....AND DOWN CAME THE RAIN

DAY 76

SATURDAY 18 JUNE 2016

SEATTLE - PORT TOWNSEND (FORT WORDEN STATE PARK)

1200 - 2000

88.63 km (55.07 miles)
Av. Speed: 16.4 km/h (10.2 mph)
Max. Speed: 56.1 km/h (34.9 mph)
Time On Bike: 5h 22m 58s

I left Seattle as I had arrived - on the ferry, only I took the Bainbridge Island vessel on the way out.

A week in Seattle had been highly enjoyable and rewarding, as I totally hoped it would be.

My next destination was to be Port Townsend to the north, which was an ideal layover to break the 100-mile trip between Seattle and Port Angeles.

The Bainbridge Island ferry was a mere 35 minutes across Puget Sound and after a quick stock up at the market, I set off pedaling up Highway 305 North.

It was barely a few miles up the way before the threatening black clouds surrounding me in all directions started belching thunder immediately to the left and once the lightning started cracking, I knew I had to get off the road.

A bit of rain or wind is one thing but electrical storms are downright dangerous.

Just a few hundred yards past the Agate Casino, I considered that this might have be a good place to stop in and take shelter; and who knows, I might have possibly won big and paid for the rest of my life with the proceeds.

The huge drops of rain that started splattering my face within minutes however snapped me quickly back to reality and forced my hand, literally

By the time I'd swung into a strategically positioned Texaco gas station a few seconds later, it was absolutely bucketing.

30 minutes later I was on the way again but straight into another drenching.

North of the Hood Canal bridge, the rain set in for about 90 minutes accompanying me pretty much the entire distance for the long and tedious 6-mile crawl up Route 104.

Pulling into Port Townsend in the semi-gloom at 8 pm, I felt I'd been on the road for much longer than I should have been, although when I learned that I'd lucked it in for the only remaining campsite in Fort Worden State Park, my complaints were somewhat nullified and I set about bunking in for the night after shedding my wets and taking a well-earned hot shower.