Quilcene to Hoodsport, Washington

December 9, 2012

We wheeled the bikes out at first light, only to find that one front tire was flat. Fixing it was quite easy, but cost some precious daylight time. The easy fix was because we put on Schwalbe Greenguard 40's this time, instead of Marathon Plus 35's. The Plus in 406-35 size are a real bug to take off and put on, while the Greenguard 406-40 is a cinch. The only thing, in 6500km in Europe with the Plus, we had zero flats. In 7500 km in North America, with 700C Plus's, we had one or two.

The question of flats is a combination of the tire and the road conditions. In Eastern Washington, we have found the roads to be atrocious. What inspires people to throw their tools, cell phones, beer cans, Red Bull cans, nails, and anything else they can find onto the roads?

Another strange one is the fact that the shoulder is evenly spread with rounded, weathered glass - for kilometers and kilometers! It seems to be windshield safety glass. A continuous sprinkling over the shoulder, for ever, would seem to indicate highway mayhem!

It's a little confusing, because here the shoulder is also covered with oyster shell. So the little white stuff can be either glass or shell, as you try futilely to avoid it. The people here must be having cookouts or shucking contests on the roads, when not playing bumper cars!

Flat tire - not the best way to start the day, but good we were at the motel.

Roadside garbage lines the entire route.

Local brew. Why do people toss their garbage on the road here?

Soon after leaving Quilcene, we cranked our way up the series of hills around Mount Walker. With our new lower gears, this slowed us down a bit but was not an impediment that we noticed too much. Down the other side at higher speed, we needed to carefully zip up the necks of our clothes to protect against the cold wind.

At the bottom we came to our first view of the Hood Canal. Unfortunately we also came to a really strongt and cold wind coming off the water. We had already put on our waterproof pants because of rain, but now they helped protect against wind and cold as well. The temperature was not too bad, at 3 or 4 degrees, but the wind chill effect was brutal.

The wind chill was not a threat to our core temperatures, but my hands soon were very painful. I was thinking about core temperature, because I knew I could always put my hands under my arms and warm them up. Of course, that is not an ideal cycling position!

The situation resolved itself when we arrived at the hamlet of Brinnon, where there was a gas station/general store. Though purple and blue going in, my hands soon returned to normal. Soup from our thermos warmed up our other parts. Finally, we installed some 'pastry power' in the form of two packaged Bear Claws. I messed up by neglecting to photograph the 'bakery' shelf. This contained the packaged Bear Claws, two sliced regular breads, and one sliced Sourdough. Pastry power seems unlikely to get us to Mexico. We will have to save that for France and Germany.

With the viciously cold wind, this encouragement was much needed.

The ride along the Hood Canal was beautiful, with the road running just by the water. The shoulder varied from wide to very narrow, and the frequent passing of the ubiquitous pickup trucks and SUVs was a noisy distraction. Still, it was lots of fun, and moderating temperature and dropped wind made made it reasonably comfortable.

Our first look at the Hood Canal. The road is really good here, with a wide shoulder.

Evening was falling as we arrived at the outskirts of Hoodsport, and the Creekside Inn. This was a place we had called to check on, and the owner had an eye out for us. Unfortunately we found that this place has no wifi, pretty much a deal breaker until we whip AT&T into shape about 3G service for the tablet. At this point the fellow, Leo Morand, phoned all the surrounding motels for us, until we nailed down the Sunrise, with a reasonable price and wifi. We had a look at the room that would have been ours at Creekside, and it looked large and homey. We would certainly recommend it for that, and for its decent and friendly owners.

Leo Morand of Creekside Inn in Hoodsport. Leo was so kind to us, sending us to a competitor where we could find wifi.

The Sunrise turned out to be quite nearby, and our room featured two huge King beds, plus a balcony opening directly to the water view. Plus, you are reading this because the wifi works!

The view of Hood Canalfrom our room at Sunrise Motel, Hoodsport.

The Sunrise pamphlet cites the activities here as diving, swimming, crabbing, oyster digging, fishing, shrimping, boating, and BBQing. That well sums up the area, though one should add 'logging'.

The main house rule here at the Sunrise is no oyster shells or bait in the wastebaskets, and no crab boiling in the rooms. We should be able to comply with that quite easily, but I'm off to fix my bike tube in the sink!

Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 196 km (122 miles)

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