Excellent Adventure Updates!

It's been over a year since our last posting. It's not that there hasn't been anything going on - I just haven't gotten around to writing about it. I survived RAMROD in July 2009 (160 miles on a bike around Mt. Rainier in one day). We had a great visit with family in Arizona & California in January 2010. We were able to attend Hannah's June graduation in Germany - a surprise for her - she didn't know we were coming. And we got to see Sabrina (the first German student we hosted almost 10 years ago) while we were there. And - just a week ago - I climbed Mt. St. Helens for the first time! I'll do separate posts on several of these - have to go search for photos - and hope I didn't lose any when I upgraded my computer to Windows 7.

Here's one of the most recent photos:

Sitting on the rim of the crater with Mt. Rainier in the background!

Camping isn't like it used to be

I can't remember when (if ever) Laurie & I did a camping trip with just us. We tried out our new "condo" tent with our queen-sized air mattress. We didn't have enough air in the mattress the first night - it brought back (bad) memories of water beds - when one of us rolled towards the middle, the other rolled there too! We also learned you must have some insulation either under or on top of the air mattress; the air inside gets cold! On night two, we got the air pressure right and had a blanket under the sheet - perfect! For the first time in our camping experience, we stayed in bed until about 9 the next morning. It occurred to us the reason we have always been up at the crack of dawn is because the ground was so darn hard! Laying there on a comfy mattress with real pillows under our heads & a down comforter on top of us - as a camper, I should be embarrassed at such luxury - sorry, it felt too good to be embarrassed.

On day two, I did a 62-mile bike ride, riding from Ohanapecosh Campground to Packwood (11 miles), then from Packwood to Cayuse Pass (24 miles - 3 hours!), then down to the Crystal Mtn Ski Area road (8 miles), then 6 miles up to the ski area, then back to Cayuse Pass. It was good practice for RAMROD. It was also probably the reason I slept so well on night two.

On day three (Friday), we drove to the west side of Rainier Natl Park. After waiting in a line of cars about 2 miles long to get in, we drove up to Paradise, where the parking lot was full. We really didn't want to hike around with a thousand or so people, so we drove back down the road to the trailhead for Comet Falls. We hiked up - and up - and up the trail - beautiful flowers along the way (avalanche lilies in photo to the right).

When we finally reached the falls, we needed to cool off a little - Laurie/Gran decided to soak her head in the COLD mountain water! The falls were beautiful - well worth the hike. We will do it again some day.

And, of course, the reason for visiting Rainier National Park - the Mountain!

The Ann Ride

On Saturday, I participated in the Ann Weatherill Cycling Classic, riding 100 miles around Walla Walla & Milton-Freewater. It was a great ride with great weather - a little windy but cool. The ride took us through old towns like Umapine, Calhounville, and Tum-a-Lum, through vineyards in the countryside, and up Mill Creek Road into the piney woods. It started & finished at the L'Ecole No. 41 Winery. Walla Walla's Merchants Deli & Bakery provided a lunch buffet at the end, with the winery providing, what else, wine. I stuck with the hard stuff - A&W root beer!

Ann was a Walla Walla resident who was

killed in 2004 while riding her bike. This

event raises funds for bicycling safety programs put on by the Wheatland Wheelers and to put up Share the Road signs to remind drivers to watch out for cyclists. It was as much fun as being on a bike for 100 miles can be! Gonna do this one again next year!

39 days until RAMROD!

I'm In!

...trouble - I'm off the wait list & now registered for RAMROD 2009. However, good news! I bought a used bike this past week - a 30-speed with more granny gears to help me get up the hills.

52 days until RAMROD!

Still Another RAMROD Update!

The 3rd (since 4/30) update to the wait list this morning put me at #7. There can no longer be any doubt about getting a slot for the ride. Have to really get serious with training. I biked 60+ miles this morning - biked to Oregon & back! Four of us biked to Umatilla, then UP the Plymouth Highway. Did I say UP? It didn't seem like we went DOWN to Oregon, but we must have. It seemed like we climbed & climbed & climbed coming back to Kennewick. Nice morning for a ride, though.

Another RAMROD Update!

As of 5/12/09, #57 on the wait list!

RAMROD Update!

After the April 30th registration deadline, I moved up from #201 to #82 on the wait list!