Day 1-5 Seattle - Spokane

The first four days got off to an amazing start! We had to jump right into riding with days of 70, 80, 70 and 100 miles.


Day 1 June 11th Seattle WA - Skykomish WA (pop. 214)

We arrived at Olympic Sculpture park at 6:30a.m. and enjoyed a nice farwell breakfast with friends, family, and old Journey of Hope riders. Two news stations also arrived to get a story of what we're doing. We left around 7:30 and headed down a bike path that was taking us out of the city. Once we cleared the city limits we hit some back country roads that took us through some beautiful rolling farm land. After 70 milesof riding, we ended up in the booming metropolis of Skykomish Washington and ended up at the local school to sleep on the gym floor. Overall, a great first day and great effort by my teamates.



Day 2 June 12th Skykomish WA - Wenatchee WA (pop. 29,968)

After a 5:30 wakeup, we were on the road by 6:30a.m. embarking on an 80 mile day to Wenatchee WA, the apple capital of the world. It was a cold mysty morning and we had a 16 mile, 3,200 feet climp over Stephen's pass. After taking several hours of constant uphill riding, I had finally reached the top of the pass, Elev. 4061. At the top of the pass, it was a chilling 38 degrees and I had my first revelation of the trip, what goes up must come down. From there we had a 10 mile downhill ride where we met our next crew van. When we arrived, it was sunny, 68 degrees and my teamates were shedding their thermals. From there it was a pretty flat ride to Wenatchee. We arrived at the Wenatchee community center and headed over to the community pool to take showers. That night we had a friendship visit with the Wenatchee Special Olympics. I met several guys who were participants on the Special Olympics Cycling team. One of them even got to travel to China to represet the Special Olympics USA Cycling team. It was a great friendship visit and a great turnout. Overall, it was a great day but my legs and bottom are pretty sore.



Day 3 June 13th Wenatchee WA - Coulee City WA (pop. 642)

On the road again. At the break of day, we were headed to Coulee City, a 70 mile ride that included another pass. This climb wasn't as bad as Stephen's pass but we were really sore so it made the climb difficult. It was a good 1,500ft climb that took us to the top of a mountain range where we had a beautiful photo opportunity. We had a tail wind the rest of the day which made the second half of the ride quicker and much more enjoyable. We arrived at another booming metropolis, Coulee City. We settled into the local middle school and set up camp for the night. The local Cattlewoman's Association (aka Meat promoters) cooked us a wonderful brisket dinner. It was a great finish to a long day.


Day 4 June 14th Coulee City WA - Spokane WA
Today was our first 100 mile day. You can imagine my leg and bottom soreness by this point. Today I was a "sweep." One of two guys who hang in the back and wait with any riders who get behind or have flats. As we traveled across eastern Washigton, I realized the flat terrain is much more preferable when riding a bike. The first part of the day was pretty slow moving. When we got to the 40 mile mark, we noticed we had to get 20 miles quickly because we had a sponored lunch. From there we gutted out the rest of the 40 miles and arrived at Gonzaga University around 4:00p.m. The next day was a day off so we got some food and went out to celebrate a very tough but successful first few days.

Day 5 June 15th Spokane WA

Today was our first day off...and a much needed one at that. Everyone was extremely sore and needing some R&R. We stayed at one of the dorms at Gonzaga University. It was refreshing to sleep in a bed and not on a gym floor. In the afternoon we had a friendship visit with a Muscular Dystrophy Family organization. It was organized with carnival games, prizes and all kinds of fun stuff for the kids. We also got to perform our first Kid's on the Block presentation. Kid's on the Block is a puppet show that helps kid's understand and empathize with people with disabilities. I play Ellen Jane Peterson, a highschool girl with Down Syndrome who works at a Vet. For dinner we had a nice evening of food and swimming at a really cool house outside of Spokane. A former JOH rider and his family set it up. It was great ending to a much needed day off.