SNAPSHOTS FROM THE PAST THREE DAYS
It might be hard to define what’s “typical” only four days into the journey, but so far our days have been filled with a lot of intense activity: setting up/tearing down tents; preparing meals; grocery shopping; packing, unpacking, and repacking; repairing/maintaining the bikes; meeting at various churches along our route; and–not to forget the biggest, most physically demanding chunk of our day—biking ~80 miles over the span of about 9 hours (depending on our speed, the terrain, any mishaps that might occur, and the length of our breaks).
And yet we still find the energy to have fun, laugh, and discover beauty in this journey almost every step of the way. …Though of course it helps that we’re also traveling through a very beautiful corner of the world: Oregon. In four days we have seen so many diverse landscapes that it seems incredible we’re still in the same state. First we got to see the sun set over the Pacific Ocean on Sunday night, get within spitting distance of Mt. Hood the next afternoon, sleep in a spookily quiet national forest our second night, and camp in the wild wilderness (coyotes included) the third. Then on the fourth day, today, we biked along a beautiful river valley, cutting our way through towering red cliffs and bare, brown hills where no humans disturb the landscape other than a few lonely ranchers. Every town we passed through has boasted no more than 500 inhabitants (if not less than 200), and it’s been taking a little more work and a few more prayers to find the water, grocery stores, and campsites we need. In one tiny town called Antelope, we partook of their water to get us through the rest of our ride … only to read a sign later on that Antelope’s water had E. Coli in it: “Do not drink!” Woops. Well, we’ll all just get some fresh water from the nearest rancher, and pray a bit harder tonight for everyone’s health. No worries. 
Stories like that, I’m hesitant to suggest, probably won’t be in short supply this summer, especially with all these up- and down-hills to keep things a little more scenic, and exciting. In fact, it’s my personal opinion that down-hills really are God’s answer to bikers’ prayers on the uphills.
(The Midwest, then, must be an answer to parent’s prayers for less dangerous terrain.) After our climb up the first ~4000 ft pass through the Cascades, we relished that next downhill with a gusto that can only be compared to a starving man eating his first big meal. Imagine taking a couple hours to climb barely a handful of miles, and then covering double, triple that distance on the other side, in half the time. It truly is glorious!
Tomorrow we look forward to a 60-mile gradual but steady climb; I confess I’m already praying that the proceeding downhill had better be worth it. The most exciting moment for me so far, was when I saw a sign announcing “6% descending grade next 8 miles” at the end of a day that had involved three fairly steep, significant climbs. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a road sign.
More stories to come from more members of the crew… But I’ll just end by saying, if this is my life for the next 7 weeks …it’s gonna be a beautiful ride!
~ Kendra
July 17th, 2006 at 11:52 am
For all the safety conscious, just a question….
Got another helmet for the cracked one? We sure don’t want the nexted cracked thing to be Tim’s head! Just a Mom.
July 18th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Great journal entry and pics you posted there, Kendra! I am so enjoying reading about your progress. The scenery must be phenomenal! I’m curious what topics for discussion you found to be so “good” at the churches where you’ve already held a forum. Thanks for spending your 30 minute internet allotment on sending an update to us . . . you could have been Emailing your family and been ribbing Kyle that you can now eat more than him for breakfast.
God’s blessings and safety for you all as you continue to travel. Can’t wait for you all to get to Midway! Love, Becky W.
July 18th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Had to write again, now that I’ve looked at all the pics in both of your albums (at first I thought there were only about 8 pictures from each state, OR and Idaho). They were great . . . question: did II Timothy shave his R leg too? Other comments: Llamatoro is awesome (does he eat a lot?), Lake Union is a “10″, the OR pic captioned “View from Campsite” (#51) was amazing, and I loved 2 others: the OR pic titled “Campfire” with II Tim (I think) in the foreground and large grazing herd animals (”-) ) drinking from a waterin’ hole in the background, AND your group’s pic in front of the “elevation 3,995 feet” sign - just think: you were the equivalent of over 1/4 the way up Mr. Rainier, or 1/5 of the way up Mt. McKinley! Can tell you’re all having fun.
~Bec
July 27th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
My Dear Kendra, I hesitated to reply cause I didn’t know what to say. But now that it has been five days since I’ve heard from you and that even a recording because I was late coming home from work. (Walmart does that to me too often!) Anyway I was getting desparate to hear from you so I read your journal entry again and enjoyed the new pictures in the Photo Gallery. (Thank you for them Denver!) They are wonderful pictures! On there I can at least see that you are well and still smiling. I miss you and pray for you everyday! By the way that was an excellant journal entry. I have enjoyed them all very much. Of course moms like those nitty gritty details that describe in word pictures what you are all experiencing. Also, Kendra do you need me to send some clip sunglasses? I will see if I can find some. Love, Mom