To the Sunnyside

Early morning hops.

Agatha and Florene team up.

Me, Julie, Florene, Agatha, all very small.

Yet another easy day of 39 miles to Sunnyside, WA.

We welcomed a gentle rain this morning as we packed and started off through grape and hops vineyards (do hops grow in vineyards?). It was the first day back on the bike for one of my small group members, Agatha, since she fell and endured a slight concussion on day 1. At 77, she is proud to be the oldest rider on the Western section of the tour. In celebration of her return, our small group rode the entire day together with Agatha in the lead (she says she likes to lead because it makes her feel free). What a blast we had!

The grand total of flat tires today was 22. Our little group had 2. We blame them on an excessive amount of glass and goat heads. We have been enjoying the support of local CRC churches in the form of a refreshment stop in Zillah and dinner in Sunnyside followed by rootbeer floats and fireworks. Going this rate, we’ll all gain 10 pounds before the tour is over.

Yakima, as in the bike rack?

Tent city.
Yakima River. Alida and Jess.
Yakima River all day long. View into Selah, WA.
More of the same.

It is so hot in Washington many of us swam in a fishing pond today. After riding beside the Yakima River all day, I was looking forward to an afternoon swim, but the water was threateningly high and the current fast. The fishing pond felt good.

Last night I was woken up first by wind, thunder, and lightening. Then by the sprinkler system going off. It was a good test for our tents.

The ride today was quite easy—42 moderate miles. Most of us took our time. Alida, Jess, and I made several stops, including a “Heritage Marker” aka big rock cemented to a brick post and a coffee bar aka coffee shop/living room/convenience store/corny sign storage.

We have several opportunities along the way to serve in local communities. Tonight 11 of us served dinner at a homeless shelter. We were grossly over-staffed due to our over-zealous crowding of the sign-up sheet, so my only task of the night was to wipe of a table. But overall we were useful. It is a bit ("a bit" is a phrase I think I picked up from the Canadians) tough to do the "one night stand" service projects.

Not long after I made an off-hand comment something like, "We'll show them," refering to US patriotism for the 4th of July compared to the Canadians zeal for their July 1st celebration (which included lots of red and white, and frequent national anthem singing), we were informed that a group of Canadians bought 150 American flags for us all to sport tomorrow as an act of unification of our group. Does this prove that I am a jerk? This is really a great group of people.

Leavensworth to Ellensburg, WA

Beautiful Washington.
Ryan and I after our second long climb of the day. He pulled me up.
Stuff.
Our bikes locked to the Honey Bucket outhouse.
Blewett Pass.

Its hot! Temps are over 100 degrees. Today was another tough day of climbs, but 20 miles shorter, which was a nice break. I participated in my first "pace line," which was amazing. Its a great feeling to be hauling around 24 mph and needing to barely pedal. My eyes have been opened to the power of the draft.
Today I caught myself thinking, "Only a mile from the top," and quickly realized that I don't think there is any hill in Michigan that is a mile long. So I guess we are acclimating to the terrain well. There are a lot of tough people in this group of cyclists.
This life is good. We're settling into the routine of camp life, and cycling (I'm learning not to call it biking), and talking with strangers along the way. We are quite a spectacle-- 141 riders spread thin along the highway in our bright yellow safety vests, all shapes and sizes and speeds. We stop to talk with onlookers whenever we can, handing them our Sea to Sea "business card." It feels sort of like handing out a tract, which I'm not a big fan of, but it just has info about our ride.

I think we all have learned to pack bigger lunches. Not to put anything in our jersey pockets that we don't want soaked with sweat. And that Canadians are very patriotic.

The supper horn is honking.

Thank you all for your prayers.

Two days

It was my birthday Sunday. My good friends Moni and Dan (Seattlites) brought me fresh bakes strawberry rhubarb pie (candle and hat included).

Our first truck packing on Monday morning.
Sideways picture of the inside of the gear truck. 2 laundry baskets each.
View of the pass we just biked. Enjoying the downhill.
Tire dipping in the Pacific.
Sea of Sea to Sea-ers.

Two days down. First day was relaxed. Second was not. Today we did 80 miles, including Stevens Pass-a 4000 ft climb. Overall success. Tired legs.

Meets and Greets

We've been here at the U of Washington for over 24 hours now, and I think we are all getting anxious to start riding. The last day has been full of bike safety training, group photos, many truck unloadings and reloadings, orientations, worship, and our first Celebration ceremony, which will be happening every Sunday throughout the tour. Today we celebrated with a few Seattle CRC churches in a ballroom on campus.
Lots of meeting and greeting is going on among us riders. Its crazy how many ages and backgrounds and abilities are represented in the group. Just the large number of people to get to know is quite intimidating, but its nice to know we all have the same goals for the trip (awareness, involvement, and fundraising in the name of poverty). Hearing some stories of fundraising troubles of my fellow riders, reminds me once again of how blessed I have been by the donations I received in my name. Thank you once again!
Tomorrow we dip our tires and begin our trek East.
These pictures portray a common scene this weekend--a sea of jerseys huddled around bikes (or more often one). Random spandex and helmet-wearing is also no surprise.

I realize this post is extremely disorganized, and by the pace of our schedule thus far, I hope you can get used to it! I'll try to keep you as updated as possible, and I think I will err on the side of disorganization rather than polished paragraphs.

I can't wait to report after actual miles have been pedaled!

Synod Presentation

So close!

The excitement is here! After a quick presentation at Synod yesterday and a couple of hours of wrestling my bike into a box, I and fellow (fortunate) Grand Rapids residents were able to drop off their bikes at the Sea to Sea truck. I already feel the loss of my favorite form of transportation--I don't like being so dependent on my car to do my last minute errands, but I know this means the trip starts soon! Although I never doubted this trip would happen, there is quite a different feeling between the day I took a picture of my bike in the snow and yesterday with all the piles of camping gear and bike boxes. Getting a peek at the warehouse gave me a glimpse of the tremendous amount of work that has gone into this event.