much of a cleansing rain so there is a good deal of glass to avoid.

I rode past the Hood Canal (don’t let the name fool you, it looks more like a lake than a canal) and Mason Lake. Both bodies of water are quite large so that they were my companions for many miles. The Hood Canal is particularly picturesque with the Olympic Mountains in the background.

Please note that on the ride today I passed by two Dairy Queens and did not stop. I am boycotting them this year because after all the effort I put into publicizing and frequenting the brand last year, they rudely and shockingly did not offer me any type of sponsorship this year.

Today’s destination was Shelton, Washington, a city in a pretty setting but like many of the small towns in the US seems to have fallen on hard times. The City has an abundant homeless population, but although we were there for one day, we saw many local organizations offering shelter and food.

Upon arrival, my SAG wagon and its pilot were awaiting me in the hotel parking lot. Les had already been to the local Safeway to provide us provisions for the night.

Alas, at lodgings in the bustling city of Shelton the assistance of a curbside valet was but a dream. We are starting to get to my type of hotel, with hotel rooms that open on to the outside and the window mount air conditioning providing a subtle background concert.

Les got to experience my post ride routine firsthand-cycling kit in the sink, shower, rinse and squeegee cycling kit, charge the 52 or 53 electronic gizmos on my bike, nap. Little did she know the trip would be this exciting.

One of the many nice things of having Les with me is that since she has a car, we are able to roam a bit to get a good meal. Last year, my food choices were primarily dictated by how far I could walk, leading to a vast cornucopia of fast food.

We drove about 15 miles to the town of Hoodsport (population 419) which sits on the Hood Canal. Someone at our hotel recommended a Mexican restaurant which was right on the water. Our table overlooked the dock where a couple of seals were sunning themselves. Much better than fast food.

After dinner we drove back along the twisty roads to our hotel and it was time for Les to have a glass of wine and me to write the blog (oh the work never ends).

I hope to get away early tomorrow since I am looking at 105 miles of riding with 4,500 feet of elevation (I already hear my knees yelling at me). While I slog my way south, Les is going to visit Mt. St. Helen’s National Park.