Day: 2

Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2003

Miles Ridden:76

Cumulative Miles: 145.5

From: St. Helen OR

To: Welches, OR

Weather: Beautiful!

Elevation Gain:2,730 ft.

Today was nearly a perfect riding day. We started our day with a continental breakfast, loaded the truck, and left the motel. I rode with Mary who is from New Jersey. (I wish I could spell it like she says it!) She is an excellent rider and a very good athlete. We rode comfortably at about 17.5 miles per hour. I am leaning how to not be so intense about each day. We stopped a number of times to take pictures along the way. Those of you from Oregon and/or the Portland area will recognize a lot of these spots.

After crossing the St. Johns Bridge we worked our way north to Marine Drive. We rode along the bike path and looked at the sights and watched two pair of military jets take off. We had a sag stop at Blue Lake Park.

We headed south by Mt Hood Community College on to the small town of Sandy where my wife and our daughter Kandi, and our other daughter and her husband, Erika and Brandon and their four children joined us for lunch. This will be the last time I see the family. Barb is planning to join me in Boise on our first rest day. What a treat for me! My family is just the best!

And if that alone was not enough to make it a great day for me, later I would have another wonderful treat.

By lunch time a number of us had ridden together for some time and had all stopped for lunch. After lunch the clouds had cleared and we had a beautiful ride to Welches with a number of photo ops along the way. Many riders went swimming when they got in as I did.

After returning to my room there was a knock at my door. It was Sara Johnson. Sara is the daughter of a long time colleague of mine MaryLou Johnson. Sara and MaryLou had sent me their good wishes with a wonderful fresh fruit tray and a card. I have always had so many wonderful people looking after me my entire career. Sara and I visited for a while. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness. I couldn’t eat all of the food so I brought it out to others and it was instantaneously devoured. What a treat!

Tomorrow we head for the Kah-Neh-Tah Resort. This will be 66 mile and a bit of climbing. It will be a challenging day but spirits are high tonight.

I am sad to report that one member of the group had a small stroke and will not be able to continue on the trip. We wish him a speedy recovery. We expect him to return to full health.

After two days relationships are being built. The challenge now is to remember everyone’s name. There are four Steves and four Mikes.

Well I need to get ready for tomorrow. Thanks for joining me after day two. I feel great and am really enjoying meeting all of the wonderful people on the ride. I know that over time I will share more about each one with you.

Good Night and Be Safe!

Click here to see more pictures from today!