We got an early start this morning but ended up having difficulty finding a place for breakfast. We ended up at a Starbucks where we charged our electronics (smartphone, Garmin GPS and storage battery). After spending time figuring out our route and where we would stay tonight all benefit of our early start evaporated. We had only covered 5 miles by 11 am. A few miles further we encountered a very steep hill and my low gear started making noise and then my knees started creaking so I walked up the hill. Of course, pushing a loaded touring bike up a hill is not easy. A few miles down the road I discovered the source of the noise from using my low gear - the chain broke (see picture below). Luckily it was the master link that disengaged. I put in a new master link from my toolkit and we were shortly back to riding. It was a surprising thing to break because I have never broken a chain before. Of course, the master link had been installed, uninstalled and then reinstalled and I think you are only supposed to use the link once! Met a women cyclist named Atlas who is doing the exact same ride as us although I suspect she will leave us in the dust and we won't run into her again on the route unless she takes a rest day or two. Ended up doing about 56 miles today which puts us in Elma, WA for the night.
