Steven's Pass

For the first time on our trip, 2 days in, we have internet access and I can begin my tour blogs! I'm sitting in front of the Icicle River Middle School in Leavenworth, WA. Everyone is relieved to be here after a long, long climb up Steven's Pass. We climbed 4000 feet of elevation at a 7% grade and it was tough, no question about it. Tomorrow we get to do approximately the same thing, just on a lesser scale. The bonus is that I'm developing buns of steel - ha! I partnered all day today with Wiebo Maarhuis, age 67 from Chilliwack; two of his children are members of our congregation. We're sticking together for the climb tomorrow again too. That's him in the picture with me in front of the Leavenworth sign.

Everything on tour is going well so far. The weekend orientation at University of Washington was OK but everyone was just anxious to get going. The send off breakfast at Puget Sound was great: great food, great people, great weather. We went out in our bike safety groups, each group consisting of 12 people. 20 kms in we had our first incident: Agatha, 77 years old, not paying attention, ran into a metal pole at an intersection, ended up with a concussion, so we had to call 911. She's OK but won't be biking for the next couple of days.

The big thing so far has been the weather. It was hot in Seattle, and it's hot inland. Today's temperature halfway down Steven's Pass was 102 degrees F. In that heat it's hard to put up a tent, much less make up your bed in it while you're sweating buckets. It's now later in the evening and it's cooled down somewhat.

Diane is enjoying the cook crew but struggles still at times with second thoughts about biking, still wishing she could have done it. It's hard for her to see the bikers coming in all excited and not being part of that. On the other hand, the cooking crew has a lot of fun together, and she's making a real effort to get to know everyone. She got to know one person particularly well yesterday. She was in a SAG vehicle directing cyclists near the end of the day, when she saw someone she thought was me, looking exhausted. She felt so sorry for "me" that she went over to "me" and expressed her sympathy and then gave "me" a kiss, except that it wasn't me! Whoever it was certainly appreciated the gesture!

I'll post a few pictures as well from the orientation weekend. A couple are of the De Wolde family who were in Seattle to see John's brother off and to see their pastor (me) off. It was great to see them there. I hope you enjoy the pictures! Now it's time to sign off and head for our tent. Tomorrow is another big day. Hope everyone is well...our love to you all... Ciao.