Hello 101

Day 8: Oak Harbor to Dosewallips State Park

Today's Distance: 53 miles

Total Distance: 300 miles

If you've ever asked yourself, "If a branch that's been hanging from an electrical line  falls and hits me, will it be electrically charged and shock me?"  The answer is, probably not.  But these are the types of questions you ask yourself when you've been riding a bike alone for hundreds of miles. There's plenty of time to let the mind wander. Today I got an early start because of the restful night I got last night.  I'm determined more than ever to make up for the slow days I've been having because of ferry travel and late starts.  Although I did have to catch one short ferry ride today, I actually planned for it.  The day started off with a few challenging hills and then a peaceful ride around Skagit Bay.  All I could hear were sea birds and wind. I was on back roads for a lot of the morning so I was riding in the middle of the road and bombing hills. I thought today was supposed to be sunny, but instead it was super cloudy with a chance of rain.  I rode into the wind practically all day long.  It really gave me a new appreciation for the phrase, "May the wind be at your back..."  It was so windy I was able to turn my body into a sort of braking system on the downhills so whenever I got going too fast I didn't need to actually use my brakes.  After an 18 mile ride I reached the ferry to Port Townsend. 

Nothing too noteworthy about the first half of the ride, just farms and a flat stretch that I didn't get to enjoy as much because of all the wind.  I started to feel more of a sharp knee pain around mile 35.  It would come and go, but other than that I was feeling pretty great.  I rode by about 6 snakes, only 1 which was alive, and I barely flinched at all.  That's a long way from last week, when I actually flinched at a browned banana peel!  I stopped in the little town of Quilcene, where I had lunch at the 101 Brewery.  I had a sandwich, some really delicious clam chowder, and since they brew their own beer I decided to have just one.  The  Pecker Pole Pale Ale was actually very good and was served in a wide mouth mason jar. Very rustic.

After lunch I finally hit the 101 and it welcomed me with the Olympic National Forest!  I knew the biggest challenge of the day, and possibly the whole trip so far, would be climbing up the side of Mt. Walker through the forest.  It's the highest elevation I've faced and over 3 miles of steep climbing.  I don't know if it was all the hill climbing I did in Canada or  that Pecker Pole Ale I had for lunch, but I felt like I was dominating that climb!  Resting was super minimal and I was just grinding it out.  This was the first time I've  seen sweat dripping from my helmet so I knew that I was working hard.  At one point, I looked up and a street sign had some unexpected encouragement: Never Give Up (Rd).  About halfway through the climb I noticed someone in the distance, that was obviously doing a tour, walking their bike up the hill.  My competitive juices started flowing and I was like, "imma catch this dude!"  I didn't stop at all, not even once, I just went after it and started closing the distance.  The person saw me coming and started riding their bike again, so I pedaled harder.  I finally caught the dude while he was off his bike again and I started a conversation while still pedaling along uphill.  I looked down and noticed a brown dude, around my age group, with a fully loaded bike.  I probably sounded way over eager to meet a new friend, but I was stoked to finally not feel by myself in this.  Frankie is a Filipino-Canadian that's riding down to San Diego as well!  Apparently he had bought a sailboat and was planning to sail around the world, but plans fell through and this was his backup traveling plans. No cycling experience just like me, but he seemed even more unprepared.  He had board shorts on, a ton of gear strapped to his bike, and he was rocking some aqua shoes. You know, just like the ones Dahle' wears to Get Yoz cause he has sensitive feet.  One thing I know about cycling shoes is that you want them to be kind of stiff so that you can transfer power better...and aqua shoes are kind of the opposite of that.  Anyways, we were talking on our way up the hill and I tried to pass on some encouragement because it was only his second day and I know exactly how he feels.  We hit the the summit of the climb and I wanted to see how far I could go, so I took down his email and took off down the hill with some speed.  I reached my last option for a campground for miles, so I decided to call it a day and stay at Dosewallips State Park.  Really the only amenity I want in a camping spot is hot showers, so I was stoked to find out this place has them.  $0.50 for 3 minutes of hot water...ill take two please.  This is the first time I've actually had a couple hours of daylight while setting up camp. As you know I've basically been putting my tent together in the dark, so with a couple hours who knows, maybe I can build a house with a chimney.  I showered, set up camp, sink-washed my clothes, chatted with the park ranger and Frankie when he showed up, and still had a little bit of light left.  I forgot to buy any groceries but luckily there was a little tavern right down the road so I decided to just grab something there. The Geoduck Tavern, props to those that know the correct pronunciation; Food network what what!  I definitely do not fit in here. It's basically a cabin with a bunch of redneck type, mountain men getting drunk on a Friday night. NASCAR hats, mullets, and I think that's Duck Dynasty's Uncle Si.  It's half restaraunt, half bar but there really isn't anything separating the two, so you have families eating dinner on one side and drunk guys yelling obscenities at each other on the other. Everyone seems to know one another and from the sounds of it they do this every night.  But other than that the food was really good, the beer selection was legit, and there's baseball on tv. I had a Ninkasi Total Domination IPA, a cup of chowder, and a grilled oyster burger. First and best oyster burger I've ever had. And to top it off I actually got pulled into a conversation with some of the locals right before I left. Seemed like nice guys, now time for bed!