On the third day we rode San Juan.  Because San Juan was a bigger island with lots of road to cover, most bikers took vehicles to the ferry to cut down on total miles.  Even so, those that only rode on San Juan and then bicycled to camp from the ferry still got over 50 miles in.

San Juan is known for whale watching.   We stopped at Lime Kiln to check out the Orcas but it was an off day and there wasn't much to see.  

There's a very interesting story about San Juan.  It seems that in the treaty that setup the 49th parallel as the border between the U. S. and present day Canada (then owned by Gr. Britain) there was some confusion as to which side got the San Juan Islands.  In 1859, there were both English and American settlers on the islands.  One day an English Farmer's pigs got out and ate an American Farmer's potato crop.  The American then shot the offending pig and thus precipitated an international incident which would become the PIG war.

After this incident both the English and Americans dispatched troops to the island of San Juan to protect their citizens.  It seems that neither side was interested in fighting as soon the Civil War broke and kept the American government busy and the English had their own difficulties to deal with elsewhere.  The soldiers stayed on the islands for 12 years when finally the respective governments decided to have an internationally known leader arbitrate the dispute.  The person of choice happened to be Kaiser Wilhelm I who eventually decided in favor of the Americans. This picture was taken from close to the American Army Camp.

One more nice thing about San Juan is Friday Harbor.  This neat little town had shops and restaurants.  Several of us took over a balcony overlooking the water front where I got these pictures.

Here's our volunteer bike mechanic having a bite to eat.  Do you suppose he could get it all in?

Here's a shot of several bikers.