Day 3 Done

Resting at the Rest Awhile: Kevin hard at WORK!: that's a lot of luggage: our new massage therapist, Tiffany: tribe member Linda with Flash.

Two ride days have passed since I blogged: two great days of riding for the tribe!  Wednesday the tribe hit the road and headed to Alta Lake.  It was a hot ride and I believe everyone stopped for milkshakes and smoothies at the Rest Awhile Fruit Stand.  I know we did!  We got into camp, set up and prepared the Greek Lemon Chicken for dinner.  Except the lemon juice that I thought I bought was lime juice.  So, we had Greek Lime Chicken for dinner!  It tasted great!

Thursday the tribe had a pretty easy day riding into Winthrop.  Just a warm up for the ride over the pass on Friday.  We stopped in Twisp for breakfast at the Hoot Owl Cafe and I had the largest chicken fried steak that I think I have ever seen!  I could not eat it all and that is unusual!  Aaron met up with us in Twisp with sad news: his bike rack came off of the car and his bike was drug about 35 feet until he stopped.  :(  Fortunately the frame is ok: the front wheel is toast and the saddle is banged up.  Could have been worse!

Thursday night we were joined by a group of van supported riders that are finishing up the Sierra/Cascade route with Adventure Cycling.  There are 6 riders and 2 leaders, a few of whom have ridden our supported tours.  This was a self contained tour but proved to be pretty brutal: they started the ride in San Diego, rode to the Mexican border, then criss crossed back and forth over the Sierras.  ACA sent Jack down with a van to help support them from Yosemite.  He stayed with them for 2 weeks, then swapped places with Heather Anderson for the rest of the ride.  We were also joined by a couple doing the same route self contained.  They said that as of yesterday the had climbed a total of 110,000 feet!  In nautical terms that is outer space!  By the end of the trip they will have climbed farther than Chuck Yeager made it as a test pilot!  He climbed to 112,000 feet, flamed out, then crashed the plane!  Hopefully there are no crashes for these two tribes.

We were also joined by a surprise visitor: Brian Martindale, formally the director of tours for ACA.  He and Tom and I go all the way back to the first Cycle Washington.  He used to wrench the tours before moving to Missoula and working out of the office.  I have a picture of him with Scott's big wheel on the bike stand: Scott, about 4 at the time, insisted that he "fix it"!  This is the same big wheel the he used to peddle around camp with the storage compartment filled with cold beer to deliver to the riders.  But, I have told that story before!

I tried a new salad Thursday night: shredded cabbage, Kale, carrots & sunflower seeds with a raspberry vinaigrette.  It was really good and really good for you!  We also dined on broccoli salad, fingerling potatoes, polenta with parmesan cheese, bbq'd pulled pork and Opa's sausages.  Dessert was provided by Laurie, owner of the KOA that we stayed at: a variety of ice cream bars in honor of Tom's retirement.

It's sad to imagine the in 3 days Tom will be off of the tours.  As well, in 3 days my youngest, Scott, is heading to Marine Corps boot camp in San Diego. These last 17 years have gone by too quickly.  Some things I wish we didn't have to change.

Today is Friday.  The tribe was up and eating breakfast before 6 am: it's a long way to Rockport and they wanted an early start.  The weather has turned and rain and thunderstorms are predicted in the passes and on the other side.  I hope everyone grabbed their rain gear!  I know the staff is prepared to shuttle as many as necessary.

We are getting on the road: need to re-up on ice and follow the tribe over the hill.  Talk to you on the other side.