Bellingham

Day 18 GDMBR Saturday June 28th 2025,

I got a text message from Alex and. he told me they, Alex and Megan, went to the “free fair market” It is a market where you can offer items you don’t use anymore and get items for free! It was on a parking at the waterfront near the Ferry terminal to Alaska and Whale excursions. It was a small “market” from car boots.

The weather was good and the goods were on the tarmac. The atmosphere was good and very friendly. Kids were very enthusiastically and clearly wanted to take everything home (see the pictures) I did find several real treasures and will take them with me. Of course, I will not reveal what that were, they are surprises for when I am going home in October. Really it was meant to be, I was searching for that single item, the rest were just nice and easy to take with me on my flight back home!

At the end Megan and Alex took several items with them to bring to the thrift shop. We went to there by car and it was a very efficient giving the items that weren’t given away! We received a 20% off coupon. Then we went to the thrift store. It was huge, see pictures. Megan and I went to see and find the items we searched for those items. I did find a clock for Alex and did find a great sunhat with neck protection against the sun. A very light (fast drying) and big rimmed hat I could wear under my helmet. Also, I did pick up a very good tool; a stainless-steel heavy scraper, I will take home when I board the flight in October.

Arriving home I went to Haggen, a supermarket nearby. I tried out my cover setup when I did the lockup of my bike with a lot of people around the shop and my bike was out of sight. It went great, however I lost (and found again) one of the remote alarm controls.

Now I just posted the two days of 26th and 27th of June, ad started with the post for today 28th of June. I started to pack for the ride tomorrow to Vancouver 109 km with a big climb at the end in the city of Vancouver, to Spencer and Kate. I will arrive there in the afternoon. What a surprise it is to meet these friends on this trip! I last did see and have diner with them in Mazatlán Mexico in 2014!

Megan and I went to Café Rumba, we were before and ordered diner for 5 of us, Megan, Alex, Scott and Lorry. It was on me, so I paid, with cash, otherwise 3% would be added if it was with credit card. The credit card is much more used than in the Netherlands!

It was a great diner with sandwiches with several adding’s to each other’s taste. Megan bought cookies she loved when she was working in Argentina. This time she bought them in the shop that was related to the Café Rumba; A Peruvian Deli, Bakery, Café / restaurant. The lemonade was great also and remembered me of the delicious lemonades I tried all over Central America in 2014 when I cycled there!

Scott had a lot of questions about packing and the trip we were about (in about a week!) would start. Alex and I could help him with advice and Alex had some gear extra to have him use it, without having to buy it! We had a great night together and after saying goodbye to Scott and Lorry I went to prepare for bed. Before going to bed, I wanted to finish the blog entry of today, so that’s what I am doing now.

I hope you like the stories. In your comments you can ask me details I didn’t write about, so I will give attention to that next time!

Another great day past so fast!