For the first time since we began this tour, we awoke to clear blue skies and sunshine. I didn't even put my knee or arm warmers on! I had my jacket sleeves on, but only for a short time.
The first section of the road to Hoquiam was not great. There was little to no shoulder and there was alot of traffic (this being July 5th). But, after about 8 miles or so there was a wide, smooth shoulder. It remained like that most of the way to Hoquiam.
In Hoquiam we decided to split up and take care of two tasks. One was to get dinner for tomorrow night and the other was to get more fuel for the stove. Carol and Christian were going to get the food and I was going to get the fuel. I headed to Big 5 Sporting Goods. When I came to the first grated bridge, I took the sidewalk. Bad idea! The sidewalk ended on the other side of the bridge at a dead end with a three foot tall barrier. Just as I was trying to turn around, I could see Christian coming up on the bridge sidewalk. I tried to signal to him to stop, but he couldn't hear me or see what I was doing (waving frantically). When he saw me and stopped, we both turned around. We only had to go a short way back before we found a break in the bridge girders that allowed us to get onto the bridge deck (when there were no cars coming, of course). We were still able to bypass the grated part of the deck.
We stopped at a Safeway to see if they had the right fuel. They didn't, and I decided to call Big 5 to make sure they had the right kind before riding all the way there. They did have it, so Christian and I continued on. Carol had stopped at a grocery store so she wasn't with us. We planned to meet at the old mall on Hwy 105.
After getting the fuel, Christian and I proceeded to where we were to meet Carol. Not 5 minutes after we got to the Mall, Carol pulled up behind us. Perfect timing!
By then it was after noon so we decided to go sit in the shade of the Mall entrance and eat lunch.
Back on the road, we were now on Hwy 105 that I have been on 6 other times (the latest being about 5 weeks ago). I can say I know this road very well! This time we stopped at the Westport Winery along the way. They have a nice little garden and a delicious bakery (in addition to the wine stuff). We all had some dessert (mine was a quad-layer chocolate stout cake). Then we tried our hand at horseshoes. Carol did the best. I sent a couple sailing into the plants of the garden. Christian tried "bowling" his horseshoes. I suppose we should stick to biking!
After the winery, we didn't have too far to go. There was a road I wanted to go on that ran parallel to 105. It was called Bayview Rd. It should have come back to 105 just before the bridge over the bay. Instead it dead ended at Pirate Ave. after just a short maybe 3/4 mile. Pirate Ave. went back out to 105. Well, now I know where that road goes...
We made it to Twin Harbors State Park, set up our tents in the hiker/biker site, showered, and then walked to the gas station Subway for dinner. It's now the second time I have eaten at that Subway, and our 4th Subway for this trip. On our walk to Subway, we saw the sign to Westport. And what sign was also there? The sign for the non-existent pedestrian ferry to Ocean Shores! SOMEBODY needs to take care of that!
After dinner Christian and I played cards and Carol organized her stuff. Then, Christian and I walked down to the beach to watch another glorious sunset.
We have just two more days of riding before we get back to Olympia. This trip seems to have gone by very fast. As we were getting close to Twin Harbors today, we could look across the bay and see the Olympics far off in the distance. It was interesting to think that not too long ago Christian and I were looking at those same mountains, from the other side, at the top of Hurricane Ridge!
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