It seems like I just did my Shakedown ride for last year's Pacific Coast trip! Yet, here I am doing another shakedown ride for Sierra Cascades.
This year Julie and I decided to ride to Potlatch State Park on Hood Canal. It is about 43 miles from my house. Since we didn't have that far to go, we took our time. First we stopped at Blue Heron Bakery for some treats. It is an obligatory stop when heading that direction.
When we got to Shelton, we decided to take a little break. We didn't want to get to the park too early. As we were sitting in Burger King (free Wi-Fi), I looked on my iPad to see if there was a Subway up the road. I had remembered seeing one the last time I rode that way. It didn't show that one, but it showed there was one in Shelton just a mile back from where we were. We decided to go there. I had just eaten a cookie (from Blue Heron) and had some orange juice, but who says you can't eat dessert first??? So we rode back down the road to Subway. Since I didn't know this Subway was there, I got to check another Subway off the list (only 35,654 to go--worldwide)!
After lunch we returned to Hwy 101 and continued our ride. Before long, we came to the Lucky Dog Casino. The had a sign saying "New Card, $5". So, we pulled in there, locked the girls up out front and went into the casino. I was able to get a Player's Card, but Julie couldn't because she didn't have her drivers' license with her. With the card I got a ticket with $5 on it. I put it into an Indiana Jones penny machine. At first I was up to $17.50 but, all to soon, I was at $0. Oh well, easy come, easy go! Still, it was a long way to go to lose $5!
A few more miles up the road and we arrived at our destination. Potlatch is not a very big park. First we looked at the Cascade Marine Trail campsites on the water, but they were kind of exposed. Instead we went up into the park and found the Hiker/Biker site ($14). Since I really needed to set up my new tent, and it really isn't big enough for two people (even though it is a "two person" tent), we also brought my 3 person "tent mansion" (or as Julie calls it, the Taj Mahal). After I set up both tents, we took our showers (.50 for 3 minutes--got to get back into the 3 minute shower routine). Later, after dinner, Julie was reclining in the "Taj Mahal". She said she kind of likes this two tent idea. I wasn't sure if I should be offended??? I told her that was fine, but next time she has to set up her own tent!
Total miles: 43.5
Total ride time: 3:41
Total actual time: 5:45!
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