Not long after I left Raymond I came across another cyclist. I was flying down a hill and he was laboring up it. We both stopped and chatted across the highway. It turns out he was going from Seattle to Los Angeles. Yet another retired guy making me look like a chump by riding the distance of the U.S. west coast.
I rode 71 miles that day. I would have gotten a lot further but I got another flat just outside of Elma WA on the 101 (which is a freeway in that part of Washington). So I walked into town but surprise, surprise, they didn't have a bike shop. I was directed by a gas station attendant to the only hardware store in town, which happened to be right across the street. They had plenty of bike tubes but none that would fit my bike so I decided to try and patch the 3 blown tubes that I had. I hauled my bike over to a grassy area in front of a church a few blocks away, tore everything apart and then realized, are you ready for this......the glue in my patch kit was dried up. So in a state of extreme frustration I put my bags and my disassembled bicycle onto my back and hiked back to the hardware store. I then bought myself a general purpose rubber patch kit, unload everything onto the sidewalk in front of the store, and finally got to work.
During the process of finding the holes in the tubes I hear "GET THE HELL OUT OF TOWN!!" from behind me. I turn around and there is this older gentleman, who I quickly realized was just joking with me. He sat down and started chatting with me about my trip and the route I was planning on taking. His wife soon came around the corner, looking for him, and she immediately asked me if I had had lunch yet, I hadn't, so she invited me over to their place for lunch. The idea of a hot meal really excited me so I quickly put my bike back together and made my way over to their cozy little house a few blocks away.
The misses made me a turkey sandwich with cucumber and swiss. I was stoked as hell about the sandwich but she kept putting more and more food in front of me: sweet pickles, a freshly baked blueberry scone, a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a nectarine sliced over the top, a pile of chips, and a mug of hot tea with honey. They were really sweet people. I still can't believe that they invited a smelly, dirty Travis into their home after literally knowing me for about 2 minutes.
They argued for a while about which route I should take out of town, but once that was decided I shook the old timers hand and the his wife gave me a big hug and I was back on the road.
They sent me on a rural road the goes behind Elma and Shelton. That was the prettiest stretch of road on my whole trip. It was absolutely beautiful. Nothing but young conifers, quaint farmhouses, and small fields for 20 or 30 miles. I even saw an old couple on an evening drive in their model T.
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