The morning is bright and dry. After breakfast Christine and I pack up camp and explore a bit more along the water at Fort Townsend State Park before we roll off down the road.
Strictly speaking it's really too early for us to be stopping for lunch at the Chimacum Cafe but it's certainly time for elevenses and if you've never had a slice of pie from the Chimacum Cafe then your life just isn't as good as it could be. I love my wife even more than I love pie, I want what's best for her and until now she's never been to the Chimacum Cafe. Of course we stop.
We split an order of biscuits and gravy, which actually turns out to be too much food for us because we also each have pie, blueberry for Christine and coconut creme for me. Then we waddle out to our bikes and roll south on Center Road.
After a lovely stretch of riding on Center Road we turn east on SR-104 which is busy and hilly but features a good, wide shoulder. After a bit we come upon a broken down Toyota pickup on the shoulder, lights flashing, hood up, driver distraught. "I've been here at least an hour and no one has stopped," she explains, nearly crying. Apparently the driver, Christine & I are the last three people on earth without cell phones (I run my phone as wifi only & use my Kindle for email and Twitter in the boonies) but I promise we'll call the State Patrol as soon as we get to a spot with a phone. We roll on and at the information center by the junction of SR-104 and the Beaver Valley Road I call the troopers and report the driver's plight.
After the traffic and drama of SR-104 it is very nice to turn onto the quiet and beautiful Shine Road.
Of course there's one wickedly steep leg stretching section.
Back on SR-104, Christine bravely tackles the Hood Canal Bridge.
We're back at one of the lovely and secluded hiker/biker sites at Kitsap Memorial State Park for the rest of the day. We set up camp and make dinner.
The low sun shines on the still waters of the Hood Canal and we settle in for another quiet night in the woods.
I used to do a Loop with friends out of Edmonds and across to Kingston and the Peninsula that included the Hoods Canal bridge, which we all referred to as "The bridge of death". They've made some major improvements since I last rode it but I am sure its still a hair raising crossing. Chapeau on getting across it.
ReplyDeleteI've really enjoyed following along on this tour -Congrats Kent and Christine you guys are awesome! The old shovel and dump truck photo is great. Reminds me of the time I spent riding around the Spokane County area. I saw lots of antique cars slowly sinking into the ground but the bodies remained in unusually good condition. Here back east stuff rusts a lot faster, must be the higher humidity.
ReplyDeleteAnother nice photo was your stove flaming up in the previous post. Thanks for sharing.