Today’s ride was dedicated to Sister Regina Dubickas. Sister Regina is a friend of Viraat’s father, and is currently battling cancer. She is fighting hard and with such admirable strength, and we thought of her throughout the day while we biked our last full day in Washington.
You may notice that our original route has us in Maryhill State Park this evening instead of in Goldendale. Originally, the plan was to bike to the State Park and then camp tonight. However, camping after a long day of biking is not always the most comfortable, especially at this time of year when the heat is starting to take hold. We were really excited when Viraat reached out to the Father’s House Fellowship and they told us that we could use their church to sleep in tonight. Instead of camping in the heat, we were able to stay in this wonderful facility that has in-house showers AND laundry (so good because the last time we did laundry was 2 weeks ago and things were getting a little smelly)! 75 miles up hills in the heat is a lot easier to do when you know that you have a comfortable place to stay that night when you are done, that is for sure!
In two weeks, we will be in San Francisco! I am not sure where the time has gone, but I know that I am excited for these next couple of weeks with this wonderful team.
Our team would not be nearly as wonderful if it wasn’t for Mike, one of our ride leaders. Mike completed the ride just one year ago in 2018! It was really fun to get to do the ride with him because he so vividly remembers a lot of our stayovers and knows a lot of the cool spots in town to show us. On the days that we bike a different route from his year, Mike is always down to explore cafes or cliffs or anything that comes up along the way. He collects license plates that he finds on the side of the road – which I didn’t think would be a common occurrence, but he has at least 25 license plates by now if I had to guess, and it is fun to see what he has collected by the end of the day. Not only is Mike an adventurous person who genuinely enjoys biking and finds adventure in every day, he is hands down the most kind and patient person I have ever met (and the whole team agrees with me about this). You can go to Mike for anything at all and he will be there to listen and help. He is a trustworthy leader and also an amazing friend to everybody on the team. Sometimes it can be easy for tensions to run a little high when you are around the same people for 70+ days, but Mike is always there to remind us that we are a team and should always be kind to one another. I have learned a lot from Mike about how to be a good friend and a great leader, and we are all thankful that he was selected to help lead us across the country.