Continuing now from when we left the ferry to Port Angeles. After clearing customs and some initial confusion about which way we should go to get on to Highway 101, we drove through Port Angeles. At the first stop light I saw a sign which gave me a bit of a chuckle. On the corner of the street was a Chinese restaurant whose name I guessed was the 'DYNASTY CHINESE RESTAURANT'. Because a power pole was blocking part of the sign, it read 'NASTY CHINESE RESTAURANT'. It introduced a bit of levity to day that was rapidly becoming clouded by the threat of rain.
Leaving Port Angeles we rode west through Olympic National Park, the village of Sappho, and south to Forks through rain showers on a twisty mountain road. We stopped briefly at the Forks Coffee Shop where a very energetic and talkative waitress served us.
Worst motorcycle park job ever! ;-)
The highway south of Forks works its way to the coast where the road runs along cliffs. The views here in places are so outstanding that it is often difficult to keep your eyes on the road. With all the curves that could be a real mistake.
The beach (looking north) on the Washington coast south of Forks.
The beach (looking south) on the Washington coast south of Forks
However, we made it to Queets where turns east and goes inland before making a half circle. On the way back to the coast we stopped at the small village of Humptulips, mainly because of the name. I don't know why, but the name seems somewhat whimsical and a bit funny. The guy who ran the corner store there offered a great deal of advice about where to go and what restaurants were good in Pacific Beach.
The store sign at Humptulips
Leaving Humptulips
We did a side trip to Pacific Beach, gassed up and continued on the Ocean Shores. We arrived at about five o'clock expecting to have no trouble finding accommodations. Unfortunately there is a clam festival this week and the place is full of people who are digging for clams. Amazing what people can think of to have a festival and the roadside signs on the way seem to indicate that there is a festival every few weeks at Ocean Shores.
As we were entering town we saw a guy selling 'clam guns' on the side of the road. Knowing how important guns are to many Americans, I had this vision of people out on the beach shooting clams. However, a clam gun is a tube that is stuck into the sand. Holes at the top are covered and a cylinder of sand with a clam in it is pulled up.
We tried getting rooms at the old Holiday Inn Express which goes by a new name now, then the Sands Inn, and the Comfort Inn. All of them were full and by this time we were getting desperate because we were facing a twenty mile ride to Hoquiam to find a motel if we couldn't find anything in Ocean Shores.
Our last hope was The Beach Walk Inn, a run down place off the beach. We were able to get rooms; Garry and I at the end of the motel on the ground floor, and Kerry and Jim in another building. For almost ninety dollars the room wasn't that great but we at least had a place to stay.
WE decided to go to the Quinalt Beach Casino for dinner but first I had to get fuel so I headed to the 76 station. When I arrived I saw three guys standing around and talking beside a Harley-Davidson Sportster and an old Honda Gold Wing that was stripped down and made into a café racer. When I asked the guy if the bike was a '75 or '76 he told me it was a '77. Then he asked me if I knew what it was. When I told him, 'That's an Old Wing,' he began to laugh and agreed with me.
Continuing back to the casino I found the guys waiting for me so we went to the restaurant and ordered dinner. While we were waiting I decided to play five dollars on the slots. Very shortly I had more than doubled my money so I quit, had dinner with the guys then headed back to the motel.
Now, I have been in some pretty amazing motels, and I mean this in a bad way, but this one was going to be in the top two. First, when we tried to connect to the motel Wi-Fi neither of us could log on. We tried for quite a while but nothing was happening. At the same time were hearing intermittent scratching on our ceiling. Initially we thought the people upstairs had a dog and it took us a few minutes to realize that the floors were carpeted and there should be no dog sounds. In addition, we could hear chittering sounds.
My suspicion was that there were raccoons in the ceiling so I went to find the owner and tell him about the Wi-Fi and my suspicions about the denizens of the space between the first and second floors. He said he would reboot the router and said that there couldn't be any raccoons in the ceiling because there was no space for them and there was no way for them to get in.
I went back to the room where Garry and I continued to have no Wi-Fi, and listen to the creatures above the ceiling skittering around and making their little animal noises. Then the third part of the equation kicked in. The guy in the next room started to snore. Not a regular snore, but a stentorian snore that came close to making the walls vibrate. How his wife put up with it without either divorcing or killing him is beyond me.
I found the manager again and invited him in to hear the little creatures in the ceiling and the guy snoring next door. In the meantime he had taking part of the wall off and found how the animals had gotten into the building so he offered to let us move to the only unrented room in the motel. One catch though. The carpet had just been shampooed and was sopping wet but we took it anyway. Wet floor? OK. No 140 decibel snoring or little critters in the ceiling? Priceless.
And to add to everything else, we had Wi-Fi that actually worked. To compensate us for our trouble he offered to deduct half the price of the room. So, in addition to solving our problems we got a break on the price of the room. Good deal.
All in all, the day worked out well. And now you know, if you were wondering, why I'm a bit behind on the blog. I'm working to get caught up and hope to be up to date by tomorrow evening.
The weather continues to be questionable but the ride is going well. The four of us are having a lot of laughs and the highway is terrific. It would be even better if we weren't riding in the rain for so much of the time but the forecast for later this week is beginning to look better so we're remaining hopeful.
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