OP Day 1-Sly is So Much Faster!

I headed out from home today at about 8:30. 

Bye bye!

It was pretty cloudy, but it wasn’t supposed to rain. It ended up spitting rain a little bit, but not enough to count it as actual rain. Getting out of town always seems to take forever, but eventually I was turning on to Madrona Beach Rd, heading to the Steamboat Island exit/entrance to Hwy 101. Once I was on the highway, it felt like I was on my way. 

I passed by a driveway where some chickens were heading out toward the highway. 

I think they were intending to cross the road (but I don’t know why). Fortunately, when they saw me, they thought better of their plan, and returned to their yard. 

Since this is May, it is the Bike Commuter Contest. I was thinking, with this trip (all rides count), I would get a good chunk of miles. Well, not really. I can only count the miles within Thurston County. For today, that was 19 miles to the Mason County line. 

From here until the last day, none of the miles count. I’m still aiming for 1000 miles this month, but they won’t all count towards the BCC. 

Just on the other side of Shelton, I stopped for a break and a snack. One of the things I’ve taken from my backpacking adventure is having regular snack/meal breaks. I’ve not always been good at that while bike touring. What happens is, I end up getting really hungry, then eating a bunch of sugar...I’m trying not to do that this time. 

I stopped for lunch at Potlatch State Park Picnic Area. 

The sun was starting to come out (just like the weather forecast said it would). Even though I just packed the bike the other day, I didn’t remember exactly where everything was. It’s also a little strange. My cooking gear (I needed my knife) is in a rear pannier. I’ve always had it in a front pannier. At least it’s not difficult to access it. I got lucky, and guessed correctly (okay, I had a 50/50 chance) which front pannier had the lunch food. I had a nice lunch and a good break. It was noon, and I’d already gone 40 miles! 

Nice day on Hood Canal

Back to the highway, I was reminded (from my previous tours on this road) that the shoulder isn’t great between Potlatch and Lilliwaup. After making that big sweeping curve out of Lilliwaup, the shoulder is great for most of the rest of the way to Dosewallips. When I was going around the curve, I could see a big truck with two trailers across the water, heading my direction. I decided the prudent thing to do (since I could) was to roll slowly through the pullout until it passed. Later, as I was pedaling along, I came up to it pulled of the road in another pullout. Dang! That meant it would pass me again. Here I had this great plan, and it was thwarted!

I kept expecting it to come by. But it didn’t. Later, I was pulled off to eat some Honey Stinger Chews. I heard a semi coming. Sure enough, it was that double trailer dude. Ha! Not thwarted after all!

From Hoodsport on, Hwy 101 is a never-ending rollercoaster of ups and downs. Nothing too long, and not terribly steep (but I was in my easiest gear for a couple). I was going up one hill, when I spied a bald eagle sitting on a branch down by the water. He started to fly just when I got my phone out. 

Not the best photo, but at least you can tell it’s an eagle. 

A handful more miles of pedaling, and I arrived at Dosewallips State Park. I had done 68 miles, and it was only 3:00! I really thought it would take me longer. My average was 12.1 mph. If I had been on Tilmann, my average probably would have been 9.5 or so. 

I have the Hiker/Biker area to myself. Got my new tent set up. I’m using my MSR Hubba Hubba NX footprint. It’s close enough. 

I went over to the showers. At home, I found a stray WA State Parks shower token (probably from the last tour I did up this way). Turns out, someone had left a pile of tokens (probably leftover from their stay), so I didn’t need to use my token (maybe Sequim Bay State Park has showers)! The shower was nice and hot. 

I split my freeze dried meal into two servings. I could have definitely eaten two servings...what was I thinking??? Might have to buy more dinners if I’m too hungry. 

It was a good first day. Tomorrow will be some new territory (sort of). I’ll be picking up the Olympic Discovery Trail at the intersection of Hwy 101 and Hwy 20. Hoping I meet up with Heike (the friend who is walking across the country with her dog).