The further north on 9 we went the thinner the raindrops got. It had been mentioned that circling Whatcom Lake and running down Mosquito Lake road would be nice, so I was surprised when Mike started to lead us west, under I-5 and not at all in the direction of either of the aforementioned locations. He finally pulled over, we hashed over the maps and the weather and I offered to lead us back towards Whatcom Lake. No one was fighting for leadership and I was happy to roll back on down the backroads of northern Washington. The sun was out and the roads were drying up. Things were getting faster and I was enjoying rolling on the throttle of the GS as I came through a nice set of turns.

Lake Whatcom Blvd is a mis-nomer. Where we joined in the road was a backcountry wonder. Tight turns, elevation gains and losses and heavily forested views to one side. Then we hit traffic. For once the cars weren't the problem, this time it was a couple of Harleys crawling along. Impossibly, they were going slower than the cars, literally braking down to 10mph to navigate a 20mph corner. At this point I was about to run them off the road myself, but I thought a better course of action would be to pull over and let them get ahead. This turned out to be a good choice, even if the natural beauty of the Boulevard gave way to suburan hell shortly afterwards. Following the lines on my GPS we rolled around the west end of the lake and then traced a return course along the north shore. I spied a road sign that I thought I had seen before but I wanted to consult a map that Tracy was carrying. I conveniently pulled over at Grammy's Home Cooking where Tracy expressed her joy because she was starving!! I'm so bad, neglecting the needs of my group. But I think they forgave me, as Grammy's Home Cooking was indeed tasty (and better than some of things I've cooked at home!). Our waitress was wonderful and fun to talk to while the food was worth going back for.

After our hearty lunch it was time to find Mosquito Lake Rd. Tracy led up us "Y Road" and then took a left when she should have taken a right. It took quite some time before they noticed that I wasn't right behind them and they pulled over to wait for me. I caught up to them and explained that they were going the wrong way (note to self: don't let Tracy lead if you actually have a destination - just kidding, Tracy!).

I was leading again and found the turn off to Mosquito Lake Road, a nice sweeping road that crosses over the Nooksack River. Finally, I had had enough: I had wanted to take a number of pictures that day but I hadn't because I was riding with a group who, because our destination wasn't known, would have been hard to re-assemble. Not that I'm blaming the group; I had never made any requests to stop for photos because I had wanted to make things easier over all. But I liked what I was seeing along here. I pulled off, said I was going to take some pictures and I'd meet them at the bridge (Tracy had alluded to a bridge up ahead that she was planning on stopping for anyway). Photos taken, I continued on my way with Steve, who had waited patiently for me. It was easy to make time on this road, even though I had never been on it. I felt confident in the corners, not noticing any gravel or surprise radius turns, and the number of residences were slight enough to keep my fear of running kids and dogs at bay. The pavement was dry, the tires were warm and I was happy to be riding again.