America did not welcome us with a marching band. On our first night there was no staff, no shower and nobody who knew the wifi password. The next morning, at IHOP, I met the fullest plate of the trip. That is how these four days on the Washington coast went: one day happy, one day grumbling, and in the middle of it all a small, silver-coloured bully took its place. The quarter.
- 29 September · Night 1Port AngelesA last look at Canada from "Goodbye Point to Canada". Night: an empty campground, no shower and nobody to pay.
- 30 September · Night 2Port Angeles → Cove Campground 101The pancake combo at IHOP. Night: the best campground so far, our first laundry, my mom's birthday.
- 1 October · Night 3Cove Campground → ElmaMexican lunch at El Puerto de Angeles, groceries in McCleary. Night: the very clean Elma RV Park, a one-quarter shower.
- 2 October · Night 4Elma → Bay CenterA rainy day and a DQ stop. Night: Bay Center KOA, free showers, a tent in the dining area.
- 3 OctoberBay Center → Columbia RiverThe windy Washington coast, Willapa Bay, arms in the air for "Goodbye Washington" and our first footlong in Oregon.
| Port Angeles → Cove Campground 101 | 93 km | ↑ 700 m | ↓ 760 m |
| Cove Campground 101 → Elma | 119 km | ↑ 560 m | ↓ 550 m |
| Elma → Bay Center | 113 km | ↑ 760 m | ↓ 770 m |
| Bay Center → Astoria | 77 km | ↑ 230 m | ↓ 230 m |
| Stage total | 402 km | ↑ 2250 m | ↓ 2310 m |
I could not keep a daily GPS log: in 2011 power banks were hardly a thing, and with GPS tracking on the phone battery died within an hour, which would have made recording the rest of the tour impossible. So these are approximate values from Google Maps cycling directions along the route I rebuilt from the location points on my phone. On the few days where Google pushed the route onto other roads, distance comes from my own route and climbing from an elevation model. Ferry crossings are not included.
Port Angeles · A last look at Canada
As the ferry came close to Port Angeles, the sun showed itself one last time between the clouds. That day I wrote in my phone: "We left Canada and the sun behind us." I was right about both. We got off, rode a little and stopped at a place with the perfect name for our mood: "Goodbye Point to Canada". On the other side of the water there was now another country.
Philip looked down. I understood him: he was never going back to Canada. I knew I would see Vancouver again, so the goodbye was easier for me. My eyes were already on the south.
We reached the campground at 7:30 pm. There was no other tent camper. No staff to welcome us, and no shower. There was wifi, but nobody knew the password, so I could not call my family. By 8:30 we were asleep. In the morning everything looked better. We looked for someone to pay, found nobody, and left without paying. I can't say I was very sad about it :)
30 September · IHOP
The next morning we went into an IHOP and I ordered the pancake combo: two eggs, two New York cheesecake-flavoured waffles and a coke. The campground the night before had been as empty as this plate was full. The note in my phone was short and clear: "Best breakfast place ever!"
Cove Campground 101 · My mom's birthday and our first laundry
The day's big climb was not as hard as we feared, and in the evening we reached Cove Campground 101. It was the best campground we had stayed in so far. It had a small market, so we bought food and cooked pasta with sausage. There was wifi too, and that evening I called my mom to wish her a happy birthday. Saying "happy birthday, mom" from the corner of a campground, thousands of kilometres away, was a strange feeling, but a good one.
We finally did our first laundry. And there I met the biggest test America has for cyclists: the quarter. The washing machine runs on quarters, the dryer runs on quarters, the shower runs on quarters... If you have no coins in your pocket, you are not clean either. I was not cold at all that night; the only problem was my sleeping mat, which got a little harder every night.
If you have no coins, you are not clean either.
In the morning the forecast said a 50% chance of rain. The next proper campground was in Elma, 66 miles away. It would be a long day, but the decision was made.
1 October · El Puerto de Angeles
At lunch I pushed my budget a little. At a Mexican restaurant called El Puerto de Angeles I ordered two burritos; the plate came with coleslaw, beans and different cheeses. The bill was $30. Expensive for my budget, but the food was really good. The restaurant was next to a canal and the view was amazing; the only problem, again, was the weather. I love Mexican restaurants. But I needed to save money. I wrote both of those sentences on the same day, in the same notes.
At the big store in McCleary we bought pasta, eggs, milk and Snickers. We could not find a place to stay there, so we continued to Elma. Elma RV Park was very clean and professional; the campgrounds were getting better and better. With a single quarter I had a pretty good shower. The only thing missing: the plugs were only in the restroom. First we had tea and hot chocolate, then we cooked pasta with tuna and tomato sauce. The food from McCleary was almost gone on the very first evening :) That day I understood that these legs needed a long, proper rest.
2 October · A dry corner in Bay Center
The next day, after a short DQ stop, we reached the KOA in Bay Center. A nice campground: a market and free showers, so no quarters needed! There we met two German girls going all the way to San Diego on the same road. By car, of course :) They were very talkative and had dinner next to us. The rain did not stop, but it was off season and the campground was almost empty, so we set up the tent inside the covered dining area. Believe me, a dry corner on a wet night is better than a five-star hotel.
3 October · Goodbye Washington
The next day the wind did not stop for a second on the Washington coast. Along Willapa Bay, with water on one side and forest on the other, we fought the wind metre by metre. When we reached the Columbia River, we could see the long Astoria Bridge to Oregon on the other side. We left the bikes and raised our arms. One state was done.
We crossed the bridge into Oregon, and in Astoria the first thing we did was run to Subway: they had the $5 footlong deal. I fell in love with that deal that day. Looking back, this stage taught me two things: breakfast is serious business in America, and you should always have coins in your pocket. And in Astoria, one of the best surprises of the trip was waiting for us. But first, of course, it would rain.
- Where we slept: a campground in Port Angeles (we found nobody to pay), Cove Campground 101, Elma RV Park, Bay Center KOA. For their status today: Where we stayed
- Prices in 2011: a one-quarter shower in Elma, free showers in Bay Center, lunch at El Puerto de Angeles $30, a Subway footlong $5.
- Lesson from the road: In the US, both the washing machine and the shower run on quarters. Guard your coins like gold.
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