Day 8, Newport, WA to Clark Fork, ID

Ride distance: 62 miles; Ride time: 3:42; Calories: 4036; ascent in feet: 1476. The day started with a wonderful breakfast served by the First Baptist Church of Newport. It was great. They had eggs, bacon, coffee cake, waffles, biscuits and gravy, cereal, bagels, donuts (just to name a few things). We definitely didn't go away hungry. After a great sendoff, we headed toward our destination of Clark Fork, Idaho. Since we had favorable winds, we were able to make good time. We spent about 2 hours at the city park in Sandpoint. It is situated on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille, a beautiful lake in Northern Idaho. Some of the guys went swimming. 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.

Day 7, Colville to Newport, WA

Ride distance: 93 miles; ride time: 5:59; calories burned: 5829; ascent in feet: 3864. Our host, Leif Jakobsen, treated us to a delicious breakfast. We met at the church and started our ride at about 8 am. The group I started with made a slight detour in getting to the proper course out of town. A German Short Haired Pointer decided to follow us and the dog followed our group for at least 5 miles before we turned up the speed on a descent and left the dog in our dust. After lunch, I rode with 3 of the young guys: Zack, Paul Bayfield, and Arek. We had a strong headwind but were able to make good forward progress by forming a paceline. We took turns being in front while the others followed closely behind the next rider. Using this method, we averaged around 18 mph for about 45 miles. We got into town around 4 p.m. and were greeted warmly by members of the First Baptist Church. They had signs put up in town for us to follow to the church. Arek and I met our host family, Brian and Jeri Cass with children Thomas, Seth, Branden and Tori. We went to their house to shower before dinner. They pointed to a tree on the other side of the street from their house and explained 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.

Day 6, Colville, WA

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.

Day 5, Republic to Colville, WA

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.

Day 4, Riverside to Republic

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.

Day 3, Twisp to Riverside, WA

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.

Day 2, Marblemount to Twisp, WA

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.