Local Knowledge is Best

With all of our various guidebooks and maps, we thought the only way to get from Hoodsport to Elma was straight down noisy, hilly Hwy 101. That was until our host Leo at the Creekside Inn asked if we'd like to try a flat, scenic, slightly longer route. It was well worth the extra miles. What a lovely ride! Here, Mary and Alice are capturing one of the sights.

One of these could be your Christmas tree this year:

In our attempt to replenish calories burned, we ate pie a la mode at two different restaurants today. Neither came close to the taste and presentation at The Halfway House Cafe yesterday. We may need to keep looking for one that's better all the way down the coast :)

Tonight we are in a Youth Hostel in Elma, WA. This is the first time I have stayed in a hostel. It is clean and the proprietor and other guests are friendly. The owner drove us to the Rusty Tractor Restaurant for dinner and we walked the mile back. He operates an 18 hole frisbee golf course and lets guests play for free. It was a nice offer but we figured we'd had our exercise for the day. There are three other cyclists here. A married couple on a tandem Are just completing their cross country trip. They are moving from Baltimore to Seattle for her to attend graduate school at the UW. Another man from New Mexico is heading to San Diego as well. He is mostly camping and carrying a lot of gear on his 30 lb. bike. Bike and gear weigh over 100 lbs. He started in Vancouver BC with the partner he had found online (because his wife doesn't like him traveling alone.) The other man only lasted 1 1/2 days before he quit because it was too hilly. It was fun talking to the other cyclists and sharing route info. We are looking forward to staying in more hostels and eating more pie.