Day 10 - Happy Birthday!

Westport, WA to Raymond, WA - 42 miles

Happy Birthday Tan!  Our little guy turned 8 today.  We ordered a cake this morning from a bakery we were going to pass before heading into camp this evening.  The cake looked great until the bag tipped over on top of the trailer.  The words smashed onto the inside of the cake cover, but luckily the whole confection was contained.

When we rode into camp, we were greeted by a whole gang of kids on bikes.  Bins and Tan eagerly joined in the fun and added a few more miles to their odometers.  We had dinner then invited the new friends down to our campsite for cake and a chorus of "Happy Birthday."  Tan was so excited to have friends over for his Birthday even if he had only known them for 45 minutes.

 

 

Day 9 - Berries and rocks

Elma, WA to Westport, WA - 46 miles

When we were packing for this trip, I made sure that we all had cold weather gear even though I hoped that we wouldn't have to use it.  We used it the first morning.  This morning I left camp wearing my bike clothes, under armor pants and top and a thin jacket.  Luckily with what we're doing, extra layers of clothing usually come off within 2 miles of leaving camp, and we don't need them again until after dark.

Have I mentioned my favorite Washington weed?  Blackberries!  Everywhere!  A good portion of the roads we've traversed in the last 9 days are lined with wild blackberries.  We try to grab a few when we stop for a drink of water.

Tan has a different favorite activity when we stop.  Throwing rocks.  Even when he takes his break laying down, he's throwing rocks.  Stephen is mentally designing a shirt for him with a caution sign on the back and the silhouette of a child throwing rocks. 

This evening at the state park, we camped next to 4 other cyclists who are also touring the Pacific Coast.  One was from Quebec and is biking from Vancouver to San Francisco.  The other three are from Ontario and are planning to take the next 2-3 months going all the way to Mexico.  Sounds familiar.

Day 8 - Christmas in September

Shelton, WA to Elma, WA - 36 miles

We left Potlatch State Park this morning and made  at stop for groceries around noon.  By time we circled back out of the town to our route, the main road was blocked by every fire engine in the county.  We got to see a small town fire department take on a major forest fire.

Today was warmer than the past week, so we downed more water.  When we were still a handful of miles from a town, we realized that 7 of our 8 water bottles were empty or nearly so.  We could have made it to town (and we do have other options for carrying more water), but we decided to stop at the nearest business to refill.

I'd like to give a shout out to the accommodating gentlemen of Castle & Coleman Logging and Coleman Christmas Trees for their generous gifts of ice and water.  When we asked if we could refill our bottles, they immediately dug into an ice chest for arctic cold water bottles we could drink right then, then directed us to their ice maker and faucet in the barn-turned-trophy-room.  If any hunting enthusiasts are reading this, you may want to find yourself short on water somewhere southwest of Shelton, WA.  The trophy room is quite impressive.

The gifts continued today when we saw a sign outside someone's gate advertising farm-fresh eggs.  As former chicken farmer's ourselves, we rarely pass-up such an offer.  The owner told us to come get some corn from her garden as well, and we ended up leaving with corn, tomatoes, swiss chard and some unidentified squash.  We ended the day pulling more weight in food than we typically like to, but we'll never complain about a windfall of fresh produce.

Day 7 - Routine

Brinnon, WA to Shelton, WA - 28 miles

I have been amazed at the lack of mosquitos on this trip, but that all changed in the last 16 hours.  Last night when we stopped to camp at Dosewallups State Park, we immediately noticed the insane population of mosquitos.  We headed for the showers, put on long clothing and sealed ourselves in the tent to play games.  We got out of the tent a couple hours later to eat, but we ended up bringing dinner into the tent instead.  I was not sad to bid the camp site good bye this morning.  I think I found a place that rivals Houston for mosquitos in number and ferocity!

When Stephen and I were first married, he swam for BYU.  After a workout I would ask him, "How was practice?"  If there was nothing of particular interest for the day he would say, "I swam back and forth, back and forth..."  Today I asked Bins, "What should I write about our ride today?"  His response, "We rode up and down, up and down..."  I guess you could say that the actual riding is getting fairly routine.  What Bins forgot is that he and Tan turned over 200 miles today!  Stephen and I are a bit behind because we don't ride around the camp site on a daily basis.  It's possible that on this 1800 mile trip, they could rack up 2000 miles.

A bit about our gear.  Stephen is riding a Scott road bike, I am on a Trek FX hybrid and the boys are each on a Giant mountain bike.  We bought the boys the same bike model (different size frames, same size wheels), to level the playing field.  Bins could have fit a larger wheel (700 like mine and Stephen's), but then Tan would have been the odd man out having to pedal more to keep up with his brother.  Another benefit is that their tubes are interchangeable.  Stephen and I are each pulling a Burly Nomad cargo trailer.  They hold up to 100 pounds of gear.  Stephen's may be approaching that weight (especially after a grocery run), but mine holds steady at about 40 pounds.  I typically pull the tent, sleeping bags and most of the clothing.  Stephen pulls EVERYTHING else that this family of 4 needs for a 2-3 month camping adventure!  I wish I could carry more, but I guess it's good that it slows him down to our pace.

Day 6 - Lessons

Port Townsend, WA to Brinnon, WA - 36 miles

Tan is a funny guy.  For about an hour this morning he complained.  "I don't like to ride my bike.  I didn't want to come on this trip.  I'm not getting enough rest."  We went as slow as he needed, took lots of breaks and tried to remind him of his previous enthusiasm.  Nothing worked.  Eventually, I offered him a sandwich which he accepted.  It was just an open face peanut butter and honey, but that sandwich was magical.  His attitude completely changed for the rest of the day!  It was a good thing too, because today was a long day of riding.  This evening when Stephen told us that the options for tomorrow were either a short day at 28 miles or we could go all the way to the next camp site at 59 miles, Tanner was cheering for 59.  His slump was obviously due to a lack of energy, which the sandwich remedied, but in the moment he couldn't pinpoint the source of his discomfort.  I wonder how often I blame a seemingly obvious culprit that really isn't the main cause of my troubles.

Some of you may be wondering what we are doing about school.  We have home schooled our children for the last 3 years.  It definitely has it's challenges, but it's always been the right choice for us.  Although we didn't bring any curriculum books with us on this trip, we have continued the boys' education.  This morning, they had a botany lesson and counted the rings of various stumps to determine the age of the trees.  Later, when we stopped for lunch, Tanner found a book lying on a table and helped himself.  I forgot to mention a few days back that they spent most of Monday morning reading books as well.  If their schooling during these next few months doesn't amount to much, at least they are learning some great life lessons.  And besides, we did school all summer, so I guess you could say that we are taking a fall break instead of a summer break.

Today, we climbed a mountain.  4 miles up and 4 miles back down.  As we were coasting the downhill side, we saw a pair of cyclists struggling up on the other side of the road.  Stephen called out, "It's SO worth it!"  We don't know the specifics of the terrain on this trip, but we know at least that for every mile we climb, there's a mile we get to coast down.  Even if we don't make it all the way to Mexico, I hope that our boys look back on this day and know that they can do hard things and that the hard times are always worth the effort.

I saw the cutest advertisement stuck to the side of a general store in an obscure Washington town.  To protect the identity of this adorable entrepreneur, I cropped the phone number.  You'll have to travel to Quilcene if you're looking for such services.

Day 5 - Hot showers

Oak Harbor, WA to Port Townsend, WA - 20 miles

My quads have been whining since sometime on Friday afternoon.  They're not screaming, just whining.  The funny thing is that I'm apparently the only sore one in our group.  When I ask the boys if they are sore from riding, they look at me confused like the concept of having sore muscles is foreign to them.  Last night and this morning they even had reserve energy to vigorously enjoy the Thuet's trampoline.  Stephen says he's a little sore, but he may just be trying to make me feel better.

Since our 20 miles today seemed fairly leisurely, I guess it means that we are settling into daily riding as a temporary lifestyle.  We took our time leaving Oak Harbor this morning and arrived at the ferry around 3pm.  We jokingly told the boys that we had to ride our bikes around the parked vehicles in order to make our border-to-border ride complete.  They were relieved when we were asked to park the bikes for the duration of the 30 minute crossing.

Our boys used to take FOREVER getting ready for bed.  They loved to take their time in the shower, just enjoying the hot water.  Not that I can blame them; it's nice every once in a while, but as a daily ritual it was becoming a bad habit.  About 4 months ago, we instituted the 15 minute rule.  One of them sets a timer for 15 minutes, runs upstairs, showers, gets dressed in PJ's and has to be back downstairs before the timer goes off.  If they both beat the timer, getting ready for bed takes no more than 30 minutes total.  The motivation for beating the timer  is "1 point" (I'll post more about our point system another day).

The purpose of that long intro was to say that showering at state parks is a whole new experience with different incentives.  Camp showers are coin operated.  50 cents = 3 minutes of hot water.  The shower shutting off after 3 minutes is a good motivator to scrub quickly.  We do take extra quarters with us just in case someone doesn't finish in time. We aren't going to make them go to bed soapy or finish their shower with an ALS challenge. 

With rare exception we are all adjusting well to the routine and tight schedule of coin operated showers.  Now, if we could just remember to take the clean clothes, towels, soap and quarters all at once when we head to the showers (instead of leaving something behind at camp), then the process will go even smoother.

Day 4 - Blessings

Bay View, WA to Oak Harbor, WA - 32 miles

This morning while breaking camp, the thought crossed my mind that we hadn't used our first aid kit yet on this trip.  A fact for which I was grateful, but knew that by thinking it, I may jinx our good streak.  Today, we had to use the first aid kit.  What a blessing it was only for a scraped knuckle.

Off and on for the last 5 years, our family has biked to church.  This morning was no different.  Well, a little different in that we had to bike a lot farther.  We had the option to back track 5 miles to the closest chapel, or continue making forward progress and go to church in Oak Harbor, 26 miles away.  By leaving our campsite at 8:30 in the morning, we made it to church by 1pm with just minutes to spare.  Another blessing!

In the past, I've always been excited to see a "Scenic Route" sign on the side of the rode.  It means that the drive ahead will be filled with beautiful vistas.  "Scenic Route" means something very different to me on a bicycle.   I now know that "Scenic Route" in cyclish translates to very steep hills.

Shortly after crossing the bridge onto Whidbey Island, we heard an incredible noise!  It wasn't the loudest noise I've ever heard, but definitely the biggest.  I imagined I just heard a space shuttle launch or a volcano eruption.  We found out later that it was an F-18 circling the base with its afterburners.

We had planned to bike another 10 miles after church to the next state park, but we had a wonderful turn of events.  We ran into some friends at church that we knew from Stephen's BYU days.  They invited us to stay at their home for the evening.  Dinner in a cozy log cabin, a washer and dryer, comfortable beds and a beautiful view of Puget sound and the San Juan Islands were unexpected blessings of attending church. 

Thank you Thuets!!!