We just completed a safe and successful journey. Will update the blog with recent events, a pledge update and photos soon.
Till then, we are celebrating with perfect weather, warm showers, tasty food and wonderful family and friends!
Today was by far the easiest day of the trip. We started at a horse campsite in the National Forest near Mount Rainier at 4000 feet and got to pedal 70 miles to sea level. The ironic part was that it was probably our coldest morning of the trip (it had to be under 40 degrees) and ended up being the warmest day of the trip (about 80 degrees). We took our time in the morning as we broke down camp, knowing that Mandy was expecting us to get to the Rocke’s at 4:30 PM…couldn’t be early!
It was a beautiful ride through the north side of Rainier…lots of cyclists were out, sun and shadows and two PERFECT views of “the mountain”. There were lots of motorcycles out as well…I have nothing against motorcycles, but for you Harley lovers out there, help me understand the appeal of all of the noise in such beautiful places of solitude. I just don’t quite get it. We headed down to a little town called Greenwater where we fueled up on coffee and a little breakfast snack and enjoyed perfect weather to sit outside in the sun and gear up for our final 50 miles. We met an engineer/educator from Seattle who turned out to be Chatty McChatter if you know what I mean, but was interesting and fun to listen to.
30 seconds after leaving the cafe, I had my 8th and final tire issue of the trip…a rear blowout (this is a tire issue not a digestive issue). Fortunately, I was only going about 15 mph when it happened. It is kind of a scary feeling as you hear this gunshot-like sound and lose control of the bike for a bit. We put on the last and final tire that we had along, laughed that dad still has not had one flat tire to my 8 over the past two weeks, and proceeded down toward Tacoma. We enjoyed one last oatmeal stop in a town outside of Tacoma, polishing the peanut butter, brown sugar, oatmeal and stove fuel…perfect timing!
Riding into Tacoma was kind of surreal…for one it was the biggest city that we have traveled over the past month, the perfect weather, familiar scenes and knowing completing this feat was pretty cool. We headed through downtown, where they were holding a criterium bike race, and then dipped down to Ruston Way to see the ocean water. Finally, we headed up Alder/36th street hill to complete the journey, which was definitely the steepest climb of the entire trip!
Our final destination was the Rocke house, where family and friends awaited our arrival. Finish line, good food, a warm shower, laundry and story time, it was a wonderful evening. Mandy’s family, several Tacoma friends, and US-based Kenyans welcomed us to life off of our bike saddles. James, the director of Dagoretti 4 Kids, was also present as he is in the US to celebrate the graduation of one of the former D4K kids, and to share the D4K story. In true Kenyan fashion, he honored our trip and supporters with the feast of a goat.
Cutting the goat shoulder to signify continual blessings for the extension of this journey.
After hours of fun, good eats, and settling back into life off the bike, Dad hopped on a plane back to Grand Rapids, while Mandy and I will stay in Tacoma for a few days before returning to Ohio.
Prepping the goat
Peter, Randy, James & Joel...combining worlds
It is hard to imagine that it is all done…there is something appealing about life on the road. There were lots of lessons learned, perspectives drawn from and memories made. We are incredibly grateful for traveling mercies, the opportunity to partake in something so special, and the support of friends and family all around the world to connect cycling and a common commitment to education in Kenya.
We will post a post-trip recap within the next few days. Thank you all for following this venture…you have no idea how much it means to us.
