After spending over a week and Kevin and Manons', we got on our bikes with great reluctance. We're leaving our home country of Canuckistan today, not sure when we'll be back next. Our friends accompany us to White Rock, a coastal town just north of the US border. They treat us to our final breakfast (cupcakes, of course) in Canada, then we hang out at the pier for a little while before waving goodbye!  The pier at White Rock, BC  Frolickin' amongst the flowers - pic by Kevin V  Kevin is a BMW Motorrad Apparel model  Boats docked at White Rock pier. The water is so clear!  Final group shot!  And then it's goodbye! We were a bit worried about the US border patrol, since we were wondering what to say if they asked us, "When are you returning to Canada?" or "What do you do for a living?"... If we told the truth, I was expecting: "So let me get this straight: you don't have a place of residence in Canada, no jobs and you want to come into the United States *and* you can't tell me when you're going to return?!?!" Surprisingly, those questions never came up! So all our elaborate stories that we agreed on and practiced beforehand went unused! We'll have to save them for the next border crossing!  Neda has a (very) unfounded belief that she is invisible to radar From the border, we quickly got off the Interstate at Bellingham and rode one of my favorite roads in the area, the scenic and twisty Chucakanut Drive. The heavily forested two-laner winds its way along the Samish Bay coast, all the way to the Anacortes. From there, we took State Road 20 to Fidalgo Island and then to Whidbey Island and stopped at Oak Harbor to pick up a US SIM chip for our iPhone. After some fiddling around, we got our phone interwebs working and we were off to our campsite at Fort Ebey State Park.  It's warm again! Hiking around the shores of Fort Ebey State Park Fort Ebey was built during WWII after the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor. The remains of a bunker look out towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and I poked around the dark and empty deserted underground bunkers while Neda basked in the sunshine outside. We've spent so long in the Arctic that we're really starved for any kind of warm weather.  Descending the deserted bunker  Through the artillery view port I spot a Neda  Hiking around Fort Ebey State Park  Everything's just Dandy!  Sun setting on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, mountains of Olympic National Park in the distance  Sunset! Unfortunately, after the sun set, the temperature dropped very quickly. We were back to wearing winter clothing and shivering in our sleeping bags. It's very clear to us we need to head further south!
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