HavengaBikeRide

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/91850705 We may be crazy as we got up about 4:45 this morning so we could get a good start on the day. It was a beautiful morning as we left the campground and started right away climbing which is what we expected being down on the water  Beautiful alpine views of the snow on the mountains and the forest slopes below. The climb was especially challenging at first but then much more doable after getting out of the valley, with an almost continual climb for about half of our bike ride today.  Over a mile in total elevation gain today as well as covering about 65 miles total distance.  We were then challenged by a light rain which became a little bit heavy rain which became a much heavier rain.   The rain started during the last part of going up the pass and then worse a we descended from the pass.  We had been hoping for a fun coast down after our long uphill, but instead turned out to be a cold miser...

Woke a little bit after five, it was raining pretty hard so went back to bed and didn't get up till after six.  Had an exciting breakfast of tortillas with either cheese or peanut butter.  It was still raining when we left.  As we left our cabin Jim stopped for a moment to turn on his odometer and Kay kept riding.  She got a fair distance ahead of Jim who could just see her a few times or the next mile or two and then he did not see her.   He pedaled about 10 miles or so looking for her and never saw her again.  Meanwhile, Kay stopped at the church we had worshipped at to wait for Jim there.  As he didn't come along she started back to see if he had some trouble as she had the tools.  She got all the way back to the driveway of the resort without finding him  Had Jim turned off to go to the ranger station?  But we had talked about going to the visitor center farther along instead. So she pedaled on past the church up the road. ...

 Had a fun time with our "Warm Showers" hosts. They are very gracious and fed us an amazing salmon that came from an Alaskan fishery they used to own. They also shared about how they  own a couple electric bikes that they store in Europe and a couple times a year go over and travel in different countries for a few weeks or longer. They had a beautiful view of the Juan de Fuca Strait. The pictures are of our hosts the view from their front window and just in the distance you can see Vancouver Island.  A tiny bit of comedy is before we got to their house, Jim got a text saying, Welcome to Canada, and that Canadian cell phone rates would now apply, just like we received on Drummond Island last summer.  Both times we must have had a stronger cell signal from a Canadian cell tower than from the US.

Hike along Skagit River https://ridewithgps.com/trips/91650205 Sunday was supposed to be a rainy day so we planned to take a rest day and are spending 2 nights in the cabin pictured below. We slept in until 7:00, then had a bagged salad and tortillas and cheese for breakfast.  The following is our walk along the Skagit River.  The water is a pretty bluish-green color.   The mountains around us were draped in clouds.  Our walk took us to Inspire Church, a joyful body of fellow believers.  We were blessed singing songs of praise and hearing the sermon from Phillipians on joy even in midst of struggle.   Our bodies were also nourished as they had a meal afterwards of tasty hamburgers.   We have spent this rainy day planning for the next few days.  Tuesday June 1 will be  challenging as will be going over a 5477 foot pass.    

 We were impressed with the "limited" continental breakfast at Cocusa motel in Burlington Washington where we stayed Friday night. We got a little bit earlier start and we're able to take routes that were close to but off from 20 for quite a while. This made for fairly quiet roads.     If you look closely at the picture you'll see the "sale today" sign and the sign by the road even says "flea market." We were looking for something like this because our warm showers hosts said we'd have cold weather in the mountains and said be sure you have plenty of warm clothing.   So we bought some used clothes for a donation to the senior center holding the sale to help keep us warm: some thicker socks & mittens ,thicker hat and an extra jacket layer for each of us.     It was fun to experience the valley getting smaller and the mountains getting closer as we worked our way up the Skagit Valley.  The river is wide and powerful  and at one po...

Had a very pleasant ride of about 26-27 miles from the Warm Showers hosts to Anacortes. Our route gave us some pleasant views of the bays. We also went over a very impressive high bridge over Deception Pass between the two islands and had a beautiful view of the rock walls and the current flowing through the narrows very rapidly.  In Anacortes we spotted a bike shop called  Bike Lab and as we were having some mild trouble with a derailleur we stopped in to see if they would be able to work on it then. The gentleman was very friendly and made it work better so we are happy.  Had fun lunch at the Calico Cupboard while waited for our bike to be repaired. The Tommy Thompson Trail went across the bay so had amazing views. The seagulls have learned to drop clams on the trail to crack them open  for their lunch leaving shells behind to injure bike tires. We are staying at a pleasant hotel in Burlington, Washington with a grocery store next to it where we boug...

We went from Shoreline Washington to near Fort  Ebey State Park in Washington.  Fort Ebey will be our most western point on our trip.    It was too difficult to get our bikes to water edge, Strait of Juan de Fuca in background, we also were blessed with 🌧️ https://ridewithgps.com/trips/91346169

We had a great breakfast with Gary and Debbie and left about 8:30 in the morning.  Today was a day of beautiful flowers, a port with huge number of shipping containers  and downtown Seattle.  We even got to see part of Mt. Rainier when clouds lifted.   We discovered Seattle and surrounding communities have some impressive hills.Jim showed his lack of coordination and fell over on his bike when front wheel got just over edge of sidewalk. Dignity decreased, slight scrape to knee and word used that Grandpa shouldn't use. We are staying with Kit and Jan Flowers, friends from Christian Veterinary Mission, great food and fun conversation. Discovered that just putting in an address correctly and assuming it's a certain city can end  you up in the wrong town and add about 15 miles to your day.  So we discovered legs are in better shape than we thought because we ended up doing 76 miles today. Started in Puya...

The train ride was on time.  We got picked up by Kay's cousin and Debbie and her husband Gary, had a fun time chatting and then worked  on assembling the bikes. Test ride just for a few miles and a few things had to adjust but no major issues. Spent too much time fixing up bikes and talking and having some pleasant meals together and not much time blogging.  

Not a good train ride for Tom turkey.  We saw him at a refueling stop in Minot, ND.  We did a 0.7mile walk back and forth along the train plus some stretches.  We have seen an amazing amount and variety of waterfowl in ND in multiple ponds, marshes, streams and ditches along our route.  Soon after leaving Minot, we heard an awful clattering under us and the train slowed to a stop. An announcement: an air hose was broken so we had to stay put until it was repaired. This afternoon we have been traveling across Montana. 

Began trip with reading of Psalm 121 and how Lord protects your coming and going.  Train ride has been a fun time. We went to Milwaukee, across Wisconsin, and sometimes paralleled the trail that we had taken on our family bike ride last year. Fun to see some of the same places.  The forests are beautifuly leafed out.  Great dinner in the dining car--linen tablecloths, fresh flowers and a three course meal.  and the fields look green and fertile now.  Getting beautiful views of Mississippi as we are on Minnesota shore going parallel to river as sun is going down.  Picture is impressive dinner with some wine which is part of slleper package.  

In front of Union Station We got home late Saturday night from  our niece's wedding. The excitement of the trip got us up an hour before the alarm went off. Jim brought the last load of line dried towels back to clinic. He then with Kay's assistance shaved his beard and hair much much shorter than he ever has for a long long time.  Finished taping boxes then Dave and Julie picked us up and off we went.   Got our baggage carted in and checked. Jim got to carry one of bikes to lower non public area while red cap took other bike.  Then we took a quick walk almost out to Lake Michigan and back. Had to wait for a parade of motorcycles with people all dressed up for a prostate cancer awareness fundraiser.   Discovered with sleeper we got snacks included while waiting in a special area. Train is MOVING we left on time.

14 days before we leave, I (Jim) chewed on something hard so I was careful so wouldn't break a tooth.  Cleaned out my mouth and then noticed sharp edge on a tooth--oh no cracked tooth! A praise,  called 730 right when the dentist opens and they got  me in 15 min later and got temporary 👑.  Then was able to get the permanent crown done before we leave. Praise the Lord!

We had pleasant weather in West Michigan; we did a house call  for a 41 mile ride.  Last ride on our individual recumbents before the trip.  Jim was pleased was able to use Garmin for navigation on roads we are familiar with so beginning to understand it's plus and minus factors.   Jim spent a few hours and had some help from our neighbor Mike working on dissembling our bikes. We got Kay's bike actually all in a box and ready to ship. 

We're having another rainy day we hoped to get in a 30 or 40 mile bike ride this afternoon but cannot because the rain so our preparation miles are way below what we hoped for.