PDX-Oly-Astoria Tour, Day 3: to Olympia

Tumwater Falls.

Today was planned as a short day to Olympia. This would give me some time to hang out in town, since all of Saturday would be spent doing comics festival stuff. I bid adieu to my Centralia host around 9:30 am and hit the high road.

I've biked between the two cities before, but this time I tried a new route, one that stayed on the west side of I-5. The first 6 miles was serviceable but underwhelming, the neither urban nor rural strip of construction companies, auto shops, etc. After that, things turned decidedly rural.

But things didn't necessarily improve. It was a steady, heavy mist for most of the morning. And while I was on rural roads, several sections were sketchy: narrow, winding, fast traffic. Things improved after I hit the "town" of Littlerock, as the road had an ample shoulder.

And in this ample shoulder my front tire hit a staple. The first (and hopefully ONLY) flat of the tour. On the bright side (literally): the rain stopped and the sun peeked its way through the clouds.

Washington State Capitol

After this the landscape switched to suburban. And before I knew it, I was in Olympia proper! On the way to my host's house I stopped at a pizzeria and got recognized! The woman working there was at my Dead Freeways talk for the Dill Pickle Club in May. Small world. And also in the small world category, I saw someone at the pizzeria that falls in my "don't ever want to see" list. The yin and yang of Olympia, I guess.

I got to my host's house, cleaned up, and then headed back into town for beer and food at Le Voyeur, my favorite place to eat in town.

Olympic Mountains loom in the distance

The numbers:
32.1 miles
12.6 mph average speed
Saddle time 2:32
One flat