Jody - I’m just so thankful to have completed another day. I figure every inch I ride is only by God’s Grace. The day started for me when I heard the rain on the motor home. I was so grateful to be inside and be warm. I asked Dave if we could leave later or something. The thought of getting out of the warm motor home to bike in the cold rain was just about more than I could bear. I asked God for strength and slowly got going. The rain sounded steady but to my amazement when we started riding it stopped. Also, I thank God that my knees were much better today. It seems that I’m usually struggling with a pain somewhere – it seems to drift to different places. However, part of my journey is to be okay with the pain and thank God in the midst of it. The climbing today was really hard. We went over some mountains. God kept me going though. The encouragement of visiting friends and those here have also kept me going.

Dave – We have been chased by a rain storm since Astoria. It’s hard to outrun a rainstorm on a bicycle. Last night it caught up with us. However, by 7am when it was time to start our ride it stopped. By lunch the sun was out and the roads were dry. It turned out to be one of our most beautiful days thus far. In the afternoon we crossed into California. Our total mileage from the Canadian border is 673 miles. A special note to my good friend Joe Pritchett – I have been looking for a day when you could ride – lots of down hills with tailwinds, smooth pavement, and good weather. . . haven’t found one yet.

Jim - There are some records that you don’t want to have, like the most strikeouts in Major League Baseball, failed attempts at jumping the Grand Canyon on a motorcycle, or the most flat tires on this trip.  Jan has the record for the most flats, and today after flat number two it got us out of the last 19 miles.  She told me tonight that if she gets one flat tomorrow she’s quitting for the day.  That’s fine with me because we are “in this together.”  Hopefully I solved the tire problem, but only time will tell.

Jesse – I didn’t write anything yesterday, but that was only because the computer to write was only available after I went to bed. Yesterday went well though. I rode with Jeff in the morning, and Dutch in the afternoon after lunch. We had some more good scenery as we rode along the rocky coastline, and then inland and through farmland. Jeff and I even got ahead of everyone right so that right before lunch we stopped at McDonald’s to get some fries and Diet Coke. Don’t worry, we still ate the lunch that was brought for us, but the fries and Diet Coke were very good. After lunch, Dutch (Jim Mansfield), stopped riding after 20 miles as he had some support crew stuff to do, and I got stuck riding in no man’s land for the next 25 miles. No mans land is when you are to far behind the person in front of you to catch them, and the people behind you are too far back to stop. At any rate, I was dying with about 10 miles to go of our 96 miles, so I stopped at a local store for a break. After a 20 minute break, I rode about a ¼ and ran across the support crew (Wes and Shirley) who were set up to give us a little pit stop. Oh Well. At the stopping point in Port Orford, there was a seafood restaurant where we got some local seafood entrees to too have with dinner that night – sautéed Scallops, clam strips, and grilled oysters. We all enjoyed them.

Today, Friday, we had another good day as we went 84 miles – a short ride. We had some big and long hills to climb, as we went along the ocean front for most of the day. We would go from sea level to 500 feet above, back to sea level, up to as high as 630 feet. The ocean topography was very rocky with huge bolders – the size of multiple story homes jutting out of the water along the coast.  WE also went through a number of seaside towns. We even went across another bridge, the highest bridge in Oregon (from what I was told), at 354 feet high. Needless to say, I did not stop to look down as I went across. But I did notice the treetops were quite a ways below me, river or inlet from the ocean, was even lower. We also crossed the California border today. Northern California is very different than Southern Cal. Once into California we went from dairy land to the beginnings of redwood forest. The redwoods here are not that big yet, but numerous. I saw some stumps to trees that were 10-15 feet across. We even went down one road that seemed to be cut right through a forest itself, as they lined both sides of the narrow road. The edge of the road was two feet below the bottoms of the trees, with some of the trees seemingly ready to fall over into the road because of the missing soil around the trunk. Tomorrow we should more and bigger redwooBy theds. I am looking forward to that.  Be sure to read the other riders blogs to find out about the other sites and scenes we are experiencing – especially Brad’s dinosaur pic. By the way I got up to 43.3 mph going down one hill today. That’s the fastest I got so far this trip.

Steve – well, since most of us were kept up throughout much of the night due to the rowdy patrons of the karaoke bar right next to the campground, plus the heavy rain which began in the middle of the night, it came as no surprise that we were all a little reluctant to jump out of bed and hit the road paddling, I mean, peddling.  A few of us were discussing tactics for surviving the rain as we stood under the RV canopy; we joked that if only we could all fit under the canopy with our bikes and the RV could drive along the road with us underneath the canopy, perfectly dry.  Anyways, by 7am the downpour had ceased.  We were not hit by one raindrop all day – totally God’s grace and mercy because it could have been a miserable day.  So we went up and down through the mountains, over a high bridge, had a beautiful spot for lunch overlooking the cliffs.  The climbs were tough but we managed to overcome, by God’s strength.  One section was going between steep, lush, and wet hills.  It felt like riding through a rain forest and I was half expecting to see baboons.

We pulled into Crescent City tonight and tomorrow we ride through the Redwood forest.  Should be great scenery.

Mary - What an interesting night, last night!!  I did my laundry and got caught up on things. Felt good about being on top of things but then at 2AM was awaken by loud music and even louder drunks leaving the bar across the street. At 2:30AM Puppy woke up to some noise and charged OUT THE TENT!! I’ve never moved so fast!!! Didn’t know I could!! I found her on the other side of the van looking dazed and confused like “What am I doing out here?” It was pretty cute. Jeff was not amused!! So at 3AM more drunks and after that RAIN we woke up in a puddle!!  But today was beautiful!!! We had some rain in the morning and saw beautiful Oregon coastline. This afternoon I rode with Jeff, it was a wonderful afternoon, only 1 hill not too bad and beautiful scenery!! We rode over the border from Oregon to California and took pictures in front of the signs!! We met a nice man named Kevin who was going cross country on his Harley from New Jersey. He took our pictures and we took his. Then near the end Christopher detoured us along a road that was out of a movie!! We rode thru Redwoods and looked at beautiful houses and picked blackberries on the side of the road and ate them. I had such a nice time with him today, we took it slow, talked and had a nice day. It’s cold tonite I am glad I have Jeff and Puppy to keep me warm.

Jeff - Today started out a bit rainy, but not too bad. Morning was still cold didn’twarm up that much in the afternoon. We crossed the Oregon/California border today. The most difficult challenge for me today was a 750ft mountain. When I got to the top of the mountain, somebody had spraypainted on the ground “GOOD WARM UP” I thought to myself  “what was this a warm up for??” but that was the most difficult hill of the day. Tomorrow we have to climb an 800 ft mountain and a 1000ft mountain. I know that God has brought me this far and I’ll be able to climb both mountains with his help. The support team and the other riders are all awesome, and I know that they will help me get thru tomorrow also just like they have all the days before. Please remember to keep us all in prayer. If there is no Blog tomorrow that means I died somewhere along the road. Peace out!!

Puppy - mommy was supposed to type this for me earlier this week so here we go.

Friday 9/21 We got to ride in the car for 3 days!!!!!YEAH I like the car!!!

Saturday 9/22 I got to go on the bike today, It was so much fun!! There were cows!!! And mountains and cows and mountains and everybody is so nice and I got to ride on a big boat (the called it a ferry) and see funny people dance (my mommy says they are morris dancers) and sleep in a tent YEAH

Sunday 9/23- Today mommy was sick, I feel real bad for her!! But I got to sleep in the warm van all day YEAH!!!

Monday 9/24- Today mommy tried to ride but was still sick so I got to ride in the BIG motor home and Diana took care of us. She is so nice. I hope mommy feels better.

Tues 9/25  Today we got to ride real fast!!! It was so much fun!! And all the people smile at me and know my name they all say “look at the Puppy!” We went up a big mountain and mommy got tired, but I gave her kisses and she did it. I knew she could.

Wed 9/26  We had fun today, I get to sit in the van in the morning and watch daddy as he goes by. He is soooo strong & he rides real fast up front with Jesse. I’m so glad he’s my Daddy, he’s the best daddy ever and he gives me some of his dinner! I got to see Aunt Deb & Uncle Frank tonite they came all the way from their house to see me!!!

Thurs 9/27 I had fun today with my friend Josh!! He’s very cool and likes to play with me but sometimes I get crabby and don’t have good manners and mommy and daddy get mad. I will try to be nicer when I play.

Fri 9/28 I didn’t sleep well last night, lots of noises, then I woke up outside I don’t know why but mommy got me back in the tent where it was warm. We went to the bank and the nice lady gave me cookies and then I got to ride with mommy & daddy and tonite I ate all my dinner so I got steak for dessert. And then I went to the bathroom and saw Steve in the shower, he didn’t look happy that I walked in there with him, maybe I should stay with daddy next time.