I shivered all night and listened to the rain dripping hard onto my tent, and wondering when it might drip on my head. I was damp and very uncomfortable, but I could hear the intense waves of the Pacific rolling in off in the distance, almost like listening to white noise. I slept only enough to know I dreamt about renting half of a queen sized a bed in the lodge for $200 for one night. I would have done it, if it were real. However, in my dream, it was also haunted. I waited to hear my tent neighbors unzipping their tents to get up. We only had a 30-mile day, but I felt lousy. My face looked like I'd been in a fight (ask me and I'll show you photographic evidence). I'm the only one this is really happening to and I kind of doubt it's just from an electrolyte imbalance. My chest felt very heavy as I went to bed last night and I had trouble breathing... long covid or something worse? I'm hoping it's just a cortisol/stress on the body response, but my insides ache, too. I don't necessarily think I'm sick with a cold either. Looking on Google at my symptoms only points to terrible things, so I'll just talk to my doctor when I get home. This happened last year and I didn't die, so I'm fairly confident I can continue the trip. However, for today, if there's any day I'm going to take off and have a hope of riding the end of the trip, it would be today's short ride. I hate not doing the full trip, but I also know that, between long covid and whatever the edema I have is, I need to listen to my body. I would have called out of work feeling the way I do, so I knew I should probably also not ride my bike.
The day started gray and misty. I rolled up my filthy, sopping wet tent and helped clean up camp with the route leaders. I rode with Bernie in the Rest Stop Van, so I could help him and cheer on the riders at the one rest stop for the day. Most of the riders went to breakfast at the lodge, so we waited a very long time in a turnout lane for any riders to come. The logging trucks whizzed by us and it astounded Bernie and I that we ride on these roads with the trucks flying by so closely. It seems so unsafe, yet, so many cyclists do it. We even saw 3 British-Canadiens bikepacking along the way and they eventually stopped at our camp in the afternoon. The one guy with them is even from the same island in Wales that my family is from (Angelsey)! We are hoping we recruited them for future trips! It's always fun to pass out our sticker business cards and see the glimmer of excitement in someone's eyes as they envision a future tour with us, seeing how much fun we are having.
Nearly everyone made it to camp at Lake Quinalt High School in Amanda Park. We are on the Quinalt Reservation. There is 1 bar and grill restaurant and 1 daytime eatery that is an internet cafe. There is also 1 general store with no fresh food, but lots of other items in approximately quantities of 1. There weren't any stores coming out from the national park either. However, as we round the bend to head east, it gets more populated and maybe the few people that live around here make a trip to a bigger town for fresh food.
Though small and has amenities that my dad remembers from when he was in high school, Lake Quinalt High School warmly welcomed us into their gym decorated with athletic achievements for the night, including use of the laundry and kitchen, as well as the outdoor area to wash and dry our tents.
I'm so thankful that the churches, schools, and community centers welcome us in pro bono. It really helps to keep the costs down. I think we only had to pay to stay in the national park, so that way the max proceeds of the donations can go to MS patients and research, as well as home projects and even to modified vans. I'll never forget when I biked the first week of the Bike the US for MS Trans America tour in 2014 and we gifted a modified van to a family who's wife/mother had MS and was wheelchair bound. They were beyond overjoyed and I was amazed we raised enough money to make that kind of an impact. That was a moment for me that I knew I was supporting something that could directly help people in need.
In the late afternoon around 5pm, we were getting antsy to have dinner. There are no late night meals on these trips. The riders get hungry early and if there's any chance for slow service, we don't want to risk being out late because morning always comes too soon. Most of the group walked down the street to the one restaurant called Dino's Pizza and Grill (sadly, they didn’t have pizza available tonight) and enjoyed a lovely meal. I had a salisbury steak with a very fresh salad and a lovely tuxedo cake for dessert. Everyone enjoyed their meal and our waiter was efficient and friendly. Despite not spending much time in these little towns, we find that we end up having good conversations with the various staff where we go. Everyone wants to know where we've been and where we are riding to, and are always amazed at what we are doing. I don't think I'm any sort of an extreme athlete, nor do I think that of the people I'm with, but to a lot of the world, we are.
After dinner, I lubed my bike chain and added more sealant to my rear tire that isn't holding air. Tomorrow is an 87 mile day. I will at least start the day and take it one rest stop at a time. I hope to ride all of it and I hope to feel good enough to ride an extra 13 miles to reach a century, but I'm not betting on it because of the big climbs we have and how my body is feeling.
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