July 17-18: Gearhart, Oregon to Hoquiam, Washington
Once again, this post is a summary of two days of riding.
Yesterday, I rode from Gearhart, Oregon to Raymond, Washington. It was cloudy, cool and windy all day. The clouds made it kind of an uninteresting day for photo-taking, but I took some essential ones like photos of the Astoria bridge and the sign welcoming me into Washington.
Just after I crossed the bridge into Washington from Astoria, I met up with two cyclists also heading north. (Most touring cyclists are headed south because of the prevailing winds from the northwest.)
I expected to only say hi to them before they went their own way at their own speed, but it was only a matter of minutes before we realized we were riding at roughly the same speed so we might as well ride together and have someone to talk to for a while. Shaun and Doug were college friends, but now live in Minneapolis and Seattle respectively. Shaun, as it turns out, went to Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minnesota which is about twelve miles from where I grew up and went to college. He was nearing the end of his five week long bike tour from Boulder to Seattle. He and I took essentially the same paths across Oregon so we exchanged stories about places we had both been, separated by a few days.
Shaun has been keeping his own blog on his trip:
Shaun and Doug and I rode together most of the day — about 45 miles. We arrived in Raymond in time for a late lunch. We shared a pizza at the very first eating establishment we came across. We were pretty hungry and polished off a large pizza pretty quickly. After pizza, we said goodbye and wished each other safe travels. Shaun and Doug were riding twenty more miles north on highway 101 which began with what looked like a fairly large climb. I, on the other hand, turned the corner off of highway 101 and downhill towards the campground (actually, an RV park) where I would be staying.
I cooked dinner at my campsite. The RV park was a clean, quiet place. In other campgrounds and RV parks I’ve stayed at, just like this one, the tent sites don’t have electricity, but I always managed to find some way to suck a little electricity off the grid to charge batteries, etc. Not this place, however. They had it locked down pretty tight. Even access to the bathroom was controlled. When you registered, you were issued a key to the bathroom. God help you if you lose it! There was one electrical outlet in the bathroom, but it was just a teaser — it was dead.
Of all nights on my tour, this was the one when I really could have used some electricity too. Late in the evening, my Dexcom continuous glucose monitor started beeping at me about a low battery condition. I had to listen to that thing beep at me about the low battery hourly through the night and all the next day.
I woke up this morning to a very light mist. I was concerned about riding in the rain all day, but I spoke with a couple tenters in the spot next to mine. As it turned out they lived in Olympia, Washington and they were in this area for some kayaking. I asked about the rainy weather and he looked up at the sky and said “This is actually a nice day.” He went on to explain that this was a common summertime weather pattern. He predicted it would be cold and misty in the morning and the clouds would burn off by early afternoon. He was exactly right. The longer I rode today, the dryer it was and by early afternoon, as I was coming into Aberdeen, there was some blue sky. Not much, but it was there.
From here, my grand plan was to continue north on highway 101 to Amanda Park, then Forks, and then finally Port Angeles — a ride around the Olympic peninsula and the Olympic National Forest. Forks and Port Angeles are large enough to offer enough lodging options that you can be sure of finding a place to stay. Not so with Amanda Park. There are only a handful of lodging options (including campgrounds). This being the summertime anda weekend, none of them had a spot available for me.
So, that left me with plan B. Actually, I didn’t have a plan B until about 15 minutes ago. Not riding the Olympic peninsula gives me a couple extra days now to get myself to Bellingham by July 25. So, instead of cycling the Olympic peninsula, tomorrow I will be heading west on highway 109 for an out-and-back trip to Ocean Park. After that, I’ll continue to head for Bellingham via highway 101 on the west side of the Hood Canal.
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