We must be close to Canada

May 29, 2025

It’s raining

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This photo sums up today’s conditions; rain and traffic.

Every time Jim and I have ridden in Canada, we get rained upon. Last year in northern Montana, very close to the border, we got rained on. Today our streak held; here we are close to the border once again and it rained for much of the ride. Not a hard rain, and not even a really cold rain; just wet enough to get the riders wet and a bit uncomfortable.

However, I was the driver today. I stepped up and volunteered to drive first, so I stayed clean and dry (picture me patting myself on the back here.)

The day started out with another lovely breakfast of fruit/nuts/cheese and also eggs (and salmon for the others) and great Nexpresso coffee. Mary and Sandy were wonderful hosts! We all had a great time!

I asked Jim what was the highlight of today’s ride for him and he said, “Just finishing.” The group stopped very little; once to put on rain gear, a couple of times to take pictures.

Bit in teeth, Jim et. al. blew by me four times while en route to the finish.

I arrived at The Resort at Port Ludlow about 30 minute prior to the riders but before our room was ready so I did I a bit of wandering about.

Totem Pole on the point in front of the hotel

After we checked in we ate lunch at the hotel restaurant. The service was slow, the waiter was odd, or high, but the food was really tasty. It is the only food nearby so we made a reservation for dinner.

Jim conked out cold after his shower so I went on a little walk on my own. The sun was finally out and I wanted to walk along the water.

When I returned to the room I was missing my key card. I knew what had happened- it fell out of my pocket when I pulled my phone out to take a photo. I had to bang on the door and message Jim to wake him up to let me into the room.

Dinner was good-the service was faster and the food was great! Afterwards Jim and I went on a short walk to see if we could find my key card. The tide had come in so we couldn’t retrace my steps along the beach but we walked up the hill where I took the photo of the Resort from above, and amazingly, I found the key card!

Also up there we looked more closely at a very noisy truck/generator/fans equipment rig that I had noticed on my first walk. A hose coming out of it attached to a nearby water hydrant.

We could not figure out what this was. So we asked the hotel desk clerk and she immediately gave us this:

Clearly many people inquired about this.

Apparently the local water agency, Olympic Water and Sewer, recently initiated a pipe cleaning program using a process called Ice Pigging. Neither Jim nor I had ever heard of this. Ice Pigging involves injecting an ice slurry made up of salt water under pressure through the pipes to clean them. It is supposed to work up to 1000 times better that straight flushing, use 50% less water , and require less down time. The process was invented in 1991 and has been adopted throughout the world for cleaning pipes up to 24 inches in diameter. So interesting!

Tomorrow Amber is driving, and I am riding with Jim and Rich. The weather is supposed to be good. We plan for a relaxed start of around 11:00 am.

Today's ride: 27 miles (43 km)
Total: 27 miles (43 km)

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