Our earliest start yet. I was up at 0430 am and we were on the road by 0630. The start of the ride was across the bridge to Aberdeen. They had it planned so 12 plus cyclists would go over the bridge while they stopped traffic to allow us to merge onto the bridge safely. Today was the only cloudy day we had the entire trip. It was misting but warm. We skimmed Grays Harbor and headed east to circumnavigate Willapa Bay. There were gray views of the bay and marsh lands. At Willapa Bay we had lunch at the old Carriage Museum. Then we did a short ride on a bike trail and then joined the highwy again for a roller coaster ride and some more miles of chip seal. We decided to make this a fast paced day and stopped very little along the way. We hammered as hard as we could and made good time to Ilwaco Middle School, our last camp. We were treated that evening to an awesome salmon feast cooked by the Ilwaco track team. The second best meal of the trip. Then a local pub sponsored a night for the RAW riders. Free drinks up to a $100 for the first riders to arrive at the pub. I'm sure there were many that took them up on that. At camp there was a Osprey next on a pole next to the school. The Osprey wasn't too happy about the encroachment of 208 colorful cyclists on her territory and let it be known with some screeches. I took photos of her hanging out in a tree near her next checking us out. Showers tonight were in the school locker room. I took a shower and then settled in for another post ride massage which put me to sleep so it was an early night for me.

The next morning we packed up camp and boarded our buses for the 5 hour drive back to Sandpoint.

This was a great ride. Perfect weather. Lots of great scenery. I met lots of interesting people on the trip and had a relaxing vacation. I'd like to thank the RAW coordinators for a great ride this year. I'd also like to thank Nick for a great paddle along the coast. I can't wait to do this ride again some year.