Day 13: Sakata to Murayama

October 8, 2024

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Today was quite all right. Once again, no mountains to summit, but a lot of gentle rollers. No sun, but no true rain. It's been said that Seattleites have 50 words for rain, but the most appropriate term for what we got today was one I learned growing up in Southern California: sprinkles. And even they were sporadic at best. Hallelujah!

I feel like there's a joke about touring on a stationary bike to be had here. "Ride every day and stay at the same hotel every night!"

We started with what I call "city outskirts" riding: usually a long straightaway next to rails or flood channels, with the occasional weird sharp turn, bridge, or overpass.

Soon we were in farm country, mostly rice, on a larger scale than what we'd seen elsewhere.

The most pretty and peaceful stretch of this segment was along a levy. We had a panoramic view of the fields below.

Soon we were riding parallel to the Mogami River, which runs from the mountains near Fukushima, to the ocean south of Sakata. In this area, the river follows a narrow path with hills on either side. Most of the time we were on a national road. Construction flaggers broke the traffic up into waves due to the road being reduced to one lane in spots. It really helped us out. If there happened to be a place to pull out, we'd just stop and let the wave pass us. Then we could kick back and have the lane to ourselves for a few more minutes.

One thing I've noticed is that the Japanese aren't afraid of a little rust. In such a humid climate, it's either that, or spend a lot of effort repainting every few years.

My wife had been carrying our lunch since the first konbini we spotted. As 11am approached (sadly, no second breakfast today), we started looking for a place to enjoy it. We decided on this little train station, which wasn't in service. The waiting room had clean new benches that made for a nice picnic spot. Of course, just a few minutes after leaving, we passed a park with a covered picnic table. It was tempting enough to make us want to stop again and eat more.

The river road continued on for a while. We made plans to stop at the last michi no eki of the day.

Much to our surprise, it was all done up Korean style. There is a story here about fostering Korea-Japan friendship, but we didn't get the gist of it. Especially since relations between the two countries have been contentious for centuries. Anyway, we got a kick out of walking through the souvenir shop, which is usually filled with local products. This was all Korean stuff, from snacks and soju, to dolsot bowls and metal chopsticks. K-pop blared through the loudspeakers. It was kind of surreal. There were two Korean restaurants, but we didn't dare try that again.

After we left the river, we returned to much the same scenery we experienced two days ago: little villages, forested areas, farmland. It was nice, but we were eager to be in the city again.

A majority of village houses around here are either traditional or semi-traditional, and usually very spacious

We passed the sign for our destination city, but it was another 9km until it actually felt urban. Or really just suburban. The concept of cities here is more expansive than what I'm used to.

We made it to our hotel by 5pm, as planned. In general, we've been very good at scheduling and pacing our rides. Or maybe we've just been very lucky.

It's been six days straight of riding, so we're due for a rest. Rather than take an off day, we're going to make tomorrow a half day. There's a Montbell in Yamagata, and we hope to replace some of our clothing and gear that's on its last legs. It may not make for a fun journal entry, but it'll be fun for us!

Today's ride: 88 km (55 miles)
Total: 904 km (561 miles)

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