August 7, 2016
Our second day on the road was a 63-mile ride punctuated by the rain for which western Washington is famous… and famously green. It was the kind of day that makes the makers of waterproof/breathable garments smile.
It made us smile too.
There’s something unexpectedly freeing about pedaling in the rain for hours along quiet country roads. It’s akin to the childhood joy of seeking out water puddles expressly to splash in them. Except we were able to sustain our splashing for over four hours.
And there were sun breaks. (For those of you NOT from the Pacific Northwest, this is a phenomenon that can slow traffic with weather gawkers, and cause others to break out in spontaneous grins.) Okay, maybe we’re a goofy lot here in the other Washington—we don’t seem to see any incongruity in smiling in the face of both rain and sun.
We had other reasons to smile. Our resting place tonight is a Lutheran church in Centralia. They let us spread our sleeping bags throughout their offices, meeting rooms and sanctuary. They fed us dinner, let us use their showers, their laundry, and their wifi. And they’re going to feed us breakfast.
The weather is fine. The human climate even better.
tadpolejourneys 