Oh my gosh!  My legs are so sore!  I don’t want to get out of this bed.  But setting a quick alarm for 6:30 anyway.  Its now 5:20.

One thing I’ve decided upon is this. 50 miles per day on a fully loaded bicycle camping trip is a little too much. Its fine when you’re supported and don’t have to carry all your stuff. But 50 miles, three days in a row is just a bit much. Last night I was pleased to find that I could grab the bus a few miles early. And if I switch just right, I can get a ride all the way to my campground. A total of only 35 miles. I’m going to do that today. Probably save myself a good 15 miles from the original plan.

Skipped my plan for coffee, and hit the road at 7am. Apparently I was rested enough and I couldn’t sleep anymore. Reached Raymond where I ran into this guy.

The stretch of 105 between Raymond and Grayland is easily the most magnificent part of my ride so far. Nice pavement, with huge safe shoulders to ride on. The sun was shining most of the way there.

Today, on this beautiful stretch of road, I caught up to Shane and his cat Funtime who was riding in the trailer behind him.

Shane is the first touring cyclist I’ve encountered on my trip so far. And he is notorious. He is banned from posting on crazyguyonabike.com, because apparently it is too controversial to take your cat on your bike touring trips. Shane is on his 18th month of cycling and has run out of money more than 6 months ago.

Quick sum up here. Bus to Aberdeen, lunch at Ann Marie’s cafe with this view from my seat. Just got in before they turned off the grill.

Then a quick bus ride up to Pacific Beach Park, only a few blocks from my camp site. It’s now cold, windy, and overcast. Today’s GPS map doesn’t show my current location as I’ve bussed several miles to the north. But here’s the path.

Detailed GPS map is available here.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of what I thought was going to be the real adventure of this bike trip. That was before day 2 happened. :-). Now I’m not so worried about the anticipated gravel tomorrow, cause I know it’s there. And I’ve got the recent experience to know that I can handle it just fine. And I’ve saved some energy by reducing my miles today. I’m totally ready for it.

Still. I need extra water, and from here on out there are no more big cities. My only options for food I think will be little markets with few choices. I’ll need to put a lot of thought into what I pack as I will be hitting the Pacific Northwest trailhead on Wednesday. I’ll need supplies, including water to last for a couple days. Now why did I think my camelback was not necessary? Just one more little cock-up my friends on this grand adventure. And I have time and options to deal with the difficulty.

I may be out of reception tomorrow. But I think it is inevitable on Wednesday and Thursday that there will be no reception. I’ll try and check in when I reach the Hoh River on the 6th. But don’t be surprised if you see nothing from me again until the 8th or 9th.