First day is complete! Finally the hectic process of packing/selling/trashing/cleaning/bike-prep/blahblah is over and we are off! We planned on leaving my house at 10:32am, we left somewhere around then but it wasn’t South. We drove separately up North to Snohomish where my VW Bus will rest in loving hands (thanks Cole!!). Then we purchased some last minute rain gear and made our snowy exit from Seattle. Stopping for lunch in Federal Way, we were surprised by Shawn and Kim who, at the last minute, decided to be our support team for the first leg to Portland – sweethearts.
It was 32*F as we arrived with frozen toes to Portland, at some sandwiches at the grilled cheese bus and crashed at Vanessa’s house.

The drive down was quite windy, the little 250 didn’t like fighting against the wind at freeway speeds. Hopefully we’ll have much less freeway in our future. My neck is the only sore part so far from battling against the wind. I’m going to have to find a stiffer spring for the rear shock as the back tire rubs against the luggage rack when we hit bumps. Other than that, the Sherpa performed admirably and is ready for more!

This was my second trip out to Doe Bay. This time the trusty Subaru was left at home and the less trusty Volkswagen Bus took four of us out to Orcas for a Valentines get-away weekend. We met up with two more friends who happened to be up there for the same weekend. It was a great relaxing time! Doe Bay was beautiful with some blistery weather, we were nice and cozy with six of us sleeping in their “Gnome-Dome”.
Three visits to their legendary soaking tubs and sauna was great for relaxing and meeting wonderful people. Live music accompanied by a string-quartet on Saturday evening… I’m spoiled to be able to experience such a wonderful environment. The ferry ride home was exciting with the wind/rain storm smacking the boat around, the front of the boat hit waves hard enough to spray water up into the door of the second-floor passenger compartment.

I’m convinced that Doe Bay is a beautiful destination regardless of the weather. Go if you have the chance!