This is hard. Really hard. Not in the way I expected. I thought I may struggle being alone, so far that's not been a problem. Of course I miss everyone back home but I've quite enjoyed my own company most of the time. It's physically harder than I thought it would be. Specifically, carrying so much weight on the bike and managing to eat enough calories throughout the day. I need to learn to manage my energy levels better. I go through times when the bike seems to fly along and then other times when I can barely the move the thing. I thought by now I would be easily managing 60 miles a day, at the moment 40 is my comfortable limit. I also need to start the cycling day earlier. I've been taking it quite easy, having long breakfasts in the morning. It's really not good to have to set up camp and cook food in the dark. I will get better though.
The seagulls woke me this morning. After breakfast I left some snacks unattended on the picnic table. I was saving for later when I needed an energy boost. On returning I noticed my Triple-Threat PowerBar had been half eaten and my cereal bar had disappeared. I was just about to accuse a passing pensioner of stealing my snacks when I noticed a gathering of sneaky-looking crows behind me. They looked unusually full of energy. As I approached them they flew away leaving behind my half eaten cereal bar. The pensioner was off the hook.
After packing up and waving goodbye to the many RV owners who'd helped me out in one way or another I had an hour to kill before catching the ferry to the Olympic Peninsula. I explored Fort Casey State Park where I had camped. The place is an enormous fort with enormous canons pointing out to sea. It was great fun to climb around the fort which allowed pretty much free access. I enjoy being the only person mucking about at a tourist attraction. Unsurprisingly the fort doesn't get too many visitors at 9am on a Tuesday morning, or I expect, ever.
Waiting for the ferry I met a couple of girls who are also cycling down the west coast. We discussed routes and experiences so far. The Australian girl is cycling as far as Oregon but her friend, Line from Quebec is going to Mexico. In the past couple of days I'd come up with the idea of recruiting some other cyclists to accompany me on the Mexican section of the journey, particularly the border crossing. With all the bad things people have been telling me about the Mexican border it seems wise. Line was also looking for some company for the border crossing so we exchanged contact details. I quite like the idea of building up an elite border assault team. Perhaps we could fit-out our bikes with weapons - A-Team style..
After a few miles, out in the middle of nowhere, I came to a bike shop. My front dérailleur hasn't been right since arriving in Canada. I thought I knew how to fix it but was concerned about making it worse. I asked the shop owner to take a look, he made a quick adjustment and all was good. $5 well-spent. He did exactly what I thought needed to be done which was reassuring. He also gave me a cycle map of the area which proved to be very useful. Up to now I've been working without a proper map for some idiotic reason.
I've been really impressed with the roads in the US so far, much better than Canada. In Canada the shoulders were a slalom of broken glass and stones. The road were also much busier. Not having known much about Washington before coming here I've been really blown away by the scenery. The Olympic mountain range is spectacular. Much bigger than anything I've ever seen. Every few miles I get a startling glimpse of a glacier-covered mountain, standing out on its own like a beacon in the blue sky.
Today was around 25 degrees and very sunny. I already have amazing tan-lines. White hands and panda eyes. My beard is also coming along quite nicely. While eating a pizza at lunchtime I had strings of mozzarella in my moustache.
I ended the day at Dosewallips State Park. It's perhaps my least favourite of the state/provincial parks I've stayed in. I actually made a complaint about the smell of rubbish that hangs over the the whole park. It's another 'tokens for the shower' kind of place. A token gives a 3 minute shower. It took me 2 minutes and 30 seconds to work out how to get an acceptable temperature from the 2 unlabelled taps. There's nothing funny about being all soaped up when your token runs out.
I went to bed feeling low and unsure of my ability maintain the necessary mileages required on this trip.
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