started walking up the closed section of road. We ended up walking all the way to Logan Pass. Along the way, we spotted many Mountain Sheep, waterfalls, snow and beautiful mountain scenery. We drove the SUV back to East Glacier, turned it in, then had a nice relaxing dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town.
ay is Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. They have been great finding us host families to stay with and providing meals for us. Stewart, Dan, and I are staying tonight with Allen and Carey Chery and two of their grandchildren. Tomorrow, we’ll be traveling along the southern boundary of Glacier National Park. Several of us wanted to ride on the Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park but it’s still closed over Logan Pass due to extremely high snowfall this winter. The road crew is presently working on a snowdrift over the road that is 75 feet deep. 
so off we went. It was worth it just to see the smile on Paul's face when he entered British Columbia, Canada. We took some pictures, went to a duty-free shop, then rode back to Eureka where we were able to take showers before a delicious potluck served by our host church, the First Baptist Church of Eureka. 
that an “old” guy can keep up with them. As we rode next to the kootenai River, a bald eagle flew about 30 feet above our heads. Today, we averaged a speed of 18.2 mph even though we had over 2500 feet of climb. Along the way, we stopped at the Kootenai Falls and swinging bridge. There is still a lot of snow melt so the water was going over the falls in a torrent. We lost an hour today switching from Pacific Time to Mountain Time. We reached Libby at about 4 p.m. and went to our host church, Christ Lutheran. They put on a nice potluck meal for us and we gave a presentation on Youth for Christ. Mike and I are staying at the home of Joyce Lelm, a lady in the church. I haven’t been able to befriend Joyce’s cat yet but I haven’t given up hope.
g. I was tempted but didn't wanted to ride with wet cycling shorts. After our long break, we pedaled the rest of the way to Clark Fork. We are being hosted by a beautiful new youth center called "The Filling Station". The couples that have overseen its construction have operated on faith. The building is debt free. It's been 10 years in the construction and is almost completed. We were served a great dinner and then presented our program on Youth for Christ.
lained that it was in Idaho.They live right next to the Washington-Idaho state line. I stood in the middle of the street with one foot in Washington and the other in Idaho. At 6 p.m., we went back to the church for a wonderful potluck dinner. It was great. My daughter's not going to like this but two of the dishes I sampled included bear and deer meat. They were quite tasty. After dinner, we went outside for photos then came back inside for a presentation on the ministry of Youth for Christ. I was asked to lead 3 worship songs. I'm glad I brought my guitar. I've been able to put it to good use the past two days. Well, we've completed 1 state and have 13 to go. This has been a great ride so far. Everyday is a new adventure. We've found that people have been incredibly kind and hospitable to us.Today was a rest day. We take Sunday off from riding for a much needed rest -- or at least that's the plan. I cheated a bit and did a 9-mile bike ride with Paul Luedtke and his host to keep loose. Before the ride, we attended our host church, the First Congregational United Church of Christ. Our group made a presentation on Youth for Christ. I was asked to lead a worship song on my guitar. We did "In my life Lord, be glorified. For the last verse, I asked them to choose a mode of transpotation, such as "on my bike", or "in my car". I did manage to get a 2 hour nap so I did get some extra rest. At night, our host Leif Jakobsen treated Bill Smith and I to a pizza dinner. After dinner, Bill and I showed him how to play one of our favorite games. Hand and Foot.
Ride distance: 59 miles; ride time: 3:56; calories burned: 3805; ascent in feet: 4105. Today started out with a pancake breakfast cooked by a former Sargent Major and his wife from the Nazarene Church. It turns out that they were acquainted with our ride director, Bryan Blomker. Their children were both in Bryan's Young Life group in Germany. The ride went well. We made it to the top of the pass before noon and had lunch at a campground on the Columbia River which is called Lake Roosevelt due to the Grand Cooley Dam which has created a reservoir with a 5000 mile shoreline. We arrived in Colville in mid-afternoon and went to our host church, the First Congregational United Church of Christ. We were greeted warmly by the pastor, treated to a table laden with snacks, and then sent off to our hosts' homes. Bill Smith and I are staying with a retired merchant marine captain from Norway. He has been a wonderful host with fascinating stories to tell. We went out to eat at a local restaurant, The food was great.
Ride distance: 57 miles; ride time: 4:15; Calories burned: 3720; ascent in feet: 4588. The pastor of our host church, John Smith, made us a very nice pancake breakfast before we set off. The ride today included one mountain pass, Wauconda Pass. The group is getting more accustomed to hill climbing but it still provides a challenge. We don't try to stay together as a group but most of the riders ride with at least one or two other riders who cycle at a similar pace. I found that I tend to be faster than most of the riders going up the hills and slower than most going down the hills. I guess I lost a bit too much weight to get the full effects of gravity. By mid afternoon, we had arrived in the town of Republic, Washington. We found out that there was another Christian cycling group in town at the same time. This group was the World Vidion team and they too are riding across the country. There was some confusion with one pastor in town about which group had requested his church to host our group so as a result, the Church of the Nazarene came to our rescue with 12 hours notice and hosted or 13 riders and 5 support people. Members of the church dropped off sleeping bags, pillows, and some mattresses and we slept at the church. The church put on a delicious dinner for us. Several of us played music in the church. We have several excellent musians in our group including Arek from Lebanon and Emma from Northern Ireland. They both play piano. The pastor also let us use two sweet sounding Taylor guitars for our jam session. After dinner, many from our group went over to the the Youth Dynamics Center where the other cycling group was staying. They were having youth night and had invited the Christian Crusaders motorcycle club to speak. Several of the men gave excellent testimonies. All had been radically changed by the Lord.
Ride distance: 48 miles; ride time: 3:18; calories: 3075; ascent in feet: 4670. As you can see, we been doing lots of climbing and burning lots of calories. We try to meet our nutritional need s by eating lots of good food. This morning, the Baptist Church fed us pancakes and sausage to get us started. Pastor John Smith made the pancakes were were cooked to perfection. The ride today included another difficult climg over Loup Loup Pass. I got a late start due to a broken spoke nipple on my rear wheel about 2 minutes into the ride. Fortunately, I was able to use the spare wheel that I had brought along. Later in the day, I was able to get the original wheel fixed. I replaced the spoke nipple and my friend Paul Luedtke from Switzerland trued the wheel for me. It took me about 1 hour to catch up with the group shortly before reaching the top of the pass. This was a short day of riding. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon in Riverside and received a warm welcome from Pastor Rick and his wife Marilyn. After showers at the pastor's house, we went to Oman for a youth rally and dinner. After the rally, we were driven to the home of Bob and Hattie, our hosts. We were served some homemade apple pie which was delicious. We are blessed.
Ride distance: 97 miles; ride time: 6:19; calories burned: 7338; ascent in feet: 7282. We started the day with a delicious breakfast at the home of John and Mary. Today was a day that all of us on the ride with long remember. We climbed through the Cascades passing dozens of waterfalls from the snow melt and some fantastic scenery. The ride itself was gruelling. We had to cycle over two mountain passes: Rainy Pass and Washington Pass. All the riders found this to be quite a challenge but all were up to the task. John Duncan, the Youth for Christ director of the Europe, North Africa, and Middle East Area called this the hardest thing he's ever done but all thought it was one of the best things he's done. Our original stopping point was supposed to be Mazama but the host church our director found was in Twisp, about 20 miles beyond Mazama. We were hosted by the Baptist Church in Twisp. They made us a nice spaghetti dinner served by some of the ladies in the church. There were not enough host families for us to stay with so some of stayed in local motels.
Ride Distance: 82 miles; Ride time: 5:32; Calories burned: 5093; Ascent in feet: 2643. What a great day. Our entire group met at Anacortes Christian Church at 7 a.m. and then rode to Washington Park, our Pacific Ocean starting point. After a word of prayer led by John Duncan, we dipped our bike wheels in the water and began our trip. This was a good starting day. There were some hills but nothing of any consequence. When we reached Marblemount, we were greeted by Pastor Nichols of the North Cascade Community Church. We were treated like royalty by the members of the church. Four of us including myself stayed with Lewis and Carol Besio. They are relatively new Christians and were very hospitable. After we got settled and had showers, we went to the home of John, Mary, Angela and Caleb for a delicious barbeque. John and his family made the beautiful house they live in out of lumber they cut and milled on their property. It has been 12 years in the making and it is quite a sight to see.
Hi Everyone. Today, Nancy and I traveled from the Seattle area to Anacortes. We met all the riders as well as the support people for the ride. The riders were given Sea to See jerseys as well as other items for the trip. The orientation went well. I thiink the group will work well together. For dinner, we went to a local restaurant overlooking the water. John Duncan, the Europe, Middle East, and North Africa Area Director of Youth for Christ gave a talk that was very encouraging. Our adventure is afoot!
Well, here I am in Seattle the night before our orientation. My wife and I had a great visit over the weekend with our son, Stephen. We've all been staying with Nancy's cousin's daughter and son-in-law, April and Aaron. They've been very kind hosts. Thanks to my son and a nice phone call from my daughter, I had a great Father's Day. We went to an awesome Sunday brunch at Ivars Salmon House in Seattle. What a place! The food was great although I ate far too much. We also were able to visit Stephen's Church, Seattle Community Church. Nancy and I were warmly received and even got to be helpers at our son's third grade classes that he teaches. Tomorrow, we leave for Anacortes. We're going to take the scenic route which will include a 20 minute ferry ride. I'm looking forward to meeting the other riders and support people. Our good friend, Bill Smith, will be a support person for the first two weeks of the ride so I will have one familiar face to see. I'll keep you posted as often as I'm able to get an internet connection. Stay tuned...
The Ride Across America starts in just one week and am I excited! It will be great to meet lots of new people, visit great places, see beautiful scenery, and share my faith in the Lord. I think this will be a time that I can reflect on my Christian faith and grow in the Lord. I did my last big tune-up ride on Saturday called the Sierra Century. It had lots of ups and downs. The total climb was 11,220 feet in 95 miles. According to my Garmin Edge 305, I burned a whopping 7,746 calories! The only bad part about the ride was the condition of the roads --they were pretty rough in places. My rear tire that I was planning to start the Trip Across America with has to be replaced due to excessive wear :( I imagine I'll be going through a few tires over the course of 4,295 miles.
I think I'm going to either lose a lot of weight this summer or eat a lot of food-- at least based on the calories I burn on some of these rides. When I'm riding in the hills, I seem to be burning around 1,000 calories per hour. On Saturday, I did the ride from Redwood Valley to Orr Springs and back. The ride was 37 miles long and had 5,040 feet of climb. According to my bike computer, I burned 2,966 calories in 2 hours and 59 minutes. This summer, we plan to average 83 miles a day. If we average 15 mph, that should take about 5 1/2 hours per day (or about 5,500 calories worth!).
