Day f Yakima to Sunnyside km 59.5 (or 37 miles for the US readers) Uphill 725ft Downhill 1123ft

Today is Independence Day in the States. As Canadians we decided we should show our support for the US cyclists by flying their flag on our bikes. So yesterday we went to Walmart and purchased 150 flags. The manager even gave us the employee discount when she found out why we are cycling. We put the flags out after the pelaton meeting along with a donation jar (funny part is we thought of the idea but an American footed the bill, cool aye!).

As I type this I am sitting in the sports locker room at Sunnyside Christian High school. The radio is tuned to the local station and the sound of the younger crowd of cyclists bouncing basketballs is right by the door that I’m sitting at. How long till I have to dodge a ball is anyones guess.

The bike ride started and finished in the rain. Thankfully we left later than usual because from 9-12 noon the Zillah Christian Reformed church was treating us to fresh water, coffee, cherries, watermelon, peanut filled cracker and cheese filled crackers. This was a treat especially when you consider that they took time off from their national holiday to serve us.

The photo below is rather interesting. Imagine our surprise when we went into the handicap washroom at the church and found a scale. Photo op. I stepped on the scale first (to my dismay I have already lost 2 Ibs..I think it is mainly from the heat). Now every women that stepped on the scale kept it at my numbers….hence the smiling faces!
The area we biked thru today has many wineries and orchards. Sorry we didn’t stop for photos mainly because of the rain. The other reason we didn’t stop is because after the church stop Bill & Rita Wymenga (Pickerington, ON) headed up our pace line with their tandem bike. Now Bill is a powerful cyclists and with Rita helping we hit an average speed of 44km. It was a very sweet ride, to say the least. You can imagine our disappointment when we heard Louie call out, “Pete’s stopping; probably a flat”. We pass this up the line and bid our leader adieu. When Pete did catch us we found out he was taking a photo and was just letting us know to continue on without him. For penitence he had to take the lead and pull us along. We eventually got into a pace line and would switch off the front rider to the back whenever they got tired. I never did see 44km again. Guess we’ll have to wait till the tandem joins us another day. Our actual bike time was just over 2 hours. Almost all the riders came in with mud streaked faces because it rained for most of the ride. Thankfully the sun was shining when we pulled into the school so we could set up our wet tents and get everything dried (it rained last night as well).

Once the tents where set up most cyclists spent the better part of an hour or so cleaning off their bikes and chains. The nice part is if you don’t know how you’re suppose to clean a bike someone is always there to show you what to do.

Tonight the local church is treating us to supper so that our cooks can have a well deserved time out. Apparently there will be a fireworks display later in town. Afterwards we will be treated to ice cream. Bonus! (if we can stay awake that long.)

Not too sure of the distance tomorrow but they have some great things planned for us…billets, swimming, and……to find out more, tune in tomorrow. Hopefully we will have a satellite connection or you’ll have to wait longer. Later, Cynthia