Shortcut To Terminus
Day 9: Dosewallips State Park to Elma
Today's Distance: 65 miles
Last night I slept like a baby until around 4am and then it was super cold again and I was uncomfortable and didn't really sleep for the next few hours. I checked the weather and it was around 43 degrees. Finally when it warmed up a little, instead of getting ready and jumping on my bike, instead I went back to sleep for another couple of hours. Haha I give up, I'm just not a morning person. Frankie however was packed up and gone about 3 hours before me. When I finally did get going, the weather was great. Most of the first part of the ride was through the forest and there was a little shoulder and a big ditch to the right...not a lot of room for error. When it opened up, the views were beautiful, and leaves were falling from the trees as I rode alongside the Hood Canal. I got to this little town or community called Eldon. Some "towns" here are so small, I don't know how these people do it. Eldon literally is just a mini-mart and I'm sure there are houses somewhere. I'd been riding for about 13 miles and I needed to eat something badly, so the mini-mart was my only choice. I got a sandwich and some chips and went to a little picnic area to eat. When I was finishing up my brunch, this 80 year old man named Johnny started chatting me up about my ride. Old Man Johnny looks like a person that's just being doing man-stuff his whole life. He used to truck up and down the California coast so he shared a bunch of stories about that. The most surprising being that California drivers are so nice and helpful. Hopefully he never visits again so he can keep those fond memories of what once was. While telling his stories he would start talking in a whisper so I couldn't follow half of what he was actually saying but quickly the conversation got into politics and conspiracy theories. He told me about a plane that's been flying extremely high and has been purposefully flying through the clouds, and about 3 days later it rains. Johnny knows for certain that it's the government trying to control the weather, but he's unsure why...sounded to me like the plane wasn't the only thing extremely high. He also let me know about the spaceship that orbits us and to keep an eye out for it while camping. I actually was enjoying the conversation but I had to make moves.
Total Distance: 365 miles
Last night I slept like a baby until around 4am and then it was super cold again and I was uncomfortable and didn't really sleep for the next few hours. I checked the weather and it was around 43 degrees. Finally when it warmed up a little, instead of getting ready and jumping on my bike, instead I went back to sleep for another couple of hours. Haha I give up, I'm just not a morning person. Frankie however was packed up and gone about 3 hours before me. When I finally did get going, the weather was great. Most of the first part of the ride was through the forest and there was a little shoulder and a big ditch to the right...not a lot of room for error. When it opened up, the views were beautiful, and leaves were falling from the trees as I rode alongside the Hood Canal. I got to this little town or community called Eldon. Some "towns" here are so small, I don't know how these people do it. Eldon literally is just a mini-mart and I'm sure there are houses somewhere. I'd been riding for about 13 miles and I needed to eat something badly, so the mini-mart was my only choice. I got a sandwich and some chips and went to a little picnic area to eat. When I was finishing up my brunch, this 80 year old man named Johnny started chatting me up about my ride. Old Man Johnny looks like a person that's just being doing man-stuff his whole life. He used to truck up and down the California coast so he shared a bunch of stories about that. The most surprising being that California drivers are so nice and helpful. Hopefully he never visits again so he can keep those fond memories of what once was. While telling his stories he would start talking in a whisper so I couldn't follow half of what he was actually saying but quickly the conversation got into politics and conspiracy theories. He told me about a plane that's been flying extremely high and has been purposefully flying through the clouds, and about 3 days later it rains. Johnny knows for certain that it's the government trying to control the weather, but he's unsure why...sounded to me like the plane wasn't the only thing extremely high. He also let me know about the spaceship that orbits us and to keep an eye out for it while camping. I actually was enjoying the conversation but I had to make moves.
I needed a pick me up, so when I reached Hoodsport I stopped into the Hoodsport Coffee Co and had my first good cold brew since being on this trip. After I got going again things took a turn for the worst. My knee started hurting worse than ever. I'm thinking its tendinitis from overuse, so what're you gonna do. I stopped multiple times to adjust my seat height because that usually seems to help a little. I kept pushing through though, using my right leg to generate most of the power. I still had over 30 miles to go, so if I come back home with an overly buff right leg, you know why. I reached Shelton which is known as the Christmas Tree Capital because it's just covered with them. Aww, Christmas trees! When you think about Christmas, it probably brings up good memories and feelings and what not. But instead, this is the part of the story that's filled with terror.
I reached a point where Google Maps was telling me to go one way and my guidebook was telling me to go the other. Google's direction would save me about 16 minutes but I also didn't really know what the hill situation would be like and my knee was still killing me. My thought process on making my decision was that the book is a little dated and it's let me down so many times the past week and a half...and Google is well, Google. Seemed like a smart decision at the time. So I follow Google's "shortcut" off the 101 and onto the 102. Immediately the service just stopped working on my phone. Crap. The flow of traffic started to disappear and after about a mile or so I hit the Washington Corrections Center aka Prison. I've never seen so many barbed wires in my life. That's when I realized I only had about an hour and a half of light left in the day. Immediately my mind goes into overdrive like it does, and I start thinking of all the worst things. The prison reminded me so much of the prison in The Walking Dead and the more I thought about it, everything reminded me of a scene from The Walking Dead. At any moment a zombie was going to appear from the forest and my knee was so bad at this point that I doubt I could outrun them. I started to see abandoned homes for the first time and "Private Property - Keep Out!" signs on nearly every property. There was a house that burnt down and one that just completely fell over. Something was definitely off and I did not want to be stuck here in the dark. Literally the only business I saw in this area was a clock repair business..real useful. The further I went, the darker and more ominous it got. I started to notice bullet holes in all the street signs...have they been like this all along or is something really about to go down? I hit my peak of being freaked out when I rode by this beat up old house and noticed a couple that resembled the killer in True Detective season 1 and his sister. They were just sitting on their front porch in rocking chairs and they stared at me the entire way...it's hard to explain but it sent shivers down my spine. This honestly felt like an area where if something bad happened to me the whole town would band together and make it as if nothing ever happened. And I would just disappear. This is heavy stuff to be thinking about while you're just out riding a bike haha! Meanwhile, this is the longest 20 miles of my life! It wasn't too hilly and it wasn't that flat either, but it felt like it was taking forever to get anywhere. The street wasn't a smooth pavement, it was more like just a bunch of rocks pressed flat into the ground. That was definitely a big part of what was slowing me down. That and my damn knee. Every pedal stroke was killing me and there was a real possibility that I was going to end up sleeping on someone's private Christmas tree farm. After all the struggle, I finally made it to Elma about 5 mins before sunset. I tried turning on my bike light and realized that the battery was dead. This could've been soooooo bad!
When I arrived in Elma there was some demolition derby/stock car race going on and the loud noises did nothing to ease my nerves. Tonight I found a hostel for only $8 more than what it would cost to camp out somewhere, so I was all over it. It was more of a guesthouse than hostel and the owners, Jay & Linda were great! Not only is it a hostel but it's also a well-maintained disc golf course. I'm just going to assume this is the only of its kind in the world! I also forgot to pull out cash for tonight's stay, so Jay gave me a ride to the nearest bank in his 70th birthday present...a 2003 splash green Miata. Then he decided to take me on a little joy ride on the highway and show me how well it handled. I just wanted to shower and go to bed after today, but I couldn't help but appreciate the randomness of what was happening. Once back at the hostel, I showered, stretched really good, and iced my knee, so hopefully it feels better tomorrow. The demolition derby finally ended at midnight, but not after a fireworks finale. Come on, really?!
What Did I Learn Today?
•Don't take shortcuts
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