Fargo, North Dakota

I think we've decided to hang out here in Fargo, North Dakota for another night. The plan was to leave today after taking care of a few things, but Fargo is actually much nicer than expected. We had a few things to take care - bike shop, post office, shave beards into mustaches (karl only).

The bike shop in Fargo, Island Park Cyclery, is nice and incredibly helpful. Tom helped us tighten Devin's bottom bracket and gave us a good route out of town. This was the first decent bike shop since Whitefish, MT.

We're about to go use the $100 Scheels gift card given to us by a farmer named Kevin in Arthur, ND (Scheels is the REI of North Dakota). I met Kevin and some other nice guys at the gas station getting their morning coffee before heading out to work. We talked for a while about farming, biking, missile silos and other things. They are growing soybeans, corn, wheat and sugar beets. The farming communities here in eastern North Dakota seem to be doing very well.

We have traveled far enough now that people don't believe us when we tell them we biked from Seattle. They have a lot of questions, mainly - why did you ride your bike here from Seattle?

A few more errands to run - we'll update again soon!

Donald

No matter how far ya' go, ya' won't find no place like Fargo!

A Poem


All of our children
will grow to hate us some day.
Not because we've ignored them, or been abusive or neglectful.
Not because we gave them bowl haircuts
the night before the first day of seventh grade,
or because we never knocked when we came into their rooms to tell them to get jobs, or stop dating that twit
or shave that...that... whatever-the-hell-it-is off their upper lips(wink).

They won't hate us because we forgot their birthdays or their names
or their release dates.
They won't hate us because we squandered the fortunes they made
as child-prodigies or sitcom actors,
on women who weren't their mothers
and sleeveless concert t-shirts that weren't their school shoes.

No, our children will hate us
for enriching their lives.
They'll hate us for making one safe, sane decision
out of the multitude of reckless, selfish ones.
They'll hate us
for placing importance on their development
into well-rounded, fruitful individuals.

Our children will not hate us because
we were bad to them.
They will hate us
because we were good to them.
They will hate us for a simple reason.
They will hate us
because they were lucky enough
to have spent every summer,
of their developing lives

In North Dakota.



N.D. re-cap is forthcoming! I promise,but I've got the Rushi in me and I think the California roll is coming back up to say "far out brah!" I'm having a little trouble sorting out the last couple days' events but we'll be there soon. Let's just say, Talapia is much better when you cut out the middle-man and about two thousand miles, Fargo is great and not at all "funny lookin'," and Minnesota, as far as I could tell from my spandex-clad crawl up the muddy bank of the (wink again) mighty Red River, is as sweet as a folded up Land-o-Lakes box.

North Dakota has been very good to us and we love her.

Thank you all and good night from Fargo...Fargo North Dakota.
-Karl

RUGBY, NORTH DAKOTA

This morning's blog entry has special significance- it shall be transmitted to the world wide web from the geographical center of the North American continent. I don't know if that means it will reach our readers in the Yucatan and on the north slope of Alaska at the same time, but it's cool nonetheless.

Apparently, Rugby is also the galactical epicenter of extraordinary hospitality, courtesy of Rob and Michelle Bollinger and their 5 children. They invited us to crash in their basement for the night and make us dinner, in addition to contacting local news stations for us. I think Michelle is upstairs right now making us pancakes and eggs, and her pot roast should probably win her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. How they manage to take care of us while parenting 5 (very well behaved) kids and remodeling their awesome 1907 home is beyond me, but they've certainly earned a place in the Bike the US for MS Hall of Fame. Thanks Bollingers!



If most of you are like me, you probably haven't given much thought to the state of North Dakota, so I'll provide a brief synopsis. Some time during the last ice age, a giant glacial ice sheet carved a landscape with gently rolling hills and rich layers of topsoil ideal for grasses and agriculture. There isn't much here other than hay -fields and missile silos, but it doesn't feel barren or particularly isolated, and the riding conditions are great. The towns are full of friendly people and old deciduous trees, and the entire state gives off a generally wholesome vibe.

I'd also like to thank Kim and Jill at the Minot Daily News for doing a really good story on us, and especially for publishing that the highlight of Karl's trip was going to the mall. He bought some really cute hair clips and a Justin Timberlake poster, ate a giant pretzel, and spent his whole allowance, but he's been a new man ever since. We woke up on Sunday morning eager to read our article only to find that the printing press had broken- I have trouble thinking this was a coincidence, but my theories are a little far fetched.

Today we battle a head wind towards a place called Devil's Lake. Should be to Fargo and then into Minnesota by the end of the week. Stay tuned...

-Mason

Minot, ND

We are currently camped out in Minot, ND behind the Holiday Inn at Riverside RV Park. We were slightly disappointed to find there's no river anywhere to be seen, but at least there is this nice Holiday Inn - where Karl has somehow convinced the front desk attendant into letting us enjoy the pool and hot tub. He achieved this last night after the rest of us went to sleep. I'm not sure when Karl sleeps but it must not be necessary - he was also awake when I got up and had a bunch of stories from the hotel bar last night.

We didn't know what to expect from North Dakota - none of us have ever been here before. The landscape consists of rolling grasslands and never-ending wheat fields. I never would have guessed how big the oil industry is here. Oil rigs are scattered throughout the hillsides and Halliburton trucks outnumber normal vehicles, at least from Williston to New Town.

Yesterday I'm pretty sure we stumbled across some underground missile silos in the middle of a sunflower field. It was a small fenced area that was mostly concrete except for the 10 x 10 foot green door on the ground. We had been resting on the side of the road in the sunflower patch for maybe 5 minutes when 2 young guys pull up wearing full battle gear, including AK-47's and helmets. They kindly asked us to keep moving. Perhaps a sign saying "no trespassing" would be a good first defense. I guess I'm glad those two teenagers are driving around the highway with AK-47's defending our homeland from dangerous bike tourists. Maybe our newly grown beards sent them into Red terror alert mode.

We were in the Minot Daily Newspaper yesterday offering our volunteer services to people in the area and so far we haven't gotten any takers. Anyone have any ideas? It seems people don't like to ask for help so we may have to change our strategy. We are going to stay here in Minot and do laundry, hit the bike shop, and do an interview with the news station. Tomorrow we head to Rugby, ND to meet Rob and Michelle who have offered to let us stay with them, cook us a meal, and sleep in their basement - as well as hooking us up with the local television news station. We've never met these folks and they are offering their home to us! It's amazing - thank you so much Rob and Michelle.

Time for breakfast - have a good weekend!

Donald

MT to ND

Wednesday saw us pedal further across the plains and make our way into our fourth state of the trip, North Dakota. Waking up in the morning we still had the winds to our backs, and knew we had to take further advantage of them. Tuesday's distance was a bit more modest than the prior day's as we came in around 50 miles total, but we got some much needed rest in Wolf Point that night which left us rearing to go Wednesday morning.

Pedaled for a couple hours and found ourselves in Culbertson MT, where we all had the great pleasure of being treated to lunch by Julie Maier her daughters Meghan and Rachel, and her Mom Jean Johnston. Julie is a close family friend of mine from Kingman AZ and she and her daughters have been huge supporters (and blog readers) of ours. The three lovely Maier ladies have been getting back to their roots here in Montana and along with Julie's mom Jean were able to drive down to Culbertson to meet us for lunch and a great visit. It was really nice to see familiar faces, and these four happen to be particularly nice. Karl Miller's List of Potential Wives just gained a couple more entries. All four of us really enjoyed ourselves and our afternoon was much more pleasant as a result. Sincere thanks from all of us to you lovely ladies.

Also while in Culbertson, we stopped by the Post Office to pick up another huge batch of the most amazing homemade jerky ever, shipped to us by one of the loveliest of lovely ladies, my mom Sherrine. Thanks Mom, from us and the beef industry.

After a second lunch of snack food from the Maier's snacks and my Mom's jerky, we pedaled through the afternoon and eventually made it here to Willingston in time to set up camp in another city park and feast on chicken burritos.

It was another sunny day in Paradise, in total covering 102 miles with almost 6 hours in the saddle. Already we've noticed nicer road conditions here in North Dakota and look forward to more of the smooth ND road to come.

Tomorrow, we're going to pick up some supplies in town, hopefully get my bottom bracket checked out, then hit the road towards Minot.

All for now, take care, thanks to everyone for all the support!

-Devin

ps. Karl mentioned the group of cyclists we saw in Chinook. They are a group of three guys who are doing the same trip as us but in the reverse direction. During our planning stages I started reading their blog to get an idea of what we might expect during out travels. I expected we'd encounter them sooner or later and it was really nice finally meeting them. We all wished we could have spent more time with them. They've got a very well written blog which you can see here.

Home and Away in Chinook Montana

So, the plan to make it to Malta in one day sorta fell through when I found that I'd broken a spacer on my steer tube. This meant that on a Sunday morning, in quiet, most-things-closed-on-Sundays-namely-the-bike-shop-which-is-owned-by-a-jerk-so-I-wouldn't -go-there-anyway Havre, I had to go in search of a solution. This solution ultimately came in the form of a very nice gentleman named Mark that I met while trying to saw off steer tube with a dull hacksaw as it was propped on the curb in the parking lot of the Checkers auto part store. He made the mistake of letting me borrow a sharp hacksaw and when all was said and done, he'd lent me his hacksaw, pipe-vice, mini sledge, brass punch and a file. He also gave me some zip ties to replace the ones I'd cut off of my computer. Apparently a bicyclist's best friend is not a dog with roller skates instead of legs after all but, rather a man who works with natural gas pipelines and carries all of his tools with him in a large truck...with a pipe-vice on the bumper. Thanks Mark!
We didn't leave Havre until whenever, I don't have a clock. I think it was 11:30 or so. Not a good start to a 80+ mile day. Rode through construction and dirt and strong headwinds until we got to Chinook. At which point we made it official that we were going to bag it after only 20 miles. While we licked our wounds, we ate cheeseburgers and 15 pound ice creams things. Our wounds were sticky and cheesy to say the least. Upon the recommendation of a local, we set up camp on the grounds of the Chinook Water works, a nice little place with big cottonwoods, right next to the Milk River. We spent the afternoon napping and drinking water as the winds gradually increased. In the evening all hell broke loose. King Lear type stuff. Really strong winds and rain drove us into our tents for a while. Don and I went exploring a little later and found the bicycles of a three-man group headed west that Devin had been in contact with. We didn't interrupt them at dinner, but let Devin know that they were in town. He went and found them later and they camped at the same park. I think that there is a link from our site to theirs. If not, I'll have Devin do that, they're cool guys.


So blah, blah, blah. Camp, shmamp. You guys want the good stuff don't ya? You're like little fiends; just can't get enough. Well I've got something for you. Can you handle it? Ok...ready...here goes. Today we rode one hundred and forty miles. That's right. We got up, got off our cans, feasted on gas station breakfast burritos, caught a tailwind and proceeded to haul ass from Chinook to Glasgow in 7 hours of riding. It was sweet. We rode the first sixty to Malta before lunch. Had a nice lunch on the lawn of the library, and did some stretches and headstands.


Oh yeah, I did my push-ups. Well, I'd already done some but, really, I just don't feel like I ever actually get tired doing them, so I did some more. It was sweet too. Then we blasted on to Glasgow. The first half of the day was faster as the winds were much stronger and more directly at our backs. The entire way was pretty, again the qualifier you hear a lot comes up, "if you like the prairie." Sunny the whole way but not blazing hot. As we approached Glasgow, the presence of water could be seen in the green grass and tress as well as THE INCREDIBLE SWARMS OF MOSQUITOES. Holy smokes! I take A-positive in case they suck me dry. You could kill six with a single swat on your calf and by the time you'd wiped them off your hand, their buddies had come to take their places. I'm wearing my bike shorts inside-out tomorrow. Giving 'em the old "nose in the chamois" trick. We'll see if any of the little buggers wanna bite me then.



Tonight we are camped at the RV park of a hotel. The internet, showers and chance at a cold beer being very weighty in the decision making process. And, no mom, I'm not drinking too much. We each had one and then had to leave because we were all about to fall asleep. This is what it's come to. Four, twenty-something, broke, bike ridin' punks that can't even stay awake to party, crashing in the dirt of a barren RV park next to the train tracks. Maybe everybody will have it this good some day.

Havre, MT

We are enjoying round 3 at the Best Western "great northern inn" continental breakfast here in Havre, MT. Our stay at the RV park has been very convenient and comfortable - this is probably the best place to stay in town. $30 buys you access to jacuzzi, pool, wireless internet, showers and a somewhat secluded campsite, at least for Havre. Not too many trees in these parts.

Today we will try to ride 88 miles to Malta. The wind is supposed at our backs but it's been from the east the last two days. One of Karl's headset spacers cracked so he is currently looking around town to find something to act as a spacer. Shouldn't take long and we'll be on the road soon. People advise against stopping in the reservation towns so we have to really push to make Malta. Mason just advised me there is an easterly wind so it may not happen.

Thanks to everyone who has contacted us about places to stay - we usually have no idea where we're staying when we leave in the morning. Tonight we'll probably end up staying on the side of the highway, but thats not so bad way out here in the middle of nowhere. Lot's of stars and plenty of flat places to put your tent.

Donald

Glacier National Park to Cut Bank, MT

Today we find ourselves on the east side of the Rocky Mountains and looking down the long straight double yellow lines of the prairie. Things are not only different here geographically, but socially as well. We got our first real exposure to a reservation, which left us all feeling a little disappointed in the problems our society is capable of neglecting. People are incredibly friendly regardless, and we accepted an invitation from our waitress at the C & L Cafe to camp in her backyard. We sat around on the deck for most of the evening with Meghan and her mom Ann, learning more than we ever expected to know about northern Montana.
Ever heard of Hutterites? Neither had we, but apparently they are amazing farmers, cooks, speakers of German, and quilt makers, and they live around here. Karl should probably marry one.

We are now into the second phase of our trip, hoping to make good progress across the mostly flat areas of Montana and North Dakota. It's hot during the day, but apparently Cut Bank is annually the coldest place in the continental US. Biting ants swarm with particular aggression- serving as pockets of bio-schrapnel while riding and completely suffocating us if we stop. We are happy to be here though and we are actively looking to help people with MS in the towns we ride through.

-Mason

Eureka to Whitefish

After waking up in the Riverside Park in Eureka MT, yesterday started with a delicious breakfast at Cafe Jax in Eureka, home of the world's best bacon. Arriving at Jax we were met by our new touring friends Keith and Donna. We thought we were way ahead of them at that point, but as Keith so nonchalantly told Don, "oh yeah, we had an 88 mile day yesterday." They are hardcore! It was going to be the last day of their trip as Whitefish was their destination. We'll miss seeing them on the road, they are very nice folks, so nice in fact that they sneakily bought our breakfast for us. So kind. Thank you Keith and Donna!!

We eventually made our way out of Eureka and punctuated the day's ride with another delicious food stop in Fortine at Meadow Creek Homemade Pies and Espresso. Renee's huckleberry milkshakes were amazing.

The afternoon brought us a much needed swim in Stillwater Lake and a nice siesta afterward. That evening we rolled into Whitefish MT under smoky skies and near perfect temps. It had been a particularly hot day, but the evening portion of the day's ride was beautiful.

We quickly got to the important tasks of refueling and imbibing at the Great Northern Bar and Restaurant. We listened to a pretty good Irish Punk band and met some really nice locals. Our conversations eventually led us to the comfortable front yard of Lynnwood, a very kind Whitefish resident whose band will be playing their first gig tonight (Good Luck!). The sleeping situation in the yard was adequately comfortable, and all of us enjoyed it. Don, however did seem to take issue with the topography of the yard at about 3 am. It was a fun night. :)

Today, to Glacier National Park! Keep the emails and comments coming, we love them!

-Devin

Eureka

We are sitting here at the Riverview Park campground in Eureka, Montana. Today our ride took us along the Kootenai River and along Lake Koocanusa. We just had pizza and beers after a good 74 mile day. Throughout the day we passed maybe 1 car per hour and had the wind to our backs.

We are about to unleash our secret fundraising weapon - something so amazing it may ultimately cure MS. If you donate $1 you will get a kiss from Karl Miller himself. That's right! Extra value menu or a kiss from a stud - it's up to you..

Its getting late and the mosquitoes just came out. We should be in Whitefish tomorrow and Glacier on Tuesday - should be awesome.

DF

Good Morning Sandpoint Idaho

Hello all.

We survived another night on the road, although the trains passing 30 feet from our tents provided a good scare at 4 am- my tent was rumbling so furiously I thought the guys may have dragged me right onto the tracks. The morale among team BTUSFMS is soaring with our arrival in a new state, and we are conflicted as to whether we should continue making progress into Montana or stay here in Sandpoint for the rest of our lives. This place is awesome- beautiful lake, exciting atmosphere- I think Don and Devin are reliving the magic of Dirty Dancing all over again. The "rift" between them as leaked by Karl has healed, and they are even "cycling" together again. As for Karl, the man has to be the most talented random song generator I've ever known, spontaneously spouting off 3 or 4 lines of songs most likely to get stuck in my head and moving on to the next without remorse. His theory about the bull urinating on his food bag is questionable to me, as this injustice has Don written all over it. New evidence in the case of an ill-fated laptop and a swift blow from Judge Judy?

We have a nice balance of personalities in our group for a trip of this nature, some not so serious and some more motivated at times, but we all seem to agree on important decisions and the best interest of the group is usually put first. We all dealt with our first dose of adversity like champions. We have had great reception to our cause thus far on the road, with most people enthusiastic about our ride and its good natured intent. We are still trying to get our footing a bit on how to explain to people what we are doing, as we don't want to seem obnoxious or pushy for donations, but I think we will soon become competent agents of charitable procurement. Suggestions are certainly accepted.

Thanks again to all the folks who helped us get off the ground and who continue to pedal our cause, and I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say hi to my friends and family.

Also of interest, Karl just ordered "raisin bran and bacon, and uh, thats it" for breakfast. Impressive indeed.

Hello from Sandpoint!

We made it to Idaho - now only 14 states, 2 mountain ranges and 3,850 miles to go. I must say that Sandpoint is beautiful and everyone has been incredibly welcoming so far. As we crossed the bridge into town a woman looked at our bikes and said, "looks like someone should welcome you to Northern Idaho!" We are happy to be here even though it's a short visit - if everything goes well we should be in Montana in a few days.

Not quite sure what Karl meant about Devin and I bickering. I think Karl was trying to "spice-up" our blog. It worked because a few people have asked if we are getting along. Sometimes its hard to get along with anyone when you're very tired or hungry as we tend to be, but we all get along quite well and honestly I wouldn't want to ride 4,295 miles with any other guys.

A very cool older couple, Keith and Donna, are riding along our same route from Everett, WA to Whitefish, MT...and they are serious bikers! Just when we think we've passed them for good they come riding by. They are both 60ish and Keith has MS! Admirable to say the least....slow down dammit!

Tomorrow we will send out some info and work out volunteer opportunities but now it's time to enjoy Sandpoint, Idaho and this Best Western RV Park. Thanks for the emails!

Donald

Aw Yeah!

It's official. Karl has set Colville as the bar in recreation. Water falls to swim in, delicious, fresh local beer to drink, free camping in a clean site hosted by a really nice guy AND, the prospective future wives of Karl Miller club has acquired a new member. Actually thus far she's stepped directly up to the chairwoman's podium. I won't divulge too much because I 'm a gentleman but oh man! This place is cool.
Don and Devin are at it again, the constant bickering is starting to drive me crazy. I feel as though they can only relate to each other through abuse. I guess as long as they leave me alone I'll be alright, but I'm about to get together with Mason and figure out a way to "calm things down" There's a lot of empty space out here. I hope they remember that.
Anyway, yeah, things are great! My legs hurt a bit today. I think that because of my superior physical state I take a little while longer to warm up than the other guys, whatever their names are. I feel as if a small fire smolders inside of me and it takes gentle stoking and care to work it up into a raging inferno that can't even be stopped by the Devil himself. Like I say, I think the other guys aren't really putting their whole hearts into it all of the time. I guess if I make it it's still a success.
So last night, when I was trying to put up my bear bag, I got the thing about ten feet up when the whole branch broke off and came crashing down. Now, this is unfortunate to say the least but, considering my experience with bear bags thus far, namely mice eating my sugar and the good stuff out of my trail mix and the bull in Wauconda pissing on my bag during the night(it obviously wasn't in a tree), I was ready to spit. It took two more attempts, the last one with a rock the size of a small melon, to get my stuff hung up.
The Raccoons ate the grape juice and dead yellowjackets out of a plastic bottle trap right outside Mason's tent. I think that it was a sign of trust and love on their part towards Mason. I don't know why they'd want to do that but there animals so you never really know. Wild, wild animals.
I'm about done with my coffee and going to go eat my leg, because I'm starving again! I don't really know how I'm going to deal with this in places were they don't have food, like North Dakota. I guess I have to load up in Sand Point. I've got to get rid of my long johns if I want to do that. And the slingshot.
-K

Colville

We've finally made it through the North Cascade Mountain passes. It took a few days, a lot of trail mix, a lot of water and a few safety meetings. But, now we're in Colville. We've really put in some miles the last few days considering the elevation gains. Washington, Rainy, Loup Loup, Wauconda and Sherman Passes were all beastly, but we put in the granny gear and just pedaled up 'em all.


It finally feels like we are in a new landscape, desert. No more lush Western Washington forests, now we have the rolling hills and Ponderosa forests of Eastern Washington. It feels just like I'm back home in Northern Arizona, very reminiscent of the Kaibab Plateau. The vistas are huge and gold, and they just don't end.

With great results, we've done some guerrilla camping the last couple nights. Sunday we rode until about 10 pm and just collapsed in a nice and comfortable field in the country. Woke up in a bull pen, literally. All of us really got some good sleep that night though. Last night was probably the best spot yet. After a huge dinner at the Hudson Bay Steak and Seafood Restaurant (the only food stop for miles) we found a great spot outside Kettle Falls right on the edge of the Columbia River/ FDR Lake. Perfectly terraced for the tents, protected from traffic, great spot to bathe and do laundry and the best sunrise so far. It was a wonderful sleep.

Today, we are just going to hang out in Colville for a while and then head out to the hills nearby and find a nice spot to camp near a river. It should be a very relaxing day. Right now we're all in a little espresso shop, I'm on their public computer while Mason Don and Karl are on Don's laptop being preached to by an Evangelical Baptist with a sweet trucker hat on. It's awesome. Friendly folks here for sure.

Enough for now, time to go use the wheel truing facilities at the local Sports Shop and get Mason's wheel back in shape. Keep the emails coming.

-Devin

Okanogan to Republic, WA

The past 24 hours have been interesting to say the least. We woke up in Okanogan - a small town on the east side of Loup Loup Pass. After a delicious breakfast with Bill and Suzanne at "On The Ave." we head out for another great day of riding. The headwind was strong and it was HOT making the ride pretty tough. After an hour or two of battling headwinds Mason lost his front tire into the soft shoulder and took a spill. We were all tightly packed because of the wind and Karl went over with Mason. The spill resulted in a bent fork on Karl's bike and a wobbly tire for Mase. Devin did a nice job of truing Mason's wheel and we were off shortly after the incident. I think we were feeling a little over-confident so this was a good reminder how quickly things can change if we don't pay close attention. Pedaling our bikes down these highways really is dangerous so feeling totally comfortable is something we should avoid. Overall I'm proud of our attitude and ability to fix the problem and continue on our path. The fall took a little wind out of our sails but not enough to keep us from conquering Wauconda Pass and camping in a pasture under the stars later that evening.

We are now in Republic, WA grabbing some food and preparing for the highest mountain pass in Washington State - Sherman Pass. We are becoming more aware of what our bodies need to continue on these hot afternoons. One of the most important things I've learned to keep going is to drink before you're thirsty and eat before you're hungry. Otherwise you'll wake up in a random yard with someone asking if you're ok - but we learned that lesson on Day 1. We have been going through nuun like crazy - it really is a life saver on these hot days.

Well the battery is running out and we have a mountain to climb - update again maybe in Kettle Falls? Hope everyone is having a good Monday!

Donald

Okanogan dreamin and Tonasket on the rise

We stayed last night in Okanogan, after climbing Loup Loup Pass. It's short but steep. Ate two consecutive times at On The Avenue, the restaurant in Okanogan. Our hosts Bill and Suzanne were very nice and Morgen, our ever-patient waitress may very well have been the most beautiful this side of the Mountains. Thanks guys!
Coming out of Okanogan, Mason and I decided that we hadn't been rolling in the dirt enough so I promptly ran him over after he fell down. No injuries, just a bent wheel on his bike and a fork on mine. It's good excuse to go slow which is handy because it just got really, really hot!
Donald and I are sitting in the Junction in Tonasket which is awesome. They have DVDs, gas, fried chicken, copy machine, car wash, laundromat, and stuff I can't even seem to find. This may be my paradise! They also have wireless internet access. As you probably guessed we're not here for fried chicken or a car wash.
Anyway, we're chillin' in Tonasket, Mason and Devin are trying to find a place to swim and we're going to go enjoy some Okanogan breezes. Back with you soon.

Karl

Washington Pass

We finally conquered what we had been looking forward to/dreading for months leading up to the ride: Washington Pass. The whole climb was about 25 miles to an elevation of ~5,400 ft. What a beautiful area - gorgeous scenery the whole way up. Luckily we had a great tailwind to give us an extra boost, much needed for our first real test of endurance. The logging trucks and RVs also provide a nice push. It is strange how quickly I've become comfortable with huge trucks whizzing by. Most drivers are courteous and leave lots of space but there is always the occasional bicycle-hater who must speed up as they pass - or in Devin's case a few months ago slow down to tell him to "get a life, get a car!"

Coming down the pass was AWESOME and perhaps the most invigorating thing any of us have ever done. It was basically a 20 mile drop to Mazama where we stayed the night on the Methow River. It is fascinating to see the climate difference on either side of the pass - the desert-like conditions are beautiful and we finally feel like we have traveled some distance. All of us have been to gorgeous places like this but there is a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing we pedaled here.

We are currently relaxing in Winthrop, WA, a small town just east of North Cascades National Park. After yesterday our legs need a short break. Can't stop too long though, still another 4,072 miles to go! We will update again soon, maybe in Okanagan? Until then have a great weekend -

Donald

Day One- Seattle to Arlington

Thanks for the great send-off yesterday! We left Golden Gardens with a nice crowd of frends and KOMO 4 News there to send us off. It was great riding out of town on the Burke-Gillman Trail with beautifully sunny skies and not much of a headwind.
Already, the calorie consumption has begun. Crackers, vacuum packed tuna steaks, much much more. And of course Nuun!!
I only expected us to get around 40 or 50 miles under our belt on the first day, but as it turned out we rode about 75.
We bedded down next to the beautiful Stillaguamish river right near a really cool abandoned railroad trestle. Karl and Don and I fished for a bit with Don's collapsable pole and I caught a nice sized little trout on my third cast! A great end to a long-awaited day.
Thanks to everybody who has been donating the last couple days!! The generosity we're seeing is awesome! We love getting the emails from everybody, keep 'em coming! All for now...

-Devin