A Hill, a Car Accident and New Friends

I got started even later than yesterday and it was already getting warm. :-/ I felt like I should still be fine and I was trying to adopt a more relaxed attitude about the whole trip. This is supposed to be some sort of vacation type thing, right?

As I came in to a small town I was getting hungry and decided to grab a bite. At this little burger shop, I got myself a large order of tots, from a fellow ginger Jesse. I've met a number of Jesses and a number of fellow gingers, but never a fellow ginger Jesse. :-)

After some head down hard riding I got myself into Centralia. With my tire still rubbing and also now realizing that the multi tool I bought doesn't have the right size hex wrench for my front panniers, I decided to find the bike shop in town. However, it turns out Centralia doesn't have a bike shop anymore... Eh?

Back on the road again. Just outside of Centralia I approach a hill with a sign that shows curvy road for 1.5 miles. "I hope that's not uphill for 1.7 miles..." Well, it wasn't for 1.5 miles, closer to two miles. Yep, about 20 minutes of hill climbing in my lowest gear pedaling hard. I know there will be bigger hills...

After some ups and downs the terrain began to be mostly downs. As I was coming down a long hill I noticed  two cyclists, one of which was pulling a trailer, in a lot on the right of the road. I waved and said "Hi". I immidiately regretted not stopping to talk to them. They were obvilously long distance touring like myself, likely even on the same route.

At teh bottom of the hill I went through a light and then slowed on the other side thining maybe I would go into the store, or maybe I would wait up and see where these two guys were going. As I was thinking this I hear screaching tires behind me. As I turn to look at what asshole is doing a burnout I hear a masive crash and see two cars coliding right in from of the two cyclists I just passed. One car went into a spin and the other continued diagonaly out fo the intersicting just a few feet tot eh left of the cyclists.

My first thought was, "Holy shit." My next thought was, I know first aid and CPR, I should get down there. As I approach the scene I can see that the occupants of the vehicles are already getting out of their vehicles on their own. Whew, no CPR.

The two cyclists, Geoff and Shaun, were so close to the impact that they were hit by debris. As everyone was alright and the emergency responders were all arriving, we decided it was time for us to leave. There were plenty of other witnesses that all seemed to want to stick around and watch it all unfold.

As it turns out, not only were Geoff and Shaun riding the coastal route, they also started the same day and planned on staying in the same campground. So, we rode together to Lewis and Clark State park.

We prepared dinner together, their chili, my lentils and rice, and Amanda's special brownies for desert. :-) A good time was had by all, perhaps a little too good as we got too loud after quiet time and a fellow camper let us know that he was quite displeased... :-/

Tomorrow, I plan to ride past Longview to a campsite on the Columbia, I think. Unless I decide to head into Longview to look for another bike shop. We'll see...

(Events of Sept 5th)