Day 5 Kalaloch to Aberdeen 73 fra-zeezing miles

Things I think I would have rather done then ride in the rain, all day, with a head wind:

1. Go to war.

2. Read Twilight.

3. Y'know what, pretty much anything.

But alas, rain was the bitter forecast. Matt wonders if perhaps God is angry with us? Your thoughts? We got out a little late because we woke up to wet laundry and had to painstakingly dry it with a hair dryer, and then after just a bit of riding I broke a spoke and we had to take about 45 minutes to fix it. All of this happened, mind you, in very unrainy weather. But (cue depressing music) with just 10 miles at 10 a.m. The rain began. And boy did it rain. And it was like 40 degrees. And blowing.  Okay, I think you get the point. My mind was brought back to the planning meetings for this trip, where our dear brother Mike (not on this trip) would simply say, "it's going to be freezing, you know." Well mike, Touché. You were overwhelmingly correct! But we wouldn't be Wilson's if we made things easy. It was, in a word, demoralizing. For hours I just sat on Matt's wheel and let him take the wind away. Sometimes we'd just look at each other and scream because of how amazingly cold it was. I cracked a little bit and yelled at Dad for making me do this. But all is forgiven now, right? In the middle of all this we stopped for .81-cent hot cocoa at a tiny little shop. Glory bee. That was fabulous. For about an hour at the very end we got a glimmer of sunlight and believe it or not- we sure didn't midday we made it to our desired destination. In Aberdeen Washington we reside. We're all pooped, but want to say THANK YOU!!!! For all the words of encouragement and love and prayers. We are so thankful and love you right back. I'll let you know when my sunglasses make their debut.

And one last thing, Matt's song for the day, sung to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel’s "Sounds of Silence": "hello Charleston chew my old friend...it's nice to see you in my mouth again..." He eats a lot, but we like him.

 

 

Day 4-Port Hardy to Kalaloch- 101 miles

The keyboard we have for doing these emails decided it isn't going to work today so this will be short. To bad because today we had just about everything. We started out and just five miles in we took a wrong turn that turned out to be an 11-mile detour. 11 miles doesn't sound like a lot but; 1 on a bike every mile is a big deal, and 2 it is so discouraging to have to turn around and lose all that time. By the time we figured out what was going on we had lost a full hour. Also because of spacing we still had to ride to the same place, which was now going to be a full 100 mile day. Later we had a nice tail wind that made the day easier. Dad mentioned he loves the feeling of doing 20 miles per hour in a draft line. We passed through the famous town of forks, made popular by the Twilight books. Someone told us forks was going to be under whelming and it was. It does get 210 inches of rain a year though. We were doing great until mile 90. The wind and rain kicked up and made it miserable. Dad said he has never been so cold. It truly was miserable. Tomorrow's forecast is 100% chance of rain. We're not happy about that. I, matt, can't seem to eat enough. I am eating about double the other two. It might be my favorite part of the trip. Tomorrow should be more enjoyable, pray it rains once we're off the bike. We did see the prettiest lake probably in the entire world. It was surreal. These trips are so amazing. The highs are so high (scenery, food) and the lows are so low (detours, set backs, cold). It is like seeing the world through different eyes. I don't know if anyone could ever know, without experiencing it, just how unbelievable these trips are. Wish us luck.

Day 3- Victoria- Rest

Today we slept in until 8AM.  It was delicious.  We found a church within 4 blocks of our motel (!). And attended fast and testimony meeting. It was a wonderful meeting.  One testimony in particular will stay with me for a long time.  It was a very lucid 90 year old man who recounted all the scares of his lifetime (which included WWll), and pointed out that we often worry about very trivial things, that when looked at in the perspective of eternity, are unimportant.  He told us not to worry, that everything is going to be OK.  We just need to pay attention to our spirituality, and let the spirit testify to us that God is over all, and he knows our concerns.  It was a great message. Everything will be OK, because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. After church we visited Butchart Gardens, which is an amazing place. It is probably the most uplifting place I have ever seen, besides inside the temple.  It is utterly peaceful and so so so beautiful. The flowers and landscaping are as you could only dream about. Perfectly manicured beds of delightful flowers.  It takes your breath away.  Mom would love this place.  She'd go crazy here taking notes and making lists of this and that yard idea.  We then picked up our bikes and rode to the ferry.  Victoria is a European type city with a very cool downtown They have bike paths everywhere, and people are very corteous and nice. We could have spent a week here. We took the ferry to Port Angeles and are now back on US soil.  Kind of boring after Canada.  Tomorrow we plan to go 90 miles to Kalaloch, a little place 35 miles past Forks.  On the way we go through the Olympic rain forest, and the forecast calls for.....rain.  Anyway, it should be beautiful.  As Tye would say..ta ta for now.  

 

--Richard

Parksville to Victoria BC-90 Miles

Oh hey, Kristi here. So it took about an hour to get this whole emailing scunanigan to work, so this better be a good one, eh? Look at me using" Eh", how terribly appropriate of me. SO. We made it to our desired destination. Good ol' Victoria, the last city in Canada we will see. Today was a doozey. We got up at 5:00, hoping to leave at 5:30, but a combination of an unexpected flat tire (mine, guilty) and certain people dreading today more than the apocalypse and choosing to stay in bed a few extra minutes (again, guilty) we didn't leave until 6:50 or so. The day started off well, it started raining a bit but was rather pleasant so we didn't mind. By lunch we had about 50 miles, and with Victoria still 40 miles away we had our work cut out for us. Around mile 65 we hit a GINORMOUS hill, which turned out to be somewhat of a mountain pass, which we discovered to be so when we kept turning the corner and seeing more and more uphill. And this was no small hill people, this was 5mph, 12% grade, so- not- cool- on- the- second- day hill. We made it though. I think the road knew when I would break, I kept feeling like I could do it, and about 30 seconds before we saw the summit sign I just burst into tears. At that point I think the road knew it had had its way with me so it could stop. What a punk. Anyway, post-hill we had one of the most beautiful descents I've ever seen; Matt was giggling aloud down the whole thing. This place is gorgeous! So green and beautiful. About 15 miles later we pulled into Victoria and are now sitting pretty in our hotel. I think that's just wonderful. Oddly enough, it was an amazing day. I never knew we could actually do what we did today. Matt and dad have been amazing, up nearly every hill I feel Matt's hand on my back pushing me and dad always parks it right behind me and supports me all the day long. Last night after prayer my cheeks were stained in tears and Matt and dad both hugged me and just sat with me. Annnnyway, this is hard, I didn't even get to wear my sunglasses all day, I'm sunburned, my Achilles tendons kill and are about twice their normal size, but a humongous dinner is coming and we get to sleep in tomorrow. Praise the Lord.

 

Love you all, Kris

Day 1 Campbell River to Parksville, BC -75 Miles

Hello to all.  So the big day one was, as they always are, hard. Lots of time on the bike but we made it to where we were hoping.  The final miles for the day were 75.  Not bad especially because that is how many miles we are planning on doing each day.  Even as I sit here I can feel the toll the seat took on me.  I am sure that tomorrow is going to be really painful to sit down, but again, I knew that from previous trips.  This all seems so familiar but doesn't change the fact that we have to go through this again.  Kristi is really feeling the aches and pains associated with long rides.  Her arms are bugging her because of all the pressure of long hours on the bike. I (Matt) am having a little trouble with my left hand but nothing to bad.  Richard is cruising along like a tank, he is used to the bike so no big deal for him. I swear he could ride forever.  I don't know if he will ever grow old.  We saw a lot of oceanfront today.  It was pretty to watch the sun come up over the bay.  It stayed fairly cool all day.  Richard commented that it acted all day like it wanted to warm up but never did.  The sun was shinning but it was pleasantly cool.  Kristi got a decent sunburn from the sun.  I got a little on my face and legs but not as bad as hers.  We have also noticed that the Canadians are nice to bike riders.  All of them except the motor home that pass us uncomfortably close today, then again he could have been American.

Tomorrow is a little bigger day because we have nearly 90 miles to ride until we make Victoria.  That should be a cool city.  We are hoping to stay Sunday there.  Wish us luck. Thanks for all the encouraging emails. We are finding that responding to them might prove to big a task so don't be offended if you don't hear back.

 

-The Wilson's

Campbell River, BC

We are now on Vancouver Island, at a place about half way up the east shore called Campbell River.  We left Orem on Tuesday @5pm and went to Ontario, Oregon that night.  In the morning we went on to Seattle and spent a delightful afternoon there with a personal tour guide.  Oma Lamothe grew up in Ridgecrest and now lives in Seattle.  Kristi really wanted to see things in Seattle so we planned the time to see lots. We also learned a whole mess about the sordid history of Seattle. Thieves and prostitutes basically ran the place for it's first 100 years.  Thursday AM we went on to Vancouver, British Columbia and took a ferry across to Vancouver Island, where we planned to begin this epic adventure.  We said goodbye to our friends Derek and Trevor Jones, and watched with anxiety as our safety net (the Suburban) disappeared, everyone mentally rushing through their private necessities list to vainly try to think of anything we may have forgotten. A lot of the adventure, and consequent anxiety, of a big trip with no support is that there are multiple things, which can potentially sink you.  One lost Allen wrench, sickness or injury, an unfixable mechanical problem--there are dozens of things, which can ground you.  Part of the appeal is to see if you can improvise when these inevitable problems occur and get to your next destination.  However, it is still somewhat unnerving.

The riders on this trip are Kristi, Matt, and myself, Richard. Kristi is 19, and will turn 20 during this trip, on May 12.  She is the reason we are here, as she hatched the idea about 3 months with a (naïve) request for her own big trip.  She did do an 850-mile trip when she was only 11, but she claims she was too naïve to know any different then.  This will be her first really big one.  Her biggest fear is having to spend a month with just Matt and I as company. Already we have proven ourselves to be unsuitable riding companions, when we stared blankly during her "sunglass crisis" while packing.  We really did not understand why choosing the right color sunglasses for the trip was so crucial.  We still don't, which in Kristi's mind proves her point.

Next is Matt, with Alaska and two other 1000 milers on his resume.  We have tried a strategic move by giving him all the group gear to carry, but I suspect he will still be pedaling with one foot and urging us to hurry.

Then there is me, at 55 years old and going to the well one more time. I really thought I was done, but when Kristi proffered her request, it took me about 5 seconds to decide.  Maybe I can steal one more.  I do love an adventure.

Tomorrow we begin.  Bye.

.....................................................................................

So the time has come for us to do another one of these trips.  We are leaving on Tuesday the 28th.  We are going to be taking a few days to get to Victoria Island that will include a day in Seattle.  We start biking Friday the 1st and are hoping to finish in San Diego the last week of May.  The whole trip should total about 2000 miles.  We will be sending our journals daily so you can follow us along our way.  Amy our sister will also be keeping up a blog (fromehtosi.blogspot.com) with these emails and hopefully some pictures too.  We would love to hear from you so feel free to send us an email.  Thanks for all the support.  Hopefully this will be fun for you as we share our trip.