Foundation for the Future

I’m excited to announce that I will be launching out on a week-long self-contained tour to raise funds for my school, Liberty Christian School of the Tri-Cities! I am leaving from the campus on the last day of school, June 9, and will pedal about 400 miles over the next seven days or so.

Last year, I traveled west along the Columbia River out to the Pacific. This year, I have decided to head in the opposite direction, continuing to follow some of the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

My destination is Missoula, Montana. I’m excited to visit the headquarters of the Adventure Cycling Association with whom I have a life membership. I will be sharing my journey on this blog and invite you to follow me here.

Bridge of the Gods

When I woke up this morning something was different: it was cloudy and cold! I bundled up and started breaking down camp and realized my rear tire was flat, delaying my start. 

  Once I got on the road (I was shivering!) I realized the cloud coverage was probably moderating the headwind, which was only a gentle 5mph or so. Another little lesson to see the good in every situation! 

  
As the cloud cover burned off, the headwinds progressively increased. I was pedaling by some beautiful wetlands; saw an elk; a pair of Whistling Swans (they are the two white dots in the picture below- they are the largest waterfowl in Oregon with a wingspan of 7 feet); and some beautiful flowers:

By midday, there was a strong headwind and rolling hills. It was one of those phenomenons on a bike I have encountered on rare occasions: you crest a hill and feel the full force of the wind, so you have to pedal going downhill. You finally start getting out of the wind as you reach the bottom of the hill, only to have to start climbing again. So essentially, you never have a break from pedaling. It’s quite the workout! 

The river really started widening out. I went by huge lumber mills in the area of Longview, WA and had to dodge wood bark all I’ve that road: 

I pedaled 64 miles and made it into Astoria by late afternoon. I set up camp at an RV park on the east end of town- they have given me a patch of dry grass to call my own. I was so tired last night that I fell asleep without posting. So I’m catching up before I hit the road on my final day to the Pacific Ocean!

I slept in a little bit today. It wasn’t hard to do because I was in a BED. Terri got home from work about 9am and we talked it up for a couple hours. Mostly theology and solving the world’s problems. She loves Jesus with all her heart and brings viewpoints from the Christian Left, so our conversations are often iron sharpening iron, but we also find a lot in common. I come away challenged and eager to pursue God’s Word all the more after our talk. I hope she is just as encouraged and challenged. Here she is with her son, Malachi:

  
I guess I got on the road around 11:30am and followed the Columbia for a while, passing floating house communities and the Portland Airport. It was pretty cool having jets taking off right over my shoulder!

I then crossed southwest past a beautiful rose garden park 

 and the university of Portland to the St. John’s Bridge. It was an exciting crossing, as you have to get aggressive and take the right lane over, because there is no shoulder. Thankfully the drivers are conscious of bikes and there are “sharerows” painted in the lane.

  
My touring appetite must be kicking in. After breakfast at Terri’s, I ate a banana, then some jerkey, then my usual salami, cheese and crackers, and by early afternoon, I was hungry again. So I stopped at a sandwich shop and they asked me about my ride and gave me a lunch for the price of my panini sandwich- chips, cookie, and a drink! 

As I approached the town of Scappoose, the headwind started up again, and my thermometer was registering triple digits again with the sun’s reflection off the pavement. I pedaled on and found a great little camp spot at the city park in St Helens.

I was able to connect with a former student, Sara, and she came out to visit me at camp with her son, Cameron. As best we could figure, she was in 8th grade when I was the principal at Winham St Christian Academy, going back 16+ years ago. I also taught her three older siblings.

  
She brought me a home cooked pork roast over rice with a delicious homemade mango salsa, which I wolfed down. We caught up on our respective families and Cameron had a blast on the playground at the park.

One of the rewards of being in education is the relationships you build with students and their families. Today was a neat day. I am sharing this blog and this Foundation For The Future Tour with my new school family at Liberty Christian School (2014-?); I started my day off with a student and former teacher from Yucaipa Christian School (2000-2014); and I finished my day with a student from Winham Street Christian Academy (1986-2000). I am so thankful for God’s call on my life so many years ago to teach in Christian schools. It’s been a long and evolving journey, but I am so thankful for the relationships made along the way!

For you history buffs, I promise to catch up on my Lewis and Clark journey updates!

I woke up to…silence! There was barely a whisper of wind, a far cry from the blowing I fell asleep to last night. There was a friend outside my tent- a black one with white stripes and a big bushy tail. I’ve had my run-ins with skunks before, so I kept my distance but shooed him into the bushes.

  
After breakfast and packing up, I crossed the Dechutes River where it empties into the Columbia. Not only am I following the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but I am now on the Oregon Trail route as well. There was an informative historic marker about how the pioneers would float their covered wagons and swim their livestock across the mouth of the river.

   
 The Lewis and Clark Expedition also had found out that the reason most of the native villages were on the north side of the river was because of the warrior tribe that lived down the Dechutes.

The stretch I pedaled today actually took the expedition a week to travel because of portages and high winds from the west (like the ones I had yesterday, I’m sure!).

Back to my expedition…after leaving the Dechutes River, I rode Interstate 84 into The Dalles. Then I got onto a spectacular climb up to the rim of the gorge above Rowena. 

  After rolling along the top for a few miles, the road dropped back almost to River level at Mosier. I decided that since I had a miserable lunch yesterday, eating my salami, cheese, and cracker in a road cut to try to get out of the wind, I would eat out today. I stopped for a quick bite at Mannys Lonchera- a trailer off the side of the road and had a delicious chicken burrito.

   
 Then it was another beautiful climb, this time on a bike path, through the Mosier Twin Tunnels and along the canyon wall before descending down into Hood River. After all the misery of the wind yesterday, today was breezy, comfortably warm, and a joy to ride in.

  I arrived at the Rieke’s house where I will be staying tonight. I met Renee, the mom, at a Christian school conference this past spring. She teaches at Horizon Christian School in Hood River. After hearing of my bike tour plans, she and her family offered to open their home up to a sweaty superintendent from Washington. We have had a great evening together with her parents, husband Abe, and daughters Mylee and Alina.

I woke up early and got on the road by 6am today. The wind had howled through the night and I knew today was going to be a challenge! 

  
I rode steadily for about 25 miles, with the wind at a sustained 12-15mph. I stopped in Roosevelt at the Mini Mart and had a breakfast burrito to die for! I also met Steve and Marcia, who started last week on the Pacific Coast and are traveling the next three months back to their home in Maine. Marcia just retired from teaching middle school. They are Christians and we had a great time of fellowship talking education, theology, and about life in general. 

When I got back on the road, the wind had picked up and it stayed nasty all day. At points in the gorge, I’m sure it was a sustained 25mph, with gusts up to 35 or so. This was one of a handful of times in the thousands of miles I’ve toured that’s I had to pedal downhill. Of the 60 miles today, I literally had three stretches that I was able to coast- two were about a half mile long, and the last was the 2 mile drop into Maryhill State Park; although I pedaled part of it to maintain balance in the fierce crosswind. 

To top the day off after 10 hours on the bike, I had a 500′ climb at the John Day Dam- my legs were shot. I put it in my granny gear and slogged up at 3.5mph:

My camp neighbors, Sean and Shondra, brought me over two gatorades as soon as I pulled into camp. They are from Vancoiver and out camping for the weekend. 

 Right after I left camp this morning at Crow Butte, I passed an island where the Lewis and Clark Expedition stopped for lunch at an Indian village on Oct. 20, 1805. They described a large burial area, and one group of hunters brought back nine ducks and a goose. They also noticed a lot of trade goods, “Such as copper kittles…also scarlet & blue cloth robes. One has a Salors jacket.”

On 10/20/1805, they woke to a “very Cold morning” and set out early because they had no fuel and could not cook breakfast. They ended up paying a high price for wood from the natives, but commented, “Those people received us with great kindness and examined us with much attention.

Near the John Day River,they saw their first sign of timber and saw Mt. Hood. They camped just a little upriver from where I am tonight.

Another great day- a hard one- but I am thankful for a healthy body and God’s strength that got me through!

I had a good night’s rest and moseyed through breakfast and breaking camp. I got on the road about 8:30am and immediately had a “head breeze.” I pedaled by the McNary Dam and up over the bridge, crossing the Columbia back into Washington. 

  
As I turned west, the head wind started- and remained at 10-12mph for the remainder of the day. I took Christie Rd out of Plymouth and had an eight mile stretch of road in which only three vehicles passed me. 

I stopped in Paterson for a lunch break, then continued on to Crow Butte Park and campground. That last stretch of 15 miles or so was a real slog, as my legs were tired and I was drinking lots of fluids to stay hydrated. Similar temps as yesterday- about 105 off the pavement. The campground host is letting me stay for free on the edge of his campsite- a spot he puts cyclists up on whenever he can. Thank you!

  
Here is a little of what goes on in my mind during the hours of riding: today I started thinking about my love/hate relationship with semi-trucks.

Love- that they are professional drivers and give me space along the shoulder.

Hate- when the shoulder is so narrow and there is oncoming traffic and they go by REALLY close (I have a rear view mirror so I can gage when to pull off if needed).

Love- when they go by and create a draft that makes the headwind go away for a precious 15 seconds or so.

Hate- when they are going the other direction and the headwind increases with a huge gust of air because of hat same draft.

So there you have it- the wandering of the mind as the day passes slowly by.

Another incident that happened today: I was pedaling along, very little traffic, and this “clang!” Cuts through the wind. I look around and see nothing. Then again, “clang!” It was a metallic sound. And again. Then I looked up, and high above me was a lineman working on one of the high voltage towers. It was such a relief knowing I wasn’t losing my mind! It was such a foreign sound among nature and the breeze. 

  
Right behind where the McNary Dam now stands, the Lewis and Clark expedition ran the Mussleshell Rapids. Clark walked to the top of the hills on the south shore and looking westward, he caught a glimpse of “a high mountain of emence hight covered with snow…I take it to be Mt. St. Helens.” He was actually looking at Mt. Adams.

There were Indian lodges all along the North Shore in this area. As they set up camp, they were joined by about 100 Indians in 36 canoes who brought firewood for ceremonies and dinner. Some stayed the night and they ended up meeting with well over 100 the next morning before setting out again. This was the night of October 19 and the morning of October 20, 1805.

The Foundation For The Future Tour is underway. Today was a great day wrapping up the 2014-15 school year at Liberty Christian School. At the last elementary chapel, the students “pied” some of the staff as a reward for their achievement of finishing the Million Minute Reading Challenge. At the secondary chapel, Bibles were given to our four international students and there was a great dialogue about the “18 inches” between knowing God in your head and receiving Hom in your heart. 

  School was dismissed at 11:30am and we had an all school BBQ and celebration of the year. I was blessed to have the students gather around me and Mrs Bjur, our Principal, prayed over the trip. Then it was a rush as the students cheered me off! I also appreciated the support of our local media, represented by our local TV station, KNDU, and the local newspaper, the Tri-City Herald.

I pedaled out from the school campus and quickly crossed the Columbia River into Pasco, WA. The heat radiating off the pavement was 105, but the wind wasn’t bad.

  
The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled along this stretch, from where Sacajawea State Park is through the Wallula Gap, on October 18, 1805. They had just spent a couple nights camping at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Reaching this point was a great accomplishment, but the Corps of Discovery felt a little disappointment as well, because they thought the Snake River was the Columbia.

Along this stretch, L&C met Chief Yellipit and the Walla Walla tribe in the area of the Wallula Gap: 

As I pedaled today, I passed the site of the Old Fort Walla Walla, first established as Fort Nez Perce in 1818 by the North West Fur Company. In 1821, that company merged with the Hidson Bay Company and the name changed to Fort Walla Walla. A little further on I passed the Two Sisters rock formation:

  I’m now in camp after pedaling 50 miles this afternoon. Right across from my campsite is Hat Rock: 

A very long but fulfilling day! Thank you everyone for your encouragement and prayers!