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!!!

Day 3 - There's no place like home

Bellingham, WA to Bay View, WA - 20 miles

After leaving Larrabee State Park this morning, we skirted around Chuckanut Bay until we came out of the mountains.  Then, the most beautiful thing happened - we rode for 9 miles on flat open road.  It was a glorious change from the ups and downs of yesterday.  For some reason, the line "There's no place like home," kept running through my mind.  No, I'm not hankering after Texas.  I was just thinking how Dorothy's Kansas must be a cyclist 's paradise.

Since some people have asked about the logistics of this trip, so I'll include some of those details in my posts going forward.

I love to cook.  I spend a lot of time in the kitchen because I like to try out new and even complicated recipes.  Food on this trip is a whole different experience and I'm starting to enjoy the simplicity of it. 
We stopped by a garden this morning and purchased freshly harvested carrots, cucumbers, and potatoes.  A few miles later we bought corn from a roadside produce stand.  And just a little further down the road we found a tiny grocery store that sold decent honey, sour dough bread and pasture-raised eggs.  

Typically, we don't carry that much food with us at once, but we stocked up today to avoid shopping on the sabbath.

For breakfast we ate scrambled eggs, apples and bananas.  For lunch we had carrots, corn straight out of the husk, and buttered sour dough bread.  Dinner was mashed potatoes and more corn.  I'm starting to wonder why I used to spend so much time creating meals when obviously all of us are satisfied with simple, easily prepared basics.  It would be even easier to eat out for every meal, but "There's no place like home" and a home-cooked meal even when your home is a tent.

Day 2 - Optimism

Birch Bay, WA to Bellingham, WA - 30 miles

Maybe we were a little optimistic that the boys could make it 30 miles in one day, but they did awesome!  Even with stops we made it to Larrabee state park by 3:30pm.

Today we had our first big hills.  The boys knew that the uphill would be difficult, but they were motivated by the downhill coast they knew would be on the other side.  It was also motivational when they passed Dad going up the hill.  My favorite quote of the day came from Bins.  "That hill looks sweeeeet."  One of the reasons we got them each a bike computer was so that they could see their statistics and be motivated by them.  It worked!  They loved knowing how fast they were going and comparing with each other.

Speaking of motivation, we decided to reward the boys for today's long ride.  We bought Haribo gummy frogs at the store and planned to give them each one after every 5 miles.  Soon, they started referring to our distance in frogs.  "How many more frogs till we get to camp?"
After arriving in camp, Stephen and I were lying on lawn while Tan played on the play ground.  Bins walked up and I told him he could either get out some energy out on the play groud with his brother or sit down and do nothing like his parents.  His response: "Can't we ride around a little or something?"  Me: "Are you kidding?  30 miles wasn't enough for you?''  Where do they get all this energy?

The evening was warm and we turned in early. It would have been a perfectly peaceful night if not for the train that rumbled through camp... 200 yards from our tent..horn blasting...6 different times.

Day 1 - "O Canada"

White Rock, British Columbia Canada to Birch Bay, WA - 18 miles

If you look on a map, it may not be 18 miles from White Rock to Birch Bay.  Considering the route we took plus a visit to the grocery store and biking around the camp ground, that's how many miles Stephen and I logged on our bike computers.  Our boys, on the other hand, logged 22.  While we were packing the trailers, they just couldn't sit still and wait.  They biked circles around the storage facility where we are leaving our car for the next... who knows how long.

We started our ride in Blaine, WA, but to make it officially border-to-border, we first rode north into Canada.  We even got stamps in our passports to prove it.  After a short ride to Peace Arch for a family photo, we proceeded south across the border again.

We anticipate this trip will take 2-3 months, but in order to get a taste of accomplishment on day one, we stopped at a Mexican Restaurant for lunch.  Canada to Mexico only took us about 30 minutes.

I have the camera, but I realized soon into the trip that I had to reign in my desire to photograph every point of interest.  If I pulled out the camera every time I wanted to, this trip would easily take 6-12 months.  With fall on its way, we don't have that kind of time.  We saw murals, rusted iron sculptures and some of the biggest sheep in the world!

We got to our camp site in Birch Bay State Park at 3pm.  Bins was willing to go 20 more miles to the next camp site, but Tan wanted to be done.  We've said all along, that we're not in a rush, so we set up camp and spent a leisurely afternoon.

After dark, I stepped out of the tent to retreive our bike computers and noticed something rustling in the bushes.  I called Stephen out to investigate with me and we found racoons trying to get at our breakfast.  We were able to scare them away and luckily learned early in our trip that a clothes line doubles as an effective food suspension mechanism.