The Anacortes Oyster Run

When we awoke Saturday morning I still hadn't decided whether or not I wanted to go up to Anacortes a day early or not. As we sat there drinking our coffee and talking about it, the day got nicer and it sounded more and more like the best scenario. I did quite a bit of digging online to find a room in the general area because we waited so long, but I succeeded getting one in Mount Vernon for a relatively good price. Okay, with the help of my ol' man AARP discount...

While Suzie ran up to her house to throw some things together, I hit a couple stores in Auburn, hoping to find a better (read that legal) helmet before we left. I had heard stories that the coppers were starting to crack down on bogus helmets. I didn't find anything and went back home. Suz was back by the time I returned. I also changed the oil in the bike before we headed out. When it came to packing our stuff, the rack that I bought on Craigslist a few months back proved to be very valuable. The bag strapped around the backrest and sat on the rack just as pretty as you please.

The day was beautiful--No doubt about that. We didn't stop until we hit the rest area up around Smokey Point, at which time Suzie exclaimed how much she loved the new seat. That was what I wanted to hear! I think she said it a couple times while we were there. I have to say, as many miles as she has put on the little pillion pad on our previous rides shows her character. She deserved a new seat.

As she mentioned in her blog, Suzie was amazed at the motel room. Hell, so was I--I've never been in a motel room with two floors. I didn't even know they existed. When it comes right down to it though, it was still a motel room: You still hear things that let you know there is someone else nearby.

After we dumped our stuff, we hopped back on the bike for a cruise around the area, hoping to find a good spot to sit and eat an early dinner. Mount Vernon is divided into two halves--The "new" half with all the shopping stores and fast food, and the "old" half with all the brick buildings and small shops. That's where we ended up. We stopped downtown because we saw the main drag blocked off for some sort of event and we figured we'd walk the street and see what was going on. During our walk through their arts & crafts show (or whatever it was) we found a sports bar that looked like our spot. We went in and ate a delicious meal. To the best of my knowledge, it was the only time in recent history that I didn't finish a meal at a restaurant. The burger itself was so stuffed that I had to set it on edge in the fry basket and leave it there as I ate, stretching my mouth to the limit with each wide bite.

We finished our evening with a ride out Chuckanut Drive, a road famous enough in the area that it has it's own website. I had heard about how nice it is for years, but never drove it. Well, I shouldn't say that... I drove half of it once, way back when during my tenure as a food delivery driver. We picked a good time of the night for it--The sun was waning. My intent was to go to the end and turn around and come back. For some reason I thought it was basically a dead-end road. When it took us into downtown old Bellingham I was surprised. At any rate, we turned around and went back, this time stopping at every turnout so Suz could snap pictures. She got some beauties!

The next day we got ourselves together and checked out of our room at about 8:30. It was a beautiful morning, but cold enough that I had to mop the bike off with a towel before we could sit on it. We got to Anacortes just before 9, and even that early it was apparent that the town was going to fill up quickly. We wandered around quite a bit, taking in all the sorts of weirdness that make it one of the best places I've ever seen for people watching. I made it a point to stop by the Oyster Run t-shirt booth, but was dismayed (and I voiced my feelings to them) to find that all but one color of t-shirts they had were 50/50 blend instead of 100% cotton. I mean come on, is a cotton t-shirt too much to ask? Apparently so. I did manage to buy a couple other shirts from other vendors though, and at a much better price. How can you lose with a $10 t-shirt? After all, I practically live in them.

Suzie's blog (the link is over on the right on this page in case you didn't know) describes things pretty well, but I think it's probably the only time I've ever actually seen the Cossacks' whole show. I've seen them doing bits here and there at different events, but this time I saw the whole thing from start to finish. It was quite the deal. I love their bikes! I would so love the opportunity to be able to ride a tank-shift Harley some time before I die, but I doubt that will ever happen. That's not something someone will just let you do for the sake of doing it. Speaking of old bikes, we walked around an antique bike show that was in a bank parking lot too. There were some beauties! Vincents, Harleys, Indians, a beautiful BSA Lightning that looked like it had just rolled out the showroom door--They were great. I love the old machinery.

When we finally decided we needed to get out of town it was late. Well, not late actually, but much later than I had ever left the Oyster Run before. Add to that the headache that I was getting and I was feeling more like could just avoid the ride home altogether. We we started to leave town it was apparent that it was going to be stop and go all the way. Yep, it seemed like it was an hour later by the time we finally reached the turnoff for Whidbey Island. At first I just wanted to blast by and go home, but by the time I got to that turn I decided I needed to "open it up" a little and let the bike cool back down (they are air-cooled you know) and give Suzie the opportunity to see Deception Pass. She had never seen it before and I knew she'd like it. We did talk about taking the ferry across from the bottom of Whidbey Island, but after seeing that traffic I'm sure the ferry would have been an all-night affair. When I got back to the Anacortes highway (20) after our detour to Deception Pass, the traffic hadn't thinned much if at all. Even after turning off and taking farming roads (the back way as I call it) we still hit traffic a lot. Hell, even on I-5 we still hit traffic a lot. There were slowdowns here and there all the way into Everett.

By the time I got home, I was exhausted. I rode us straight through without stopping and I was totally wrung out. I collapsed on the floor. After all, supporting a passenger and a heavy pack on a bike in stop and go traffic is not an easy thing to do for any length of time. I was tired, I had a splitting headache, and I was chilled to the bone with flu-like symptoms. I get that sometimes when I get sun-baked. When I went to the mirror before bed and looked, it was apparent that I did indeed get too much sun on the head.

All in all, it was a most excellent weekend. Suzie and I both had a great time. Would we do it again? Of course we will, but will we stay that long next time? No way baby! Leaving the Oyster Run at later than 1pm is a no-no in my opinion...

Be sure to check out the pictures page... Suz has already uploaded a bunch of hers and some of mine will follow as well soon.