Day 2 - Saturday 9/12/2015 - Port Townsend to 35 miles past Port Angeles

Another beautiful riding day on the Olympic Peninsula.  An early morning departure from our hotel in Anacortes - driving to the ferry landing at Coupeville to catch the 7:15 ferry to Port Townsend.  Breakfast in Port Townsend - then bikes on the road.  Second day in a row that we happen onto fabulous breakfast spots.  Somehow, we always seem to find some great meal spots!

All three riders headed the same direction but soon were doing their own thing.  While Jerry and Tom were heading around the peninsula - West towards Forks. . . .

Tracy decided to take a more scenic route and headed down 101 towards Olympia.  Although a great ride and quite scenic, not the intended route.  More on that later

Notes from Tom (aka TC to some):
Today was a little tougher than than yesterday--79 miles instead of 73, and over 4200 feet of climbing.  In addition, we had a net elevation gain of almost 1000 feet.  We still managed to average 15 mph.

As the pictures below explain, there was one stretch of about 15 miles where the road was narrow and crooked.  There was a button for cyclist to push that would turn on a blinking yellow light and a sign saying "Bicyclists on road--use caution."  When you push the button the caution light will flash for an hour, so you have to ride briskly to get through that section before the light goes out.

This section of road, although narrow and crooked, is right along the shore of the beautiful Lake Crescent, west of Port Angeles.

After the ride, as we were sitting at the hotel enjoying a cold beer, three cop cars rolled and the cops started banging on one guest's door.  Luckily it was not one of our rooms.  Soon the cops hauled off a huge young man in handcuffs.  Let it be known that we only stay in the finest establishments.

Meanwhile, Tracy re-navigated his route and was heading back towards Port Angeles.

The support team:  Enjoying the view at one of our many stops along the way.  

Notes for the tourist

Crescent Lake is a fresh water lake named for its shape.  It is surrounded by high mountains, including 4,534 foot Mt. Storm King.  The lake is 12 miles long and 624 feet deep.