No rain two weekends in a row! That's news.

Saturday was looking a little sketchy for riding and we had a fundraiser to attend that evening so we stayed close to home and hoped that Sunday would bring sunshine and riding weather.

Saturday night after we returned home an email was waiting from VM (he is quick witted but not deadly) asking if anyone wanted to ride on Sunday and where to meet up.  That was all it took for us to say we were in.

Sunday morning we bundled up and rode to Starbucks on Bakerview to meet up with the group.  To our surprise the MGR (meet, greet, and ride group) was planning a ride for the day and this was their location to meet up also.  We were the first of our group to arrive so Larry ordered coffee and I went to say hello to Mike L., Pat and Pam, Lynn, and Bryan.  Before we left they had four more show up for their ride.

Shortly thereafter, Dave and Dawn, Lorie and Dave, and Bill and Marla arrived.  More greetings between the two groups, checking out each other’s bikes, discussions about the bike show at Skagit HD on Saturday, and then it was time for our group to depart.

Dave M. had us winding our way through Bellingham through the older neighborhoods, down to Squalicum harbor, around the waterfront, up to State St., through Fairhaven, and onto Chuckanut Drive.  We were hoping that heading south and west that we could stay out of range of those pesky dark rain clouds that were hovering just to the east of us.  Lorie wore her rain suit and that was going to be our rain protection (if someone does not wear raingear on a day like this, you can almost always bet on getting soaked).   Okay we did have a couple of sprinkles, and some small hail, but no downpour.

Down Chuckanut, through Edison and onto highway 20.   We made a quick stop to stretch our legs and then rode towards La Conner and the tulip fields before heading into Mount Vernon for a stop at Skagit HD.  People were stopped everywhere along the roads to view the tulips in reds, pinks, oranges, and the yellow daffodils.  They were slogging through the mud in their designer rubber boots to have their pictures taken in the tulips.  Nice, but seeing the flowers from the back of the bike was enough for us.

We stopped at the Train Wreck in Burlington for lunch and much to our surprise it was not full. Table for eight, something to drink, we placed our orders, and then we could sit back and tell stories.  It is good to spending time with friends that you can totally relax with and laughwith each other.

Where to next?  Highway 9 as we headed back to Whatcom County.  We rode north to Everson, then west to Birch Bay State Park to enjoy a pit stop and enjoy the sunshine and the beach views.  We all said our good-byes as we mounted up and headed home.  Bill and Marla peeled off first, and then to make sure we didn’t miss our turn, Lorie and Dave were kind enough to both point to our road and Dave and Dawn honked a good-bye.

Eagle Eye pointed out numerous eagles, perched and flying throughout the day, and we saw deer, lots of baby calf twins, sheep still wearing their winter coats, and lots of other bikers.  It was a good day.