two vegans and a woof: March 7th

Shelton to Elma
So today was fun- if fun means snow/sleet/rain.
But there coulda been a lot more uphill and a lot more miles- and no dry warm place atthe end- so really nto that as bad as I make it sound.
We heard that there was some snow forcasted for tonight/Sunday. There is a hostel in Elma that would let us bring the dog- and a room was only 35 bucks. Since it was only a 20 mile ish ride- we thought that we'd be fine leaving Shelton. We left and there wasn't a cloud in the sky-but in less than half an hour it was starting to sleet. The first 3 miles were a gradual climb, so Surly got to run about 5ish miles before it was mostly flat/decents-and it'd be easier for me to just have her in the trailer. Today was the first time she really protested riding, by whimpering every 15 min or so... she wasn't cold or thristy-justwanted to run.

The weather continued to cycle between sun, rain, sleet, hail and snow. It was hard deciding what exactly to wear...oh and thanks REI people- the gloves and jacket you said were waterproof- not so much. The jacket is pretty good, but gloves definily not water proof. We'll be likely exchanging them for something that does the job.

Cook had the hardest day...for one he got his first flat- EVER! There was a slit int he tire with some glass, and aa long shallow cut- I think from skidding down the gravel drive way from where we stayed the night before. We replaced the tube and put a tire boot on- which should hopefully hold well. Later on- his cleats were filled with sand/gravel- from standing on the shoudler fixing the tire. So while he had managed to clip into his pedals, he ended up having sometrouble clipping out---while climbing---lost his balace-and fell under his bike. Luckily just a low speed tip over on a pretty empty road.

The hostel was great- especially since we are the only ones. A hot shower and space to hang all out wet clothes was much better than a campsite...