Starting odo 6279
Starting off, I go about 100 yards then stop at mcd for breakfast. I
catch up on email and wish Sara a happy mothers day.
An old Indian nearby engages me in conversation. After the usual
questions, we talk about the state of the country. He doesn't think
it's in such great shape, and I agree. I think a lot of people are in
agreement about the problems, but nobody seems to have a clear
compelling vision of the solutions.
Finally leaving, the route takes me through some quiet back roads to
Elma where I have lunch at a forgettable Chinese restaurant.
On leaving Elma, I think it's raining again, except these drops feel
funny. Then one goes into my mouth, and then another! They are little
bugs! I continue on carefully keeping my mouth closed.
The freewheel, after working some oil into it, has fallen quiet - for
now! But I have faith in it's inherent evilness.
The day is partly sunny with occasional light rain that doesn't wet my
jacket. Little spots of rain can come along at anytime, but today they
are insignificant.
After Elma, the road follows a river, so it is flat and I make a good
17 mph and arrive in Centralia sooner than expected. Now the question
is whether to continue on with the two+ hours of daylight I have, or
to stay in Centralia. Consulting the map, there doesn't appear to be
anyplace to stay in the next two hours of riding, so I eat a burger
fries and shake (11.35!) at a mom and pop place and reverse course as
I already passed the RV park about two miles ago.
As I am musing about where to put my tent, the dark clouds finally
arrive, and I decide to try setting up the tent in a different way.
It's possible to setup just the rain fly and ground cloth, so I do
that and then get under it and set up the tent itself. Tomorrow, I'll
try to take down the tent under shelter of the rain fly and stow it
along with the sleeping bag and pad before taking down the wet fly and
ground cloth. This procedure is prompted by the thought of what could
I do if it was raining when it was time to go? I surely wouldn't want
the sleeping bag to get wet while I was packing up the tent!
Based on my experience setting it up, it's a bit awkward to say the
least. Although it does seem possible, I'm not sure it is an overall
win, but maybe with practice.
The RV park is a bit expensive, IMHO $20 seems steep for a shower and
picnic table. Then I notice the tent area is about 30 yards from some
RR tracks, and behind that is "The Port of Centralia", which appears
to be a sawmill - at least there is a lot of lumber there and trucks
are constantly coming and going. Then there is also a nearly constant
beep beep beep backup alarm of the fork lifts. I discover this is a
24 hour facility, but soon learn to ignore the beeps - there are some
advantages of being hearing impaired. What I do not manage to ignore
is the locomotive that pulls in at 3:30am! It's not really loud, being
throttled back to an idle but still... Anyway, it's gone pretty
quickly and I go back to sleep. All in all, I didn't sleep badly.
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