…AND SO THE NEXT DAY…

…Four of us did the same ride we had done the day before. This time Shawn joined us while Jane and Janey opted out.

We made time to look for a few things we had not stopped for yesterday. 

The old train car in the mini-town of Easton.

They insisted on getting me in a photo by the train car.

The car full of skeletons. Shawn said she could visualize headlines reporting Sisters On The Fly missing along an abandoned trail!

Capturing an old building with mountains surrounding it.

Stopping on the bridge to snack and chat.

Once we finished our ride, we were not done with more fun of course ;’-). Everyone chose their own thing for the day and then met for another game of poker and of bingo (neither of us won anything). We had our individual dinners at our own sites, then brought our drinks, snacks and chairs down to the beach for fireside time.

At our camp we had an nervy visitor. He had been trying to gert into my panniers until Susan — fortunately — saw him and removed the panniers.

First a photo of us all at the beach playground. Girls just wanna have fun ;’-).

By fireside many told of ghost “encounters” they have had and we all listened intently. 

This ends the Lake Easton outing for this year. We plan to come back next year as this was so fun with such a great group of women.

LAKE EASTON 2021 (SOTF)

We were here last year at this time for this event as well. You will find more photos and stories by looking at August 2020 posts. I will try to not duplicate all the things I posted back then, but that may mean I won’t find very much. But let’s hunt I say ;’-)

We got here later than we wanted to due to avoiding what could have been catastrophic. Well, that may be over stating it I suppose. Our tire warning bell sounded at us and to make a longer story short, we found we had a tack or screw or something embedded in our front tire. We tried calling around to a few places like Schwab, but many were closed on a Sunday. Other places could not accommodate our tall (8.5 ft) RV van. Having left home later than normal for an outing, we were delayed further by this issue, but finally did find the newer Costco had facilities that could save us. We had the tire repaired and continued on to Lake Easton, happy to have to abort our adventure until Monday!

We missed all the first evening festivities and introductions, but were happy to join the following morning for coffee and muffin/cookie time.

Much to my great surprise, there was a bike ride (loosely) scheduled for noon time, or there abouts. After herding the cats (one had forgotten to put on her sunscreen, one had a non-working brake (that Susan was able to fix), one needed practice on her never yet ridden e-bike, one was delayed by something), we lined up for our starting gate photo.

 From front — Jane, Lisa, Janey, Kristina, me.

Starting out was all on paved road as we made our way through the little berg of Easton.

Soon, the paved part ended and we continued onto the unpaved trail.

One by one, here they come…

Jane…

Janey…

Lisa…

Kristina…

We giggled, laughed, slowed the the uphills, stopped for some photos and everyone simply enjoyed a bike ride in the country.

It it just possible that Lisa had the most fun of all!!

The river on one side of the bridge.

Train track on the other side.

We had so much fun that three of us will do it again tomorrow ;’-). The miles may have been short, but the smiles were huge.

Fun for the day was not done with yet though. After some cleaning up and relaxing, some went for a swim or float in the lake, some played cribbage, and all the group gathered for a poker game and bingo with prizes to the winners. 

Some ukulele playing by Claudia and Phyllis…

Claudia’s boots and flour sack dress were a hit…

And dancing the “slide” and a few others…

This group could not be more fun! 

CONTINUING RIDING CLOSE TO HOME (2)

Weather for us continues to be golden with temps in the 70s and 80s for the day. As long as we have this weather and no smoke issues from wildfires, I will ride as often as I can ;’-).

This guy was happily retrieving the ball thrown by his owner, and looks so happy in the field of  yellow flowers.

You never know what you will find when you ride down a “dead end” road. I found this…

Maybe not my kind of bike, but the very first car I saw was my Dad’s Oldsmobile 88! My sister and her husband bought one too but in blue rather than the salmon color. I am not sure of the year, but somewhere around 1956 would be a fair guess.

Riding through the Boeing plant I pass many views of different stages of airplane assembly and do not always feel “right” about taking photos. This day however had no one around and I am sure, if there are security cameras aimed at me, anyone could see I was not taking photos of schematics or anything so I got a couple that show what the internal organs of an airplane wing look like.

It is not possible to get a better angle of this, but a long wing or two are here.

Imagine having to (correctly) connect those wires and cables to whatever they connect to.



Next day — I was rolling my bike out of he garage and it felt “funny”. LO! A flat on my rear tire. I don’t recall when I had my last flat, but I was happy to have this before starting on my ride. And happier because Susan volunteered to fix I it ;’-). She said she felt it was a good trade off for the birthday breakfast I fixed for her this morning. Oh goody.

This of course, made for a later start for my ride which I had already decided would be somewhat short so I would spend much of Susan’s birthday with her. I did do a ride by at the stump. I am not sure if this is the start of the exhibit, or the finished product. I will be returning to check on it.

One of the monthly online “challenges” I am participating in is to find “faces”. I thought I was done with finding them but this one definitely caught my eye.

On this next ride, I was able to finally join Cindy’s (almost) weekly club ride. She led us on one of my, and many others’, favorites. We started at Legion Park in Everett and road along the farmlands and ranches of the outskirts of Snohomish that would take us to the Bakery for our lunch stop.

Here we are with the Baker Woman.

And here is a close look at the iconic Baker Woman ;’-). What you cannot see is the rolling pin that moves back and forth with the push and pull of her arms.

Though I did do rides every day after this one, I really have not photos to share. Same routes sometimes lead to fewer things new to share.

I got to join Cindy’s ride again this time it was a meander around Mill Creek. We stopped at a park on the return part of the ride, and since we always keep our eyes out for this…we made a stop.

Imagine —- FRESH SQUEEZED! We may have been their windfall of the day as Kathy treated all five of us to a lemonade and a couple of us purchased a cookie as well. 

This stop was why we got to hear some music. Right behind the lemonade stand was this happening…

Mike knows violin player who was an active and avid BIKES club member years ago. He and his wife played Finnish Waltz music as we stood and swayed to the rhythm.

Lunch at the end of the ride was at Central Market which has been remodeled and has more tables in more areas for outside eating. This has been a regular stop for BIKES rides for a long time but recently that has not be happening for a variety of reasons (Covid, remodel, different ride routes). One of the staff members came to the table to say “Welcome Back”. I guess they have missed us.

I had only a couple more days to ride around home before we would be gearing up and preparing for our next adventure. That would mean just a few more solo rides this week. Nothing too exciting but lovely rides in the sun and warm weather as I enjoy the final weeks of summer around home. When we return from our RVing trip it will be very close to September and more fall like weather will arrive.

My leisurely ride on this day brought me into a bit of north Everett where someone offered a cheery hello with flowers. Maybe this sign means ‘stop and smell the “roses’”.

I passed by the walls of ivy.

And as I neared the half way point of this day’s route, I stopped for a tea and ‘crumpet’ at Milkhouse Coffee shop. There was minimal outdoor seating but business was light and I was able to snag one of the two chair side tables. The raspberry scone was …. delicious. The English Breakfast tea was really good and I may have bought some to bring home, but the $20 price tag for a very small jar seemed like a bit of gouging so I passed on it.

We will be leaving in just under an hour (today is Sunday) to head to Lake Easton for our SOTF outing. I am hopeful to do some bike riding, but Susan had a mishap and will not be riding with me for a while. Without going into detail, she was standing still, straddling her bike as she was exploring a blackberry bush. As she reached for her handle bar and step back with her right foot, her foot got hung up in her pedal somehow and she fell straight backward landing on her butt. Though she says it is the most padded part of her, she landed so hard that her spine was terribly sore. She went to the doc the following morning and X-rays show a compression fracture in her lower back. 8-10 weeks of healing by not doing a lot more than being sedentary. That was a mere three days ago! We are still going on the trip, but Susan will be hanging around at our camp for much of the time, with a few mild walks to keep her sane. I doubt I will ride far, but I will at least get in some riding.

This post will end my ramblings about riding close to home for now, so I will post this happy photo from this morning’s short ride around the neighborhood.

Will be back here soon ;’-)

80 KILOMETERS FOR MY 80TH YEAR

In the bicycling world, many cyclist bike their age in miles on their birthday or during their birthday month. I started that “tradition” with the Grands when they first learned to ride their bikes. Each year we check with them to remind them or ask them if they rode their years. The oldest is soon to be 12, so it is not a difficult task at this time.

Except for more elite cyclists, once many mortal cyclist reach their 70s, the distance is changed to kilometers for what should be obvious reasons ;’-). I know you can see where this is leading. As I have mentioned in other posts, my birhday is July 16. There were no days near that date availabile to do a birthday ride of 80 km, so I adjusted. I mentioned my wish to ride to a couple of my riding buddies and they were all over it, and with only 1 day out of the month of July we did it.

Cindy, Brenda and Kathy were ready to join me for my epic ride. I say again, I am a lucky gal — I don’t know of many friends who would think ‘oh what fun! Let’s do a 50 mile ride!”. But these friends said just that. 

I chose the flat. with a few gently climbs, Centennial Trail to lead us from Machias Station to the Nakashima Barn. Flat — you know, a good way to bike for 80 kilometers.

On the way we had just a few stops, one to look over the bridge at the low tide.

The low tide…

And a few ‘heart locks’ on the bridge railing.

Nakashima Barn is a place we visit occasionally, but not for the 50 mile ride as we did today. 

There is quite a history to this barn and farmstead, as the information sign says — a darker side of our country’s history.

Looks like a big happy family lived and worked here.



They had a family reunion in 2013.



Having reached our destination, and half way point, it was time to head back. On the way we found a burgeoning blackberry patch. Brenda can always find a berry patch.

We had wisely planned our lunch stop for on the way back and a mere 15 miles from the end of our ride. Nutty’s Junkyard Grill is a place!

The “Junkyard” is filled with memorabilia from days gone by and one must walk around inside and out to see all there is on display.

Lots of license plates from all over.



Before we knew it (well maybe not before we knew it as we were getting tired now) we were at the end of our epic ride. It had been a glorious day with cooler temps and overcast for the first half and getting ‘hot’ for only the ending miles. I am thrilled to not only have completed my 80 kms, but to do it with such good friends.