Day 3 - Jefferson to Cowlitz Counties

Today was a great day of riding and we polished off Jefferson, Kitsap, Pierce, Lewis, Thurston, Mason, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Wahkiakum, and Cowlitz county seats. There was a definate variety of architectural styles and locations. Plus we picked up some bonus photos which will be included in this ride report.

County #7 Jefferson

It was an early morning ride down to Pt. Townsend where our GPS programs led us to the wrong address. Eagle eye Angela spotted the vintage courthouse on the hill above the downtown business district.



County #8 Kitsap

Leaving Pt. Townsend we motored across the Hood Canal Floating bridge and south on WA3 and around the Naval Station Bremerton mothball fleet where we found the courthouse up on the top of a hill in a modern building.


There was also a photo opportunity for a framed photo through a large circle.


County #9 Pierce

We rode WA16 east to Tacoma and dodged some construction and closed freeway off ramps and found ourselves in the congestion of downtown Tacoma where we double parked in a handicap zone for a quick photo and we were out of Dodge. There was way too much congestion for my taste.



Bonus #1

Since we were heading south for Chehalis to bag Lewis County, we took the opportunity to stop at the State Capital in Olympia. We borrowed some reserve parking spots for a brief photo opportunity.

County #10 Lewis

A short 25 mile jaunt down I-5 to Chehalis brought us to the Lewis County Courthouse where we were able to get a couple different views of this courthouse.




County #11 Thurston

After a quick McDonald's lunch in Chehalis, we headed back up I-5 to find the Thurston County courthouse. This one was again on top of a hill but it looked like a low level office building. Fortunately it was well marked. Quick pictures were taken in a bus zone, and we were off to find Shelton and Mason county courthouse.





County #12 Mason County

Arriving in Shelton, we found the courthouse and it was under some significant construction to put in handicapped access. A county worker who was also a motorcyclist engaged us in conversation and we really enjoyed our chat with him.




County #13 Grays Harbor County

The ride to Montesano was via a wonderful back road (Satsop - Cloquallum & Shelton, Matlock Roads. These two roads were a refreshing change from the multi-lane highways that we spent time on today. While taking our pictures at the nice little Grays Harbor courthouse, a lady engaged us in conversation and volunteered some nice road construction information about US101.


County #14 Pacific County

The ride to South Bend was generally without much traffic until we hit road construction on US101. Arriving at the courthouse which is on top of a hill, I was totally in awe of this one. It's being re-roofed and refurbished and will be a crown jewel.




County #15 Wahkiakum County

This rather unpopulated county has its county seat at Cathlamet. Before we arrived at Cathlamet, we rode down to the last covered bridge in Washington state (bonus #2) for some photos and chatted with some locals who were enjoying some cooling off time in the river under the bridge.


Leaving the covered bridge, we shortly arrived at the very small courthouse for Wahkiakum county. It was nice and neat.

County #16 Cowlitz County

It was only another 25 miles until we picked up the last county seat of the day in Kelso.


Kelso was the city my maternal grandparents lived in. We decided to call it a day and found a motel room at Motel 6 near the freeway.


We're now just about 50% complete. Tomorrow we head for Vancouver, WA and then start riding up the Columbia River to pick up the counties on the southern part of the state.

Stay tuned for more.

Day 2 - San Juan & Clallam Counties PLUS Twilight

Day 2 (Sunday) found us rising at 5am for a 6am departure from camp in Lynden. Our goal for the day was to make it to Kitsap County. But that was not to be for reasons that will become evident.

County # 5 (San Juan)

San Juan county is the most difficult County seat to reach as it's on an island at the conclusion of a 65 minute ferry ride. We (Andy, Angela & I) rode to Anacortes and dropped our trailers at my daughter's home. We then bought our tickets and found ourselves to the very front of the ferry line for Friday Harbor (that's the ferry rules: motorcycles go first and can bypass cars). Other motorcyclists soon showed up and all were amazed at our planned ride. We rode on out to Friday Harbor, de-boarded the ferry, rode up the hill a few blocks, snapped our photos of another non-descript courthouse, and rode back to the front of the line that was queued up, and reboarded the same ferry. It was a shame to not ride more of San Juan Island, but we're on a mission. We also took the opportunity to use the ferry power to recharge or camera batteries.





County # 6 (Clallam)
Arriving back in Anacortes, we went back to our daughter's house and hooked up the trailers and enjoyed a brief visit with her and her new husband (they had just honeymooned in Hawaii). We also discussed our routing for the next leg and checked on reservations for the Keystone / Pt. Townsend ferry route. None were to be had and we couldn't risk not making the ferry, so we decided to ride further south to Edmonds and take the Kingston ferry as we knew that we could get first priority boarding. So we arrived in Edmonds just in time for a 2:40pm sailing. Surprisingly, the boat was totally full. On the other side we were very surprised that the ferry waiting line was so short. Little did we know what would come next.

At the Hood Canal Floating Bridge, the traffic is parked. Drat, the bridge is open (probably for a nuclear submarine). So we waited for about 15 minutes and the traffic started moving again. We now saw the reason for the lack of ferry waiting traffic: with the bridge open, the traffic was parked for about 7 miles. We continued riding and there was more heavy traffic at Sequim (a lavender festival was ending for the weekend). We chatted on the CB's and decided we would make Port Angeles (Clallam County) our destination for the day so we wouldn't need to just sit in traffic to make it back to Pt. Townsend. It had been a long day. So we easily found the Clallam County Courthouse and it was one of the prettiest we've seen so far:



We then found a room at the Super 8 motel which has wireless internet and then we decided to become "Twilight" tourists. Twilight is a very popular book series about a vampire (Edward) and a high school girl (Bella). In the fictional account, there is a section of the book about the Bella and her friends coming to Port Angeles for Bella to find a prom dress. She ends up getting rescued from some thugs by Edward. We ate at the Bella Italia where she and Edward had their first date which has experienced a dramatic increase in business as a result of being featured in the book. Below are a few pictures of our tourist trip for the day.

The Ferry Kalakala which ran for many years between Port Angeles and Victoria. It's now moored in Tacoma awaiting restoration as a museum piece. Below is a mural depicting it.



Bella's prom dress


Bookstore


Bella Italia


There's even a wine called "Twilight".

How far do we get in day 3, check back.

Getting Started - Whatcom, Island, Snohomish, & Skagit,

Apart from my Alaska Ride, the big ride for us so far this summer is planned to be a 39 county seat ride to all of the county seats in Washington State. We're planning to do it in no more than 5 days with a total distance of some 1800 miles.

Given that we were going to be at a Gold Wing Motorcycle rally in Lynden, WA (up north near the Canadian border), we decided that we'd start there. But the start was a bit unconventional. While at the rally, our initial plan was to do a ride on Friday, 7/17 up to Shannon Falls, BC. However, Angela did a last minute change of bags and her passport got left behind. So, we went to plan B: Knock off 4 counties in the NW Washington state. So, Jeff Harvey, Andy Haugen, Angela and I took off to do so. Jeff would just be with us today, while Andy, Angela and I are committed to doing the full 39 counties in one ride.

BTW, you can track us on SPOT http://jasonjonas.org/spot/tripViewer.do?id=2195.

County # 1 (Wbatcom)

We found the county courthouse by spiraling in on it in downtown Bellingham. It has a very colorful totem pole in front of it. Below is a picture of it.



County # 2 (Island)

Leaving Bellingham, we headed down Chukanut Drive to WA20 and then west to Coupeville. Along the way we enjoyed a nice lunch at the Rhododendron Cafe (well at least 3 of us did as Andy had 2 clams that appeared to have some slimy substance in them. His meal was comped (free). I'll spare you the picture.


We crossed the Deception Pass Bridge where there was a "heavy rescue operation" going on and later on two significant traffic accidents. We bagged our Island county courthouse (the most undiscript building so far).


County # 3 (Snohomish)

Leaving Coupville, we headed down Whidbey Island for the Clinton/Mukilteo ferry. We paid our fare and almost literally rode right on the ferry and were given a primo spot about 5 cars from the front. SCORE! Leaving the ferry, we wound our way via back city streets to the courthouse in downtown Everett.



County # 4 (Skagit)

Our next county seat would be found in Mt. Vernon. Given it was a Friday night, we took a series of back roads up to just south of Mt. Vernon where we rejoined the freeway for a short distance. We got our photos in front of a really cool canon.




It was then a direct ride back to camp and we stopped for a little dinner of BBQ ribs. Very nice ribs.



What would our next steps be? Stay tuned.