Day 7: Thinking About Getting a Gun Rack for The Rig

Route:  Elma to Lewis and Clark State Park

Distance:  65.1 miles

Ice cream:  yes

Today was loosely planned to be a rest day.  But I didn't feel the need for much rest so I headed out for the next destination.

But first, a couple pics from last night:

Sam and Renna and their mascot Martín (they are riding from Seattle to Berkeley):

And Jay of course had to show us his mascots (what a guy!  And a very nice hostel):

I don't have a mascot but am thinking about getting a gun rack for The Rig.  Might make me seem more like one of the locals?  Maybe not.  Just thinking out loud.

But back to today.  I rode through some prime, fertile farming land.  At least all the crops and animals looked happy:

Lots of small farms (some not so small), grange halls (every town had one), chickens, goats, sheep and lots of cows. The dairy farms reminded me a bit of Norco where I went to high school (GO COUGARS!!).

While stopped for breakfast at Subway in Rochester, I chat with a guy who was a dead ringer for David Crosby (the crazy version).  He told me (in great detail) how to avoid getting harassed and shaken down by the cops in Azerbaijan.  Lots of subtleties, but the upshot is NOT to let them put their hands  in your pockets.  Write this down if you are headed there soon.  He also liked the new addition to Subway menu.

Down the road there was a fruit stand that had some killer peaches.  I bought 4, but wish I had bought more..... I started treating myself to a peach before each climb (lots of rolling hills here).  Turns out there were more than 4 decent climbs and I'm out of peaches!

The less said about Centralia the better.  Stop in Rochester instead.

One of the things I rolled up on today was this:

It would appear my people have been here before :).

Although this was what you saw once you headed down the road:

Maybe it was a short lived stay......

As I got closer to camp, I met a Dutch couple (Tom and Eva) who were bike touring the U.S. And Canada.  They had been to a lot of the western states already and were headed to Vancouver.

Hats off again to the swell folks who run the state parks here in Washington.  Lewis  & Clark SP is beautiful.  Old growth trees, huge campsites, ferns, and showers!

I like showers :)