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Wednesday 8th September 2004

From Lake Sylvia State Park to Belfair State Park, 69.5 miles, according to my pedometer (though about 5 of those miles were cycled when completely lost in the city of Shelton). Today was a day of steady rain. It wasn't cold, and the scenery is pretty, being a series of wooded shallow valleys, some with lakes in. The heavy traffic and rain didn't make it so scenic however. After a breakfast supplied by the local Thriftway, and a glance at the local library's maps (which showed that the road we'd initially thought we'd take, past Shafer State Park, was gravel and that we'd likely as not get very lost - so we took a simpler route) we sped out of town on the road that parallels the dual carriageway/interstate, going NE. Eventually reached McCleary, where we headed over to Shelton. In Shelton we got very lost, and passed through the town centre three times before finally getting out of the town on Highway 3 North (by which time it was getting late at 4.30pm). Guy slipped on some railroad tracks and fell off, on one of our abortive attempts to leave Shelton by the right road. A man nearby said that he'd seen many a cyclist slip off there - the tracks cross the road at a sharp angle, not the preferred 90 degrees - "They all do that! We had one with a broken hip once, we had to take him to hospital" to quote! Some locals stared at Guy, lying in the road and then brushing himself off, but none helped nor did anyone enquire whether he was OK. Even the dogs, which barked endlessly, weren't quietened down, but just allowed to bark and bark. I don't have a good image of Shelton! - it may be a nice town, but it could sure use some traffic signs and a bit of cycle friendly road design! We reached Belfair as it was getting dark and headed into a Chinese restaurant - which seem to be an excellent deal for vegetarians in the USA since they've always got tofu on the menu. Then on, with lights on, to Belfair State Park (3 miles out of town), where we pitched up in darkness in a woodland glade.

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