Day 17; Wednesday, July 10

Chama, NM to Alamosa, CO = 125kms
Bike Team = Zack's Angels

We had a nice relaxing morning, took our time to leave camp around 7am. Most people had already left at 6am... craziness. Today we climbed our first mountain and took a picture at the summit. I must say I enjoy hiking up mountains much more then biking up them!

 

It was SOOO fun biking down though. Averaged 60km/hr down the whole way. We stopped in a town at noon for lunch because we could feel raindrops. We reached the restaurant just on time - it was called "The Dutch Windmill". I asked if they served croquettes, the server had no idea what that was. Turns out they only serve Mexican food- false advertisement. By the time we left the restaurant the storm had passed- seriously perfect timing because we heard it was even hailing.

 

 

 

 

Leaving New Mexico and heading into Colourful Colorado!!

We were cruising at about 31km/hour on average right into camp. Eric Stehouwer greeted us with freshly baked homemade cookies! What a warm welcome.

 

We quickly set up our tents in a rec center and had amazing showers inside- they were warm! We hopped in a van going to Wal Mart- I stocked up on candy and gum. Supper was lasagne. There were extreme winds, so we took refuge beside the rec center to eat. Had peloton meeting and small groups. We were able to access some Wi-Fi at the rec center, but it was a very slow connection. I tried uploading pictures, but gave up because it was taking too long. Early to bed... sooo sleepy!

Day 15- Monday, July 8

Shiprock, NM to Turley, NM = 88kms
Bike Team= Kaitlyn and Julia

Woke up at 5:30am- the other girls had already been up for an hour since they're not used to sleeping in the community setting yet, they woke up early with the early risers. We went at a great slow pace, great ride with some climbs, but not too steep. We had to be very careful biking on the shoulder because there was a lot of glass as we left the dry reserves- people smash beer bottles.

We stopped with Joan and Alice at a taco restaurant that also had a great café menu in Farmington, NM; we got chocolate chip frappes- buy one get one free! The staff were so friendly and said they heard about Sea to Sea on their local radio station!

We took another stop at a gas station for a bathroom break. We had lots of people stopping to talk to us to hear what we're doing. Since it was a short day we pulled into camp at 12:15 and had lunch right away. We set up our tents- tonight we're sleeping at a winery!

We did some wine tasting and then bought a bottle of wine to share with Zack, Laura and Karen called "Girls are Meaner".

 

We went for a wine tour- which was pretty long and boring, but at least we got to sample more wine.

 

We had a nice shower in the hose and then napped- so tired. Supper was at 6:00 and then Peloton meeting and small groups. I bought another bottle of wine to share with Matt, Zack and Amanda. We sat on a patio while we drank it, and chatted. We found out there has been major flooding in Toronto today, but we don't have any details since we have no cell reception, tv, or Wi-Fi connection. There was a crazy wind storm at night making it a challenge to sleep in our tents.

First American Century!

Day 13 - Saturday, July 6
Gallup, NM to Shiprock, NM = 160km's

I woke up early since we were sleeping in a gym- the early risers turned on the gym lights so they can pack up and leave. After our group was packed up, dressed, with our lunches packed, they made an announcement that we would not be able to ride today. Immediately everyone groaned. The bridge that we were supposed to ride across had been washed out by the heavy rains from yesterday and now the whole highway was shut down- we would have to resume the tour tomorrow instead of having a day off.
We were so disappointed, and started making plans for the morning to bike around town and maybe use Wi-Fi. As we were walking away, we got called back for a new announcement- we have been granted permission to walk our bikes across the bridge and go through the closed highway! Awesome!!

Here are some pics crossing the washed out bridge:

Our rest stops today were at CRC churches that offered a variety of cookies and treats- such nice hospitality! One of these SAG stops had a trailer set up selling Gatorade and Native fry bread.

Got some strong head wind- so we formed a long pace line and drafted- Zack pulled us most of the way. We biked straight to McDonalds in Shiprock for air conditioning and ice cream- ended up staying an hour. We continued biking past our destination today just so we could reach exactly 100 miles, since we were only at 97. We biked circles around the church parking lot until our bike computers read exactly 100 miles (160km's).

Laura took these souvenir "Century poses" of us spelling out 1-0-0.When we finally got to the church at 4:00pm, Kaitlyn and Julia were there to greet us. Kaitlyn brought me a care package from home of gum and pictures from my beautiful niece Elaina.

We ate a delicious and much appreciated dinner of stir fry, veggies and dip, spring rolls and cheese cake for dessert. Our peloton ran for sooo long- until like 8:00, so we voted not to have small group afterwards. We had limited Wi-Fi use because of a poor internet connection, so I gave up and played a game of cards. In bed by 10:00- falling asleep immediately.

Day 10- Wednesday, July 3

Heber, AZ to St. John's = 125.7km
Bike Team: Zack's Angels

Today we had a lot of rolling hills. We biked to Snowflake, AZ and decided to stop and find a café since we weren't rushed to get to camp. We biked around downtown, but couldn't find any open cafes. We gave up and went to McDonalds- which was bustling with people and about 25 other cyclists who had the same idea as us. We ordered iced coffee and had a nice hour break.

 

Back on the road- a lot of steep climbs and long decents. We arrived to camp at 12:30pm. Tonight we'll be staying at the city park in St. John's. We sat in an outdoor picnic area and the cooks brought us fresh banana bread! Nom nom nom. We showered in some local public washrooms at the public pool. There was a brief extreme wind and rain storm- apparently this is a regular thing in the afternoons here. A group of us walked around main street trying to find a pub. Sadly, every store was vacant- main street was completely vacant. We finally found a pub and shared a pitcher of beer. We found out that this town is struggling with poverty themselves and just by us visiting the pub this evening, we helped them pay their rent for the month.

Back at camp we laid under trees for shade until the cooks blew the horn for dinner. It was my team's turn for "sweep duties" so we had to help with dinner set up, clean up and serving. Tonight was meatloaf, baked potatoes, corn, and caesar salad. The town was featuring a "movie in the park" this evening as it's Independence weekend. I was too tired to stay up and watch it, so I went to my tent and fell asleep at 8:30pm. We were warned at 5:00am the town would be shooting off canons in celebration of July 4.

Weekend in Payson, AZ

June 28- July 1, 2013
Quartzsite, AZ to Payson, AZ = no km's of biking :(

We got to 'sleep in' this morning until 6:30am since we couldn't bike. We had a relaxing morning and took our time packing up our gear, eating breakfast with lots of coffee, and packing our lunches to take with us on the road. We killed time until our bus showed up- playing cards, reading, skipping...

The bus came at 10:00- I sat beside Laura and we had a nice chat. We ate our packed lunches and looked out at the amazing scenery.

We stopped at a splash pad to stretch our legs- walked around, but it was just too hot. We even ran through the sprinklers of the splash pad, but not even the water could cool us off. We quickly jumped right back onto the air conditioned bus. We stopped again at an outdoor shopping center and bought ice cream at Marble Slab.

When we arrived to Payson, we found out we would be staying at a high school- but we weren't actually allowed inside the school at all. We hung out in the shade of a canopy and waited for our gear to arrive so we could set up our tents in a soccer field. We ate watermelon and they ordered us pizza for supper.

By 7:00pm, our gear truck still hadn't shown up, so we decided to go to a pizzeria to cool off in an air conditioned building and get some beer. Walked back to our 'camp' at 9:30 - the gear truck had arrived so we set up our tents. Got invited back into town from some other cyclists- we joined them for another round of drinks. It was a great night! In bed by 12:00.

Saturday was just hanging out in Payson- mostly at McDonalds to take advantage of their air conditioning and free Wi-Fi.

We did some volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity- painting a house and helping with landscaping. Zack's Angels bought matching outfits for the occasion.

We got to enjoy a concert in the park that a local band put on. Then early to bed!

On Sunday, there weren't any churches large enough to hold all of us, so we were divided among 3 churches. I went to a Southern Baptist church. Afterwards a group of us went out for lunch to Dennys- again we got to enjoy the simple luxuries of air conditioning and Wi-Fi. We walked back to camp and could feel some rain drops. As soon as we arrived to camp- we saw someone had kindly put our tarps on our tents for us while we were gone. Such a relief because suddenly the tents started almost blowing over in the extreme heavy wind and rain. I have never seen such an intense storm- a lot of tents collapsed, luckily mine survived.

Monday was Canada Day! Best Canada Day I've ever experienced. All the Canadians seemed to be sporting Canadian jerseys and t-shirts. We had a nice Canadian themed and decorated breakfast of pancakes, strawberries and bacon. We left for a 15 mile bike ride to a local river to spend the afternoon swimming. We had a picnic lunch there of sandwiches, oreos, apples, granola bars and pretzels.

We walked to a local ice cream/coffee shop to use their Wi-Fi and order smoothies. Dinner was pulled pork sandwiches, beans, roasted potatoes, veggies and dip, chocolate pudding for dessert. Then we walked over to Dennys to use their Wi-Fi and some beer. We had a peloton meeting- the tour resumes tomorrow! Thank goodness, we're getting stir crazy over here!

We found out Arizona has been struck with some extreme forest fires. Sadly 19 firefighters were killed on duty.

Week 1/Day 4

Desert Center, CA to Quartzsite, AZ = 123km
Bike Team: Zack's Angels minus Ava plus George, Amanda, and Kim Visser

We wanted to leave camp this morning at 5:00, but they didn't open the kitchen truck until 5:00. So we quickly stuffed breakfast down our throats and grabbed food for lunch on the road. We ended up leaving camp at 5:30am, and already it was scorching hot. We started off by biking on the freeway. I was feeling very tired from my previous night of sleep. We had to get off of our bikes at one point on the freeway and carry our bikes for some time because there was so much glass on the shoulder.

Poor Karyn had a major wipe out and got some bad road rash on her legs, shoulders, back and arms. She was a hard core bad ass though and got right back onto her bike.

We call out "Drink!" every 10 minutes just to remind ourselves to stay hydrated as we bike. Plus there is a "SAG Wagon" set up every 10 miles for us to cool down and refill our bottles. Quite a few cyclists were still driven to camp today though because the extreme heat was too intense. I ended up leaving my team because I was feeling too depleted. I joined Ava, her Dad, and Len Kooy so I could go at a bit slower pace. We called ourselves "Weigh More" because we felt we were "Weigh More Awesome". Then Len Kooy and I broke off and became our own team of "Puttering More" because we puttered up the climbs together at the same pace.

We crossed over Colorado River - separating the states of California to Arizona today- exciting.

As soon as we arrived to our destination of Quartzsite, AZ, we went straight to McDonalds for mcFlurries. We received sad news- that the tour would be suspended for 4 days due to the extreme heat wave Arizona has been experiencing. We were all sad, but we understand. We got dropped off in town to do some laundry and pay for showers. We had supper early and went to bed in an open community room again. We were given the option of staying at a local motel, but I didn't want to spend the money. I passed out almost instantly tonight with ear plugs in.

Week 1/Day 3

Wednesday, June 26
Coachella to Desert Center, CA = 99km
Today our bike team was Zach's Angels + George + Amanda Koopman-Deboer

We left at 6am and already it was extremely humid. We biked through nurseries of palm trees- pretty awesome!

We biked a gradual climb through the hottest temperatures and on the freeway again. We stopped at a visitor center for ice cream- stayed an hour just to cool off in the air conditioning. SO nice! Continued onto the freeway. The state of California actually had it cleaned for us before the tour began, and it had a nice wide shoulder so it was an easier bike ride.

We arrived at camp at 12:30, which had been our goal for today. Today we're staying at a golf course- and again we jumped into the pool as soon as we arrived. Ate our lunches in some shade, but it's still ridiculously hot. Set up our sleeping bags in a large community room at the golf course. Going to be cozy, but at least the room has Wi-Fi and air conditioning.

We spent the remainder of the day just chilling and relaxing, facebooking and blogging until supper at 5:00. We had a burrito buffet with banana pudding for dessert and vanilla wafers. Had our peloton meeting and then bed at 8:30. I went to sleep with my ipod on because I expected there would be some snoring. But didn't expect the snoring to be SO loud. Finally after an hour of trying to block out the noise, I moved my sleeping bag to be in front of the men's bathroom door- away from other people, but people continually used the washroom throughout the night. Poor sleep!! Tired.