Day 18: Into Washington!

I woke up this morning to say goodbye to Steph as she headed back to the Bay. I'm not sure how long it'll be before we see each other again, but at least over three weeks so it was a little emotional. After falling asleep again (let's be sensible, I'm not starting my day at 4:45 unless it's absolutely necessary) I woke up at a reasonable hour and packed up. This morning was the first morning in almost two weeks that I haven't woken up with neck pain, and I'm certain it's due to a particular person having been by my side day and night for the past few days.

I set out for Castle Rock, WA, roughly 75 miles away. After a pit stop at Fedex to fax a health insurance form, I was on my way towards my third state of the trip. Portland has been great, and leaving was made harder by the smell of wort emanating from Bridgeport Brewing as I rode by. I ran into Neal who is on Day 2 of many to come as he rides the Lewis and Clark trail to Connecticut. We exchanged blogs, but now I can't seem to find his, and he seemed amused by the name of mine. Throughout the day I would see a total of 8 tourers, all going south.

As Neal promised, the town of St. Helens was unremarkable, they don't even allow bikes in the river front park! But that's where I refueled on bread, cheese, honey, jerky, and a carrot. It's also where I put on my jorts, erroneously thinking it was close to the bridge I would take into Washington.

As I crossed the Lewis and Clark Bridge they were painting some of it and had drop cloths on a couple sections. Lucky me to inhale some bridge paint! I kept my eyes peeled for the state sign in order to claim credit for a couple challenges, but I was disappointed. Furthermore, there was no welcome sign when I reached Longview on the other side! What kind of state doesn't have a welcome sign?! Better question, why did I wear the jorts another 10 miles? I guess I'll have to get the WA sign on the Idaho border.

I got to Castle Rock, my camping destination, around 4:30 and said hell no am I stopping with so much daylight. A quick search suggested Lewis and Clark State Park. I decided to go for it, feeling good with the legs and energy level. Along the way I had a couple dogs chase me which was a first. I've had a couple dozen barks so far but never a chase. The first seemed harmless enough but a little later down the road I had two more chase me and they seemed angry. Not much has gotten my adrenaline up quite as much as that, but I was able to pull away after some hard cranking.

Upon arriving at L&C SP and claiming the only H/B site, I looked down to find 97.75 miles on the odometer! Another record day! Believe me, I was tempted to ride in circles around the campground to reach 100 but a shower and meal won the mental battle and I settled for the night.

My legs are a little sore but overall I feel pretty good considering how far I just rode. A filling meal, hot coco, and now I'm writing this by my first campfire in too long. It's always nice to finish any ride with a shower and fire, great way to keep morale up. Looks like I'll get to Seattle a little faster than expected!