On the Coast
74.0 km today, 297.5 km total
Got into a couple of wrestling matches with my sleeping gear last night. Generally, things work very well with the hammock, but last night was a bit of an exception. When I first got in and got all arranged, I realized there were some bushes scraping against the fabric as the hammock rocked back and forth when I moved, which was loud
enough to be very annoying. So I got out and pushed back the underbrush. When I got back in my sleeping bag, silk liner, sleeping pad, and the clothes hanging from the line overhead all conspired to make things difficult, and it took me several minutes of furious struggle, squirming, jostling, and thrashing about to finally wrestle them into submission. This scene repeated itself later in the night when I needed to exit to relieve myself. Not sure why I had so many problems last night, when the other nights have been fine.
Anyway, I did sleep fairly well, and got up around 0900. Packed up and headed into town to call my mom, arranging to meet her for lunch at 1100, which was quite good.
It was very warm when I said goodbye to mom and got under way after lunch, taking 12 to Aberdeen. Fairly heavy traffic, but an OK shoulder most of the way. Stopped for
ice cream and to refill my water bottles, and discovered I'd lost my Bullet Pen, probably falling out of its spot during the wrestling matches last night. Too bad, since it had accompanied me on many trips and proved to be a reliable companion. Oh well. So long, Space Pen.
I then wandered around Aberdeen for a bit before heading over the bridge to take 105 towards Westport. Lighter traffic, and a better shoulder most of the way than 12.
When I'm touring, I usually try to take a 5-10 minute break every hour or so. This lets me get a snack, keep hydrated, relieve the pressure and restore circulation to the points where my body makes contact with the bike, and stretch out a bit. Sometimes though, like today, these breaks can stretch out for much a much longer time. Being able to enjoy chance discoveries is one of the advantages of keeping an open schedule and not trying to cover too much ground.
So, I was about an hour outside of Aberdeen looking for a decent spot to rest, when I saw a pullout with a small "State Parks Property" sign and a path. Following the path for a short distance through marshy wetlands, I arrived on a nice, secluded beach on Grays Harbor, a perfect spot. I parked the bike, drank some water, ate a bit of chocolate, then went for a wade. The water was surprisingly warm, so I returned to shore to change into my swimming suit, and went for a quick dunk. Laid on the beach in the sun for a few minutes to dry out, then set up the sunshade (also my sleeping pad, and rear rack pad) and napped in the shade for a few minutes. Studied Spanish a bit and relaxed for a hour or so before heading back out on the road.
My first private beach, hopefully not the last!
Not too much further I saw a roadside shop selling jerky, which sounded good, so I stopped to get some: both spicy and regular, plus a soda. Chewed on a couple of pieces, trying to remember if I'd had any since the Utah desert trip where we'd killed, butchered, and "processed" a sheep, turning the meat we couldn't immediately eat into jerky, slicing it thin to dry in the sun.
I arrived at Twin Harbors State Park shortly after, and looked in vain for the hiker/biker sites. Unlike most parks, there wasn't even a map, and I couldn't find any park staff. So, I set up in one of the normal sites, but paid the lower hiker/biker rate, with an explanatory note.
Hiked over the dunes to the beach, for my first view of the open Pacific Ocean this trip. Waded in the cold surf while watching the sun go down, then returned to camp to cook dinner.
Afterwards, headed to the shower to be completely disappointed, expecting a nice, warm shower. The signs even promised "Hot Showers, 3 minutes for 2 tokens." But even at my most charitable, I could only describe them as a "Tepid Drizzle, a complete waste of 2 tokens." The first one spit out maybe a dozen drops of cold water. Nothing else. The second one had extremely low water pressure, a couple of small streams of just barely warmer than cold water. So I ended up taking a sponge bath with the scrub cloth from the sink, which had normal water pressure and seemed slightly warmer.
Laid out on the picnic table later, listening to the distant rumble of the surf, looking at the stars and the Milky Way, seeing several bright falling stars streak across the sky.
Got into a couple of wrestling matches with my sleeping gear last night. Generally, things work very well with the hammock, but last night was a bit of an exception. When I first got in and got all arranged, I realized there were some bushes scraping against the fabric as the hammock rocked back and forth when I moved, which was loud
enough to be very annoying. So I got out and pushed back the underbrush. When I got back in my sleeping bag, silk liner, sleeping pad, and the clothes hanging from the line overhead all conspired to make things difficult, and it took me several minutes of furious struggle, squirming, jostling, and thrashing about to finally wrestle them into submission. This scene repeated itself later in the night when I needed to exit to relieve myself. Not sure why I had so many problems last night, when the other nights have been fine.
Anyway, I did sleep fairly well, and got up around 0900. Packed up and headed into town to call my mom, arranging to meet her for lunch at 1100, which was quite good.
It was very warm when I said goodbye to mom and got under way after lunch, taking 12 to Aberdeen. Fairly heavy traffic, but an OK shoulder most of the way. Stopped for
ice cream and to refill my water bottles, and discovered I'd lost my Bullet Pen, probably falling out of its spot during the wrestling matches last night. Too bad, since it had accompanied me on many trips and proved to be a reliable companion. Oh well. So long, Space Pen.
I then wandered around Aberdeen for a bit before heading over the bridge to take 105 towards Westport. Lighter traffic, and a better shoulder most of the way than 12.
When I'm touring, I usually try to take a 5-10 minute break every hour or so. This lets me get a snack, keep hydrated, relieve the pressure and restore circulation to the points where my body makes contact with the bike, and stretch out a bit. Sometimes though, like today, these breaks can stretch out for much a much longer time. Being able to enjoy chance discoveries is one of the advantages of keeping an open schedule and not trying to cover too much ground.
So, I was about an hour outside of Aberdeen looking for a decent spot to rest, when I saw a pullout with a small "State Parks Property" sign and a path. Following the path for a short distance through marshy wetlands, I arrived on a nice, secluded beach on Grays Harbor, a perfect spot. I parked the bike, drank some water, ate a bit of chocolate, then went for a wade. The water was surprisingly warm, so I returned to shore to change into my swimming suit, and went for a quick dunk. Laid on the beach in the sun for a few minutes to dry out, then set up the sunshade (also my sleeping pad, and rear rack pad) and napped in the shade for a few minutes. Studied Spanish a bit and relaxed for a hour or so before heading back out on the road.
My first private beach, hopefully not the last!
Not too much further I saw a roadside shop selling jerky, which sounded good, so I stopped to get some: both spicy and regular, plus a soda. Chewed on a couple of pieces, trying to remember if I'd had any since the Utah desert trip where we'd killed, butchered, and "processed" a sheep, turning the meat we couldn't immediately eat into jerky, slicing it thin to dry in the sun.
I arrived at Twin Harbors State Park shortly after, and looked in vain for the hiker/biker sites. Unlike most parks, there wasn't even a map, and I couldn't find any park staff. So, I set up in one of the normal sites, but paid the lower hiker/biker rate, with an explanatory note.
Hiked over the dunes to the beach, for my first view of the open Pacific Ocean this trip. Waded in the cold surf while watching the sun go down, then returned to camp to cook dinner.
Afterwards, headed to the shower to be completely disappointed, expecting a nice, warm shower. The signs even promised "Hot Showers, 3 minutes for 2 tokens." But even at my most charitable, I could only describe them as a "Tepid Drizzle, a complete waste of 2 tokens." The first one spit out maybe a dozen drops of cold water. Nothing else. The second one had extremely low water pressure, a couple of small streams of just barely warmer than cold water. So I ended up taking a sponge bath with the scrub cloth from the sink, which had normal water pressure and seemed slightly warmer.
Laid out on the picnic table later, listening to the distant rumble of the surf, looking at the stars and the Milky Way, seeing several bright falling stars streak across the sky.
posted by Matt at 15:35
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