There are some fantastic roads between the two places, but due to time constraints, I couldn't enjoy them all. Leaving my house at 5:45am, I headed west on I-82 to Ellensburg, bypassing the Canyon Road. At Ellensburg I veered off the freeway to travel US 97 over Blewette Pass to Leavenworth.

Stopping for a quick breakfast at Leavenworth, I fueled up (76 Station, 2-gallons, 110 miles) and joined US-2 over Stevens Pass toward Everett. Blewette and Stevens were both fantastic, and much preferred to the freeway driving from earlier in the morning. I was unimpressed with the fuel from the 76 station in Leavenworth. I was unable to maintain 60mph at several points climbing Stevens Pass, even though the elevation and incline were less than those on Blewette, where I was able to keep 65 with little problem.

I turned onto WA 9 before Everett to avoid I-5 as long as I could. WA 9 had quite a few intersections and slow traffic for the first handful of miles then it cleared up and was nice and peaceful riding until I hooked up with WA 539 to connect with I-5 from Mt. Vernon to Bellingham. I-5 that far north of Seattle, and in the late morning hours was not at all bad for traffic, and the speed limit was 60 or 65 the rest of the way to Bellingham, so I had no problem keeping up with traffic.

I-5 was again non-congested and easy riding down to WA 539 north of Mt. Vernon where I cut back to WA 9. 9 was very congested at times, and probably added 20 minutes to the travel time versus staying on I-5 all the way to Everett, but it was still nice. Joining US-2 just east of Everett, I re-fueled in Monroe (Shell, 1.2 gallons, 87 miles) and continued on for a burger and fries in Sultan, and prepared myself for a hard push home. The seat on my Bullet had grown quite hard by this time, and I began contemplating the purchase of long silk underpants to wear under my riding gear for any future rides of this duration.