Again, following a locals recommendation panned out into smooth, fast roads which I took at leisure to enjoy the view. Two days ago, burning up the kilometers was fun and slightly justified for safety (three cyclists motoring together are more visible than one) as we were going through urban areas and there was some traffic from early evening commute hours.
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| Farm fields near Ohira |
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| Showainari Shrine |
In trying to get to Oshu, there weren't too many hostels or places to stay in these areas in my searches. Finding another Internet Cafe in Ichinoseki there was a mall nearby and I almost went into the Starbucks were it not full of weekend kids (It was Saturday night). Sitting outside waiting to see if the crowd would thin out, I took advantage of the wifi to catch up on a few e-mails and search to see if anything would open up in hostels. I was too late to notice the mall was closing to visit the supermarket inside to get some food for dinner.
The internet cafe was noisy with a cacophony of digitized noises and darts hitting a board in the background and stinking of cigarettes. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep and was nauseous next morning rolling northward but thankful for the fresh air and pleasant scenery.
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| Entering Morioka across the Kitakami river. |
My next stop would be Hotel Kita Du Norde in Morioka. Lost again in trying to find the hotel, I wandered through Uchimaru Ryokuchi Kogen, taking pictures and imagining how pleasant it would be to live here with such a nice park nearby.
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| Uchimaru Ryokuchi Park, Morioka |
Though indicated as a 'casual hotel', the check in area and personnel made it feel otherwise with a gentleman in a suit, who had helped me on the phone to find the location, walking outside to show me in its reserved car parking spot where to park my bicycle. I felt a bit out of place but appreciative of the attention and clean room that didn't smell of stale cigarettes with the solace that I would have enough rest to get to Hachinohe Ferry port.
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| Because Godzilla rules. |
Pedaling out of Morioka on route 4 the elevation gradually rose to abut 500 meters. Almost all of the route from Saitama to Morioka never got higher than 120 meters. The gradual inclines had me barely notice the altitude until it started going downhill towards Ninohe. The road here seemed to be in bad condition from a combination of the northern winter climates as well as the laden trucks coming in and out of Hachinohe.
As I tucked in for the downhills I went around several work crews repairing road sections. On one of the downhills I bottomed out on a pothole and got a slow leak from a rear pinch flat (My only flat tire in all of Japan) and lost precious daylight removing the panniers, tent and gear to get the rear wheel off to replace the tube. I was also worried that my mini pump would not be able to get sufficient air in my TLR Elite Duster rims which need the tire almost over inflated for the bead to sit properly in the rim. Using a bit of water to lubricate the bead, I pumped the tire up and heard the satisfying 'pop' as it seated.
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| Massive rock formations on route 4 entering Ninohe |
With dusk fast approaching, I eventually found my way to the outskirts of Sannohe and took route 224 through the suburbs to avoid the heavier night time traffic favoring route 4. Near the end of 224/104 some of the road seem to have been recently laid out with closed lanes and little to no traffic or street lights. I remember several times having to stop to make sure I was headed in the right direction and equally concerned about getting to the Ferry on time.
Rolling into Hachinohe Ferry port at 2100 (There were no street lights and the signage was not illuminated), I purchased my ticket and got on the queue at 2130 to board the largest and newest ferry I've sailed on.
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| My route Sendai to Hachinohe Port |
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