October 1st

Wow!  It's been three days and sooooo many miles!!

First day after our rest day in Bremerton was only 54 miles - all the way to Elma.
A few hills - nothing terrible and I am doing okay.

September 30th we rode from Elma to Long Beach - 84 miles!!!!
And it was a terrible, horrible, awful start to the day.
When I woke up and looked outside there was a lovely mist hugging the ground - it looked quite beautiful with the rising sun...
Hah!!  It was freezing cold and damp and just plain miserable for the first two hours!  It was a
"I hate this day" kind of experience!
But eventually the sun came out and we were on beautiful roads with a six foot shoulder - with smooth pavement.  Hardly any traffic and going through forests and farmland - it was an absolute delight.
Two of us stopped for lunch at a place on the side of the road - I swear the man that served us was ...
intellectually challenged.  (cousins marrying cousins??)  He had to ask us what our order was about three times.  But that is all part of the adventure, isn't it??

Our destination last night - did I mention that it was 84 miles???? - was Long Beach and it was gorgeous!!  A wide, sweeping beach that went on for miles.  Too bad that I was too tired to spend much time out there - plus the wind was really quite cool, especially after the sun went down.

Today was almost a rest day it was so easy.  Only about 45 miles - with only one major hill to climb.
Oh, and a four mile bridge!!!  It was insane!  A barely-there shoulder, with a major drop to the water on one side and logging trucks passing you on the other.  PLUS  the bridge sloped up - drop to your lowest gear slope - AND there was bridge construction at the top, and single lane.  I got to the other side and almost dropped to kiss the ground.  It felt very much like a near-death experience.
We had to stop at Starbucks to recover - thank God for coffee shops!
Otherwise the ride was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Cannon Beach at noon, so another bowl of clam chowder and we were able to get into the hotel rooms.
The beach here was beautiful - check out the Haystack - a rock formation in the water off of the beach.
I will try to get some pictures onto Facebook.

Almost eight o'clock - I am up late tonight!!