Day Total - 36.7 miles
Trip Total - 1,178.3 miles
It was raining again when we woke up this morning. We waited it out as usual, which was fine, because we had another short day. We were basically going to finish what we would have done the day before had it not been for the weather. In addition, a quick check of the Google maps topo revealed a very flat route. We were folliwng the broad Chehalis River Valley down to the town of Elma, about 35 miles to the northwest.
We walked over to Jack in the Box for breakfast, at which point the rain started again, so we waited in the room until the last possible moment before leaving. At the noon checkout time, we left down the busy main road out of Centralia. Google didn't lie - it was very flat, not to mention we had a tailwind early on.
The ride, though not bad by any means, was very unremarkable. We crossed into Thurston County a few miles in, then entered Grays Harbor County not long afterward. We passed a large juvenile detention facility at one point too, though I can't really remember where in the ride it was. There was a short stretch through an Indian reservation, where we were warned about dogs but had no serious scares.
With about 12 miles to go to Elma, it started to rain again. This wasn't the Northwest rain we were used to; the drops were large, and it was heavier than anything we had seen since California. There wasn't really anywhere we could go to get out of it though, so we just rode through. About a half hour later, it finally stopped, and we dried off on the final stretch into town. Once we got to Elma, we hung out outside the library for awhile, because we couldn't check in at the Grays Harbor Hostel until 5:00. It rained once more while we were under the front entryway, but it stopped in time for us to bike over to the hostel around 5.
The owner, Jay, also has an 18-hole disc golf course on his property, and after a bit of persuasion on his part, he gave us a bit of coaching and let us try it out. I had a bit of difficulty due to the ongoing nerve issues (probably carpal tunnel) in my right hand, but it was fun nonetheless. Kevin and I were the only guests in the hostel too, so we got the private room instead of the dorm.
View Day 32 - Centralia, WA-Elma, WA in a larger map
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