Wednesday, June 27, 2012

For Christ's Sake Have a Cuppa Tea!

Today was an even shorter day than yesterday, but we took a long time to get from Potlatch to Dosewallips. We left Potlatch at about 10:00. Our first stop was in Hoodsport as we were on the lookout for an insulated mug of some sort for Carol. She left hers at home and has been burning her lips trying to drink tea from an aluminum pot. First we stopped at a IGA grocery store. No cups, but Carol got some broccoli to add to our dinner. Well, actually Carol did get a styrofoam cup, but I didn't see how that would last long. Then we went next door to a Shell station mini-mart. Still no cups, but Carol BOUGHT another styrofoam cup. I had an ice cream cone. Finally, we went across the road to a gift shop and they had insulated cups. Whew! Carol could now have her cup of tea! Of course, throughout all this, I have the Great Big Sea song "Have a Cuppa Tea" stuck in my head! I keep hearing in my head the part that goes, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah Rosalie! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For Christ's sake have a cuppa tea!"

Satisfied that Carol can now have her "cuppa tea", we continued down the road. Well, really I should say UP and DOWN the road! From Hoodsport on, it is pretty roller coaster-like.

At about 12:30, we pulled into an oyster farm place that had a nice picnic table so we could have a little lunch. Bob and Rita from last night at Potlatch were there too. We chatted for awhile then they took off. As we were eating our lunch a young man named Justin rode in. He is riding from Seattle to New York! He is a third year student at a school on Long Island that specializes in Marine Architecture and Engineering. He is riding back to school. He'll pick up the Trans Am route in Florence.

We got back on the road with not too far to go. More ups and downs until a good downhill to Dosewallips State Park. When we pulled in, the ranger told us the other couple on bikes were over in the field. We knew that was Bob and Rita, so we headed over. There is a nice picnic shelter here. When we arrived it had started to rain. We got the tents up before it started raining heavily. After our showers, the showers had stopped! We were able to get the rest of the stuff set up in the tents. Bob and Rita went off to dine at the Geoduck Tavern. We had Gnocchi in a mushroom sauce with steamed broccoli and whole grain tortillas. It was quite tasty. Afterward, we walked back over to the restroom building to brush our teeth. Coming back we saw a raccoon climbing up a tree. I took a picture, but it is hard to see him.

Back at the campsite, the four of us were chatting when we heard some branches snapping in the woods behind us. We looked and it was a herd of 5 elk. The cow was coming down to the meadow where we are camped. There was a bull with a medium set of antlers, but he didn't come down close enough to get a photo.

We had a nice evening chatting about our bike tour and camping experiences. Carol enjoyed her "cuppa tea" and all is well at the end of Day 2! The rain did not come back and there was even some bits of blue sky!

Here's some photos from the day. The one of Carol's tent is from this morning. It looked as if her tent was oozing stuff out from under the rain fly!

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