After months of planning, the day arrived for our trip through the San Juan Islands with Galen and Susanne Evans. Jeff and I rented a car, and Galen, with all the bike boxes, took the LaQuinta Inn courtesy van. It took us about 3 hours to assemble the bikes which we were allowed to store in a locked conference room. After that, we took off for K-Mart to buy a Coleman camping stove, and to REI Outdoor Outfitters store for browsing and to buy some last minute items. Galen did his own thing, touring Seattle on Jeff's Bruce Gordon, while Jeff and I took a ride to a small island in Puget Sound to visit his sister who I've never met and he hasn't seen in 5 years.
Deer walk right up to the door for handouts as do a few raccoons.
It's a beautiful place. That evening we went back to the hotel, picked up Galen and had another visit to REI before having Mexican food for late dinner and then bed. We made quite a splash in the airport with our bikes and trailers, especially Galen with the tandem. When Susanne arrived, Galen handed her her bike clothes and after she changed we were off. By the time we got to the ferry for our first trip to Bainbridge Island, it was clear that my pine cone rear cassette was NOT going to be enough with my 32 granny gear to get me up the hills.