PowerCycle

09/12 If this place is the promised land I want a refund. So far we have a dog that barks incessantly because its owner left it tied to an RV all afternoon by itself and pot smoking hippies that have camped out close enough where I can hear when/why each of them has been in jail. Then we have the crazy psychopath that walks around shirtless like the guy that wears the grenade around his neck in Platoon. He’s kind of like that but crazier, and fortunately, grenadeless. But its a free place to camp and they have water so what the heck.

Rode along the 101 without any major issues. Lots of glass in the road which may have been the cause of the low PSI in my front tire. It could just be a slow leak so I filled it back up so I can keep an eye on it. The drivers move over here so that was a nice surprise. One punk kid in a pickup blared his horn when he was coming toward me but I was going over a narrow bridge at the time so I couldn’t raise my hand in thanks. The scenery mostly consisted of forest and it was pretty flat so you couldn’t see very far.

Met Tommy and his friend Sandy (not sure if I got her name right) at a store in Amanda Park. They are from Seattle riding down to Mexico. Really nice people. I always kind of kick myself for waiting so long to go on bike tour when I meet riders that age (early 20′s). They took a bit of a different route than me so I might see them again in Ocean Shores tomorrow. In addition to being kind of a big thing around here Ocean Shores also has a ferry to the south that skips the big city of Aberdeen. The ferry only looks like it goes for a couple miles until you get to the city of Westport. They also clued me into a pretty decent looking book that’s kind of like The Milepost for the Pacific coast specifically geared toward bicyclists. I’ll have to see if I can track down a copy. I’d hate to miss something.

Update: The crazy guy is freaking insane. I’ll try to describe what myself and the other 4 people camped here are going through. It’s about 8:30pm and completely dark out. He’s taken to walking up and down the road making noises that sound like what a grunting walrus would make as it’s whistling, slapping itself (hard) in the back of the head, stomping on the ground, growling and while reciting lyrics to Megadeth backwards. This is officially the only time I wish I still had my gun. One of the other guys here rode up on a Harley with his girlfriend so he probably has one. If he leaves I’m out too. I don’t even have cell reception to call the mental hospital people on him.

GPX Track