Written by Dave

Day 3–Sept 27 – 59 Miles, 1,927 feet climbing

A day of two halves.

The first half was quiet roads and very little traffic. And even better, 15 miles on our own private bicycle lane, the Yelm, Rainier, Tenino rail-trail. It really was a lovely Saturday morning ride.

The second half was way less fun starting with a couple miles on a shoulderless super busy Highway 702, some reasonably quiet riding through Fort Lewis Army Base and then 7 miles on the shocking Highway 7 that we joined in Spanaway. Highway 7 wasn’t really a highway, it was stop and go traffic, heaps of stop lights, low-end strip mall on both sides, 4 lane monster road, complete with a micro-wide, debris strewn shoulder. Most of the traffic was full on agro.  We rode through the detritus and avoided the agro by avoiding all eye contact. Mostly the drivers seemed to be angry with each other. Two frightened shoulder hugging cyclists barely rated a reaction.

When we finally turned off Highway 7 we found a Starbucks where we could calm our nerves and gather courage to continue. Starbucks was an oasis of calm. Leaving Starbucks, I made a smart arsed comment about getting off Highway 7 without any flats. Then my back tire went flat. Crap! Back to Starbucks where we dug a sharp metal splinter out of the tire and patched things up.

All good, for about two blocks. My tire went flat again. No worries, the patch failed, swap the tube and move on.

All good for about two miles. My tire hissed out all its air once more. No worries, second new tube in and we were back on the road. I don’t know, three flats in about 2.5 miles. Think Highway 7 may have won the battle!

The last 5 miles into Tacoma had me concerned about traffic but being Saturday, there was very little. The rest of the ride to McMenamins Elks Temple was thankfully uneventful. And hours later, my wheel is still holding air.

As noted, it was a day of two halves. That’s sort of life. Not every day is perfect so hang onto the memories of the good ones.

The Elks Temple is a great old building. It was originally built in 1916, with a 3 story addition completed in 1937. It was occupied by the Elks until 1965 when the boys moved out to the suburbs. The building was used as an events location for about 25 years. New owners then got sideways with the city and the building sat vacant for 25ish more years. Thankfully, McMenamins rescued it in the late 2000s and set about restoring its former glory. They did a great job.

Today the Elks is hopping. It appears to be prom night for one of the local high schools. Lots of fancy dressed couples were getting their photos taken on the hotel stairs. We watched a few of them at dinner, not talking to each other but rather looking at their phones. Oh to be young!

It is also Oktoberfest here, complete with a special beer and food menu. I tried to get in the spirit by drinking their special Oktoberfest amber but it was completely undrinkable (Nancy says I should write, “not to my liking” – but I’m sticking with undrinkable). We both had one sip and because there are no pockets in shrouds, I decided to send it back and get myself a Hammerhead. The kind waitress took it off the bill but I asked her not to say anything to the brewer. The Oktoberfest theme was rescued by a very tasty King Ludwig sausage sandwich.

So that’s it, more or less, of our ride to Tacoma. We still have to get back to Portland on the train tomorrow where upon arrival we will ride through the “war ravaged, riot strewn” city back home. Suffice it to say, what you’ve probably read in the news today, is mostly BS. Portland, and in particular SW Portland, is not a lawless wasteland just waiting to be rescued by the Army.  We’re just fine and would prefer the money spent on sending the Army be spent on mental health services and maybe some drug addiction services.  Just saying…