Tohoku Touring 2012: Day 4

It was a windy night but slept well. Kakunodate is only around 10 km due south and enjoyed the warm up ride on the nice wide smooth pavement. Arrived around 7:00 at Kakunodate and the place is still deserted with people. Kakunodate is sometimes called small Kyoto. This town is one of the best place to see Samurai houses and got a feeling that the town is still active from the old days except for some signs of commercial establishment if front. There are old houses with big lots and very old trees. I criss-crossed the square streets and then stop by the station to confirm working train stations around Ofunato.

I then followed R46 (also known as Akita Kaido) and this national road should take me to Morioka. The road slowly climbs and then steepens on the last 10 km towards to peak. The climb from Akita side has a lots of tunnels with the longest tunnel of around 2.4 km at the top.  Another long descent and then stop by Michi no Eki for lunch. There is also a hot spring in this parking area. I decided to take a dip knowing that it will all be downhill to Morioka (no sweat). I rested a bit to digest my lunch and chatted with some local before entering the hot spring. Leaving the bike and luggages unattended for a time always worries me on a tour like this, so took out my long lock and tied the bike and luggages together to a post and hope everything will stay as they are. The bath was nice and also did my laundry inside. Feeling refresh again, I hang the wet clothes on the panniers hoping they will dry out in couple of hours. I diverted away from the national road into a nice small roads leading to the dam and then continued to Morioka. Scouted a place to camp at Morioka Central Park then proceed to the station for early dinner of Reimen (冷麺). Returned back to park and setup camp before dark and call it a day. I expect to wake up very early tomorrow to catch the 6:00 train to Kamaishi. I needed to take the train to meet the other volunteers on time at Ofunato.