Heading into the Rain

I started from Portland in the rain, but after about 30 miles the sun came out and I biked up into the hills singing along. I slowed down in the afternoon and called it quits when it started getting dark and raining around 6 pm.

It wasn't quite raining the next morning, so I set out again, made it to Astoria and across a long bridge over the Columbia river. The weather was great, it wasn't cold and the sun was almost shining. I planned to bike another 40 miles to a county campgrounds on a bay. The riding in the afternoon went very quickly. I ran into a group of Canadians biking South all the way to Mexico, they had a lot more stuff than me, making me feel good about my packing job (I started out with about 40 lbs, but it has been getting progressively lighter as I continue to eat all the food I packed). When I got to my intended campsite, it was closed, so I continued 15 more miles to an RV site in Raymond. The camping was $10, but a long hot shower was only a quarter, very exciting.


The 3rd day started out slowly. It was raining so I didn't get up until 9:30 and didn't leave the RV park until after 11 am. I biked slowly, fighting a strong wind on and off. I was riding right along some bay and very excited to soon see the actual pacific. Then, my bike went bang and I pulled over to find that it was the back tire that had ripped. I suspected that my wobbly back rim has caused extra stress on the tire. After eating a bite someone pulled over and offered me a ride, before I had even started hitchhiking. His name was Gordon, and he was from Raymond, so he knew the closest town with a bike store, which was about 40 miles away. On the way there, we stopped at his friend's house. His friend was in the process of calculating the displacement of his 50-foot yacht that he was building. It was a beautiful boat, and I got the full tour after helping out with the calculations. Next I went to the bike shop and got not only a new tire and tube, but a whole new back wheel. It is so nice to ride with a straight wheel and have back brakes that don't rub.

Now I'm in a small town called Amanda Parks, in the library. I spent some time in the rainforest at Lake Quinault, where I saw the worlds largest Sitka Spruce, and many other big trees. I am heading back to the coast this afternoon. It's nice to slow down now that I'm in the National Park area. I hope to do little exploring on the coast and then head up to Port Angeles on monday.