ID/Chinatown

 SOOOOO, 

two years after my last library bike ride visit, I finally commit to bicycling to the last and farthest of the King County Library System branches, Skykomish!

Leaving home early on a Monday morning...

& riding to Northgate for light rail ride to UDub stadium

for 2 buses, first to Redmond where I got to revisit library with its oh-so-appropriate old bike race photos & children's mural

over to Duvall with a friendly greeting from Ronni & staff

& then off I go, first over scary shoulderless bridge and road to W. Snoqualmie Valley Road,

a comparatively easy flat (though still mostly shoulderless) 10 mile rural ride into Monroe

Not much going on here on a Monday night except for a brutal massage (neck is my body part that hurts the most from bike riding!), a middle eastern meal and lots of silly tv at highway 2 bordering hotel room -- & next to roaring railroad tracks too.

Slept fitfully in anticipation of following days' two year fullfillment (choosing the pretty narrow window between too wet and cold winter/spring and too hot & smoky summer for ride!) -- up oh so early with hotel breakfast and on the road by 7:30am, already hitting traffic jams in downtown Monroe, sheesh..! (also choosing a Tuesday with supposedly lighter traffic).

Avoiding Highway 2 and up smaller Old Owen Road -- smaller roads means less cars but also narrower shoulders for bikes, aiyee! (Tieing fluorescent yellow bike shirt to my black backpack for better warning visibility)

& now already to Sultan 8-8:30ish  -- into an open grocery store with no visible staff, grab a pretty rotten banana and throw 15 cents on the checkout counter and back on the road....to a fine Native American gent next to a bike bridge

Am I in Sultan...(?!)

Back roads, and along highway 2 through Startup & Gold Bar & then another rural looping detour on Reiter road through beautiful woods, the mountains peaking through, rivers rushing by, but also enormously steep up & down hills though fewer cars racing past (but why is it usually the big pickup trucks that don't veer an inch away from their lane to other side to ease my tension?!)

And now in Index already...

about as pretty as possible and only wish I had more time & energy to fully appreciate it all!

But just up the road is ol' pal Bigfoot Harry

& we're on the homestretch, though I'm disheartened to see a sign for Skykomish, still 8 miles away and I on too busy (upward slanting) highway 2 for the rest of the way -- beginning to take longer breaks just lying down on the side of the road for breaks, whew....

But hey, after a mere 40 or so miles, here we come finally!:

& at least 1 of the staff that was at Duvall the day before to greet me....and 1 bar open for a cider and some chili and a giant ice cream at the town entrance...and before too long, Bernice was driving up to pick me up too, 

Hurray! 

What's next? Gosh, who knows -- may have to come up with a radio show on the theme of bicycles, at least, I reckon...!