El Nino is Kind

El Nino is being kind to us already this fall. Weather predictions are for sunny but cool conditions in September and into October, and a warmer and dryer than usual winter. That is actually bad for our water supply, but it's hard to complain about days like today.

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy to get this year's immunizations - a shot for COVID in my right arm, and for flu in my left. Over night I had a little fever and headache, with some stiff, sore muscles. This morning my right arm was tender, while my left arm was pretty sore and I still had pain and stiffness in my left shoulder and neck. The flu shot is definitely worse than the COVID shot.

Thinking a gentle, relaxed bike ride would help me recover faster, I took a 15-mile turn around the flat lands near the Silver Reef Casino. This area on S. Church Road usually floods and has to be closed over the winter. The county decided to do some preventive drainage maintenance this fall, in spite of the optimistic weather forecasts. So I had to back-track and revise my planned route, but it was a beautiful day and a beautiful ride.

Living Fossils of the Chuckanuts

During the hot, smoky weather in July and August, I'd been hiding indoors. After a few cooler, rainy days, though, I finally got out for an early September ride on the Interurban Trail, above Chuckanut Drive. I meant to turn back at the end of the gravel trail, but after cruising along on the shady trail for ten miles or so, I felt too good to quit. So I jumped on to the road and went on past Chuckanut Manor, then to the tiny postal stop of Bow, where I turned right and went on to the next tiny town of Edison.

I believe the photo to the right is of a fossil impression of a fern or palm leaf in the rock wall along Chuckanut Drive. Also, I predict there will be more slides and rock falls this winter, judging from the fresh cracks and gaps in the rocks. In my not-so-expert opinion.

Edison is a former farm town at a bend in the road, with a few art studios and a high-end furniture and wood-working business, and some good eating spots. By the time I got this far I was too hungry to make it back home without some sustenance, so I had coffee and a blueberry & cream cheese Danish at the Bread Farm - but only drip coffee, no more espresso. I almost felt good enough to continue on all the way to Anacortes, but I'll save that trip for a bit later when I can spare a few days. 

The Longhorn Saloon is the place for beer and (moto)bikers, and there is also a good oyster and seafood restaurant the next block down.

I peeked through a hedge to see this nicely maintained Victorian house. It's probably the showiest mansion in town.

The Lucky Dumpster appears to be a combination pottery studio, art gallery and second-hand shop. It was closed, I couldn't tell for sure.

On my return trip I made a detour to Colony Mountain Road, which turned out to meander several miles farther south-east-ish than I remembered, but it was a nice flat farm tour, with a nice tailwind. There are some blueberry fields and an old local cemetery. One house along the way is known for its menagerie of driftwood sculptures of fanciful animals.

This part of Skagit County is former marsh land and tide flat at the south end of Chuckanut Bay, which was drained for pasture and farming. It still tends to flood in winter, and is a tsunami hazard zone. But there are no crocodiles or alligators, and no carnivore hazards, at least not for nimble bicyclists.

After Labor Day, when the kids are back in school, is the best time for us old people to get out for late summer excursions. This ride came out to be about a 36-mile round-trip, starting from Fairhaven Park in south Bellingham.