Day 1 Meet the group

RMiles 0

Well, I am sitting in the Boise airport waiting for the flight to board.  I slept fitfully last night and then at 3:15, just got tired of laying in bed and got up, got ready and left. I met up with Kait and Jace at McDonalds to get some breakfast and they are taking the pickup to park for the two weeks.  It was good to see them and they did a lot to calm my nerves.

I really don't know why I have been so nervous about this trip.  Truth be known, I think I am always this way leaving for anything.  But I would imagine just the unknown, whether I have trained enough, meeting new people, did my bike arrive in good shape, what is the weather going to do to us, all these things have been flooding my mind.  I am also sure all will be ok.

We are going to be riding from San Francisco to the Mexico boarder, right down the pacific coast.  It should be some spectacular scenery and some great riding.  We will average about 55 miles per day. I shipped my bike Fed Ex to the hostel that we are staying in tonight. This trip will be a little different than those I have gone on in that we will have a van carrying our gear.  I will still carry the days supplies, but that will make quite a difference. As of yet I have very little knowledge of the people that will be part of the trip.  I think the trip is a full trip, meaning that there will be 13 riders including myself and excluding the two tour leaders.

My transportation to San Francisco

We have quite the diverse group.  There are a couple from Toronto, Canada and the rest of us are scattered out across the US.  It will be interesting getting to know them.  The tour leaders made us a spaghetti dinner which I was so hungry by the time we ate.  I ate this morning before getting on the plane with Kait and Jace and didn't eat the rest of the day until dinner.  I don't know how that happened, but once I got to the hostel, there was no place to eat.

The Marin Headlands Hostel

The bike all put back together and the box broke down for transport.

Inside the hostel.

Good night all!!

Pre Trip thoughts

I am about to head out on a new bicycling adventure.  I have taken a couple bike trips this year.  My son Chris and I, took three days and cycles Teton National Park and some of Yellowstone National Park.  It was wonderful to be with him for those days and do something we both love to do in a place that has such beauty. 

I also took a trip this year that has become called Manscursion 1.  It was a bicycle trip that I took with my two sons and two sons in law.  We rode essentially from Sun Valley to close to Challis (skipping Galena).  We did have a SAG wagon, which required one of us to always drive, but we had a great time.  I hope the young had as much fun as I did.

The group before we took off.

The boys at redfish lake

Brandon taking a rest

Stephen trying to catch dinner

Day 12 - Another Finished Trip

It was another nice night. I think the temperature is just right with the type of sleeping bag I have and I have quite enjoyed the last two nights. We all kind of slept in a bit. I imagine that, knowing that this will be a short day, we are all not in that big of a hurry to get gone. We decided to have breakfast together since we all all be riding different routes to Sandpoint today and Kaitlin, Eli, Bill and I will take off to Spakane before the rest probably get in. I am taking Eli and Bill to the airport on our way home. It sure has been nice to enjoy this ride with everyone. I said last year as I finished up the Atlantic Coast trip that I doubted that we would ever see one another again. It has just been great to get back together and enjoy such a ride. I do thank Tim and Nancy for putting the trip together for us. It has turned out so well and I hope we have added to their vacation.

This has also been special for me having the opportunity to spend this time with Kaitlin. I know that Kaitlin has done this trip because she knows I love cycle touring, but it has just been a treat to get to know her better and to spend such time together. We had to endure some pretty tough riding time and also enjoyed some of the greatest beauty that I have ever seen. I will treasure this time with her for my entire life.

It was gain hard to say goodbye to everyone, but I am hoping that we will be able to do this again in the future. It does sound like many would like to find a time in the next few years to do it again.

Today's ride was rather short. We rode 35 miles from Bonners Ferry to Sandpoint. We had a pretty good hill getting out of Bonners Ferry, but other than that, things were pretty flat. It was pretty, but there was a lot of smoke which took much of the color from the ride. When we got into Sandpoint, we just loaded the bikes and ourselves and took off for Spokane. We dropped Boppy and Eli off and we are now in Baker City, OR on our way to spend the night at my son, Chris' home in Boise.

I am always thankful for the protection that our Heavenly Father has given us on riding. I am so thankful for the beautiful world He has created for us. I again thank Carey, my sweetheart, for letting me go out and do something that I love. I do have to figure a way to get her tone with me, but I do realize biking is my thing. I do appreciate all you good family and friends. You are what makes life worth living for me.

Day 11 - Miles!!! To the Good Ol USA

Again, we had a beautiful ride. I know that you are getting tired of me saying so, but that is what it was. Much of the ride was again along the Kootenay Lake. There was plenty of climbing. It was just up and down all along the lake. We spent the day riding with Tim and Nancy and really took our time. Maybe a little too much. There was a house a along the way that id built of glass bottles. The story is the guy had a bunch of flamaldehyde (I don't know if I spelled that right) bottles and built the house out of them. We stopped many times along the way and had snacks and then stopped for lunch in Creston, BC. It was a nice little pub and grill and we spent the time just talking and reminiscing the trip. Before we knew it, it was 2:30 and we still had to get across the border and ride about 38 more miles. It started to make me a little nervous that we would get to our destination before dark. We took off and as we got to the border, there were plenty of cars stopped ahead of us. It took 20 to 30 minutes to get across and actually felt good to be back in the good ole USA.

It was amazing how fast the terrain changed. Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint are beautiful places, but they are not as amazing as Canada was. As soon as we got back in the USA, we were back in smoke and that might have had something to do with my above stated opinion. Anyway, we had to clip along on the bike. We only stopped about every 15 miles and the stops were short. We made it to camp at about 6:00 and we had traveled 72 miles for the day. We were beat. There was some of our party that got in an hour later. We were beginning to wonder if they were having problems.

We all went out for Mexican Food. It was again fun to be there and just chat with everyone. We should sleep well considering how tired and worn out we are. It is really hard to believe that the trip will be done tomorrow. In some ways I am anxious to go home, but in others I wish there was more.

Day 10 - Unexpected Hills

We had a other great day of riding. We left Kaslo at about 8:30. We started riding early because we had a ferry to catch at 11:30. We thought we had plenty of time, but the hills were more than we anticipated and there was construction that we had to wait a time for and we barely made it. If we didn't make the ferry we could have taken it later, but we would have had to wait another hour and a half. We actually climbed a total of 3,000 ft today and yesterday, we were thinking that the ride would be relatively flat. It kind of bummed us out initially, but it ended up being a very nice day. It was a lot like Maine in that we would ride up a hill and then you would go down and be looking at the next hill that needed to be climbed. I think that I would rather just climb a hill and be done with it, but I guess that is just cycling, right?

We rode the all day along the Kootenay Lake. There is a place that in order to get to the other side of the lake you have to ride the ferry across. It was a beautiful crossing. The water was so blue and the mountains on the side is just hard to describe. I know I have said it before, but this area is just beautiful. Someday, I need to bring Carey back here to see this

We are at this little campground that is supposed to be in the town of Boswell, BC. However, there isn't much of a town. This campground is all that is here. We are staying in a "provincial Canadian park" that is next to the campground and the only place there was to eat was here. The lady, who was Italian and was carrying on conversations with Eli in Italian, just made some pans of Lasagna, so that is what everyone had. It was pretty good, but I have had better.

We had one of our group, Michigan Bill, who was going to come on this trip with us, but right before he came, he found that he needed to have bypass surgery. He had his operation a few days back and it appears that he has been keeping up with us on our trip and all. We really have missed him being with us, but are so happy that his surgery was a success and that he seems to still have his sense of humor and is doing well. Bill, we love you and wish you a speedy recovery. Can't wait until we have a chance to ride together again.

Tomorrow, we go back into the US and ride to Bonners Ferry. I miss Carey. I think this is reminding me a bit of how I felt as I went down the east coast and I am not wanting to be away from her that long again.

Day 9 - Kaslo, BC - a climb to remember

It was interesting to watch Kaitlin the last couple of days. I think I could see in her what everyone was feeling. She has been worried for days about the climb that we were to do today. We woke today to a pretty cool morning. It was in the high 30's, but we did dress accordingly last night so both of us slept quite comfortably.

We got a little later start due to the cold, but as we left New Denver, we started climbing immediately. We were heading east and crossing from the western side of these Selkirk Mountains to the eastern side. We had a 2,000 ft climb, which doesn't sound too bad, but the climb was in 8 miles, which we were worried about the grade. Kait and I just took our time and stopped about every 30 minutes and it went really well. Kait has done so well on trip. The downhill was just spectacular. It lasted for about 20 miles and was just so full of beauty. There was a creek that we followed and we saw waterfalls, beaver ponds, lakes, beautiful streams, etc etc. I do think that this ride has ranked in the top three most beautiful places I have ever visited.

We ended up traveling 30 miles today and kind of got here earlier than we usually do. That was nice. We could just read or take a nap and we all enjoyed that. We are in Kaslo, BC. It is just a small resort town on the shores of the Kootenay Lake.

I do have a Sunday School lesson I realized today. As we were climbing, I thought, "why doesn't the road more follow the creek up the mountain instead of climbing much quicker than the creek". At that point i was not wanting to climb as quickly as we were. Then as I reached the top of the climb I realized how steep things would have had to be had the road just followed creek. The engineers realized that a consistent climb is best. Many times in life, Heaven Father has us experience things in His own timetable because he knows the things that we must know and experience to helps through things that will come later in life. He is the Engineer of our life and will help us consistently grow and learn if we will but look to Him.

Day 8 - New Denver, BC

It was nice to spend a couple days at the hostel and sleep in a bed and have a bathroom and all. We headed north again today and traveled 65 miles of some pretty hilly country. There was an opportunity to head east of where we were and meet up with the group in the place that we will be tomorrow and miss the climbs that we did today and a big hill climb tomorrow. I guess in a way I was feeling a little lazy. But, I didn't and it really was a very scenic trip today. The mountains here are just so high and so covered in trees and so steep, it is just breathtaking. We traveled much of the day beside the Slocan Lake and again, it is just beautiful. We did end up climbing 3,800 ft today. Kaitlin and I just took our time and it seemed to go ok. We are in New Denver, BC and are in a camping place and it is pretty cold. Today the temperature never got above 60 degrees and I imagine it is in the high 40's out there now. I have on my thermals and wool socks and a beanie, and Kait has all that on as well, so I hope it keeps us warm.

One difference on this trip as opposed to the east coast trip is that we are eating out most of our meals. We do have oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast, but usually stop somewhere for lunch and the whole group goes and gets dinner together after we arrive in camp and shower and all. It is a lot of fun after the day is over to eat and talk. We just laugh and enjoy ourselves quite a bit.

There is no wifi or cell phone reception in camp, so I will try and send this sometime tomorrow. As I mentioned, we have a pretty big climb first thing in the morning. I think it makes everyone to be a little worried about the day.