Evening 3 was not nearly as glamorous or glorious as Day 3. On the drive of the route in June, we had met a charming proprietor of a small mom and pop motel. We chatted about the motel, life in the small town of Lilliwaup, and lots more. I was hooked, and took down the name and number of the motel for our ride, then booked the rooms a few weeks before we left.
Unfortunately, one thing I didn't do is actually look at the rooms. Yeah, no bueno. Not especially comfortable, but more distressing, not particularly clean. You know, my brother tells the story of one of his friends whose house is so filthy that when Matt uses the bathroom there, he lifts the toilet seat up with his shoe so he can pee. See, girls don't have that option. But know that I am unhappy anytime I have to clean the toilet at a motel before I can use it. One big ewwwww. I did not sleep well, tossing and turning, worrying about bed bugs and germs.... 'cause once you get the heebie jeebies in an unknown place, it's hard to recover from it.
Enough said.
Another issue. As we were checking into this motel, Fred's cycling shoe came apart, with the sole separating from the rest of it. We considered our options. Fred did not want to take away from our schedule or mileage and suggested riding the rest of the route in his tennis shoes on the side of the pedals that didn't have the clips. Tempting, and selfishly, that would have been nice. But I knew there was no way I would have wanted to do that, and suggested instead that we drive into Olympia first thing in the morning to get new cycling shoes. I reasoned that way he could finish the ride in comfort and strength, and return the faulty shoes when he got back to California.
And so it was that Day 4 began with an adventure into the "big city". (That's what it felt like after all these days of country and small town riding.)
The bicycle shop opened at 10, and we did find a great pair of cycling shoes for him. (It took a few tries. Fred has big feet, and the store did not have several styles in stock in his size.) Anywho, we were ready for breakfast at that point, so the clerk at the cycling shop directed us to a charming little café called New Moon, which was apparently some kind of co-op.
In that café, I proceeded to have the best omelet I've ever had in my entire life. Truly incredible. Each table in the café had a little journal where diners could write their thoughts, or draw, or copy a favorite verse, etc. All three of us contributed some words to the journal on our table, but if you want to know what I wrote, you will have to visit the café!
From there we rode back to Shelton, and Fred and I got on the bikes. It was a fairly easy ride from there to Elma, especially once we got on Highway 12, which was flat and easy with a very wide shoulder. Nonetheless, our impromptu trip to the capital cut out quite a bit of our riding time, so the day was short on mileage. Things happen, right?
The good news was that Evening 4's hotel, the Guest House, was LOVELY.
Night, blog.
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