Day 85: Hills Like "Radiator Coolant Green" Elephants.

Today is the first of 8 solid days of rain, so I wake up at 8am with the intention of getting on the road at 9am and beating the rain before it starts at noon. The day ends at my Grandpa’s place in Arlington about 33 miles south of here, so it really shouldn’t be that difficult.

I eat breakfast with Stephanie and say goodbye. I’m definitely planning to keep in touch with her. It always makes me sad when I walk away from someone fully knowing that time will make a slow casualty of our friendship. Maybe the trip has made me less cynical, but I’m fairly optimistic about keeping in touch with her.

I start out heading south and it’s a beautiful morning with wide shoulders and cool Pacific air, though it feels strange to be heading in a completely new direction; daunting. The towns turn to farmlands, and the shoulders turn to nothing. The landscape along HWY 9 is rolling hills and thick rain forest; there’s nothing quite like it anywhere else in the US. I really like it over here. Everything West of Omak has been pretty special.

The rain begins about half way to Arlington and I stop at a really friendly gas station on a large roundabout that sits in the shade of a HUGE green jagged rock, that I would later find out is called “BIG ROCK”. Everything around here is covered under eight layers of moss colored “radiator coolant green”. I sit on a padded chair on the porch of the gas station and warm up with a cup of tea until the rain stops. Already, I am noticing a huge difference since having completed the Northern Tier. I feel relaxed. No longer is there a thin line of fishing wire that is always kept taught and pulling me westward. No stress, until I think about my poor dwindling bank account. The rain stops and I head back out.

The rest of the day along HWY 9 is all blind curves and wet beautiful forest; a great day of riding. I get into Arlington, grab some Mexican food, hit up the library and head over to see Grandpa and Mary. The town has gotten so much larger since last I’ve been here. I tried to find the bicycle shop that Google maps assured me was in town, but it turns out that it’s a motorcycle shop.

When I arrive, Grandpa and Mary are getting ready to meet some friends for dinner. I am alone for an hour or two, but it’s actually a good thing because I need time to plan tomorrow’s route into Seattle. Mike R. of TNT2007 offered to send a set of maps to get me into Seattle, and I foolishly turned it down. The best route I could find looks kind of complicated. To make matters worse, it is supposed to rain pretty hard tomorrow; lots of headwinds too.

When Grandpa and Mary get back, we hang out for a while and watch Dancing with the Stars. They do not care for much of the fast dances, or skimpy outfits. Grandpa mentions doing some fishing tomorrow, and maybe taking me up to the property where he has been doing most of his road-building and construction. It’d be fun, but I’m still planning on leaving in the morning… though Mary is pretty insistent that I stay. We’ll see what it looks like in the morning.

I go to sleep on a pull out in the basement in front of the TV. It’s a good night’s sleep. Maybe I should stay another day? There’ll be less rain and wind on Wednesday, but I’m still pretty sure I want to go. The Emerald City beckons.