Day Six Sunnyside to Kennewick 80.5km Uphill 1236 ft Downhill 1498 ft

First off I must begin by saying a huge THANK YOU to the people at Sunnyside CRC. What a fantastic welcome and meal they put on for us last evening. Later on they held a ‘meet ‘n greet and treated us all to root beer floats. The evening finished with a BANG…fireworks of all colours sparkled in the evening light. I went to my tent before the show was over and promptly slept thru all the noise. Twas a tad tired, I’d say.

Last evening was my first really good sleep. I woke up refreshed and ready for an easy, downhill ride of 80km. The morning started off cool but quickly warmed up. Our bikes are cleaned, lubed, oiled and ready to go. Our fearless leader, Pete was biting at the bit to leave but we managed to hold him back till 7:30 am (I told him I needed to put on my lipstick and such….behind his darkened sunglasses I could see his eyes roll.) And so the day begins.

We are still biking thru the dessert. It’s interesting to see how they make the dessert bloom. This is quite an agricultural area. It’s quite common to see irrigation pump spraying water over the lush green orchards, and vineyards that dot the countryside. Passed some nice looking hay ready to be baled, and took a photo of a dairy operation just in case those reading this blog do not know what a holstein cow looks like. If it wasn’t for the endless supply of water this rural setting would not be possible. Oh, I even saw my first hops plant. Companies like Coors, Blue light etc are fans of this plant.
Haven’t heard how many flats we had today, but I’m sure it’s a new record. This area is known for its goat heads or as the native call it, ‘puncture plants’. A plant that has multiple spikes. It is usually found in patches of dried grass or on the sides of roadways. A bikers nightmare.

On the serious side, we are very aware of the purpose of this. If we are held up at a stop sign or take a break at a local diner we arouse curiosity (wouldn’t you look twice at someone with darkened glasses, helmet, and spandex to boot!) People ask, ‘where are you going?’ we reply, ‘Jersey City, NJ’. The next expression is one of disbelief. Then we hand them a business size card that explains the goals of the tour. We encourage them to check out the website, campsite, and if possible donate. Almost every evening Len, our head chaplan reminds us that we are ambassadors for the cause. Yes, the ride is a big part of it but we must also make sure the message gets out that almost every three seconds a child dies from poverty related issues. That the aid epidemic in Africa is slowly wiping out the middle age population (and children). That when disasters strike all over the world we can send teams of volunteers to provide help and at the same time spread the gospel. I could go on, but this is some of the goals of the tour. The monies raised from this tour can and will make a huge difference is peoples lives. Praise God for that.

Getting back to the ride. Again the sun was out in full force but thank goodness, no humidity. The ride was very easy, downhill most of the way with a few shorter climbs. We rode on some nice bike trails and managed to avoid the hwy for most of the day. Coming onto the Columbia Park trail was a treat. Again the scenery would knock your eyes out. Our campsite is right in the park. We were greeted from members of the Family of Faith CRC. Lemonade, cold water, along with fresh baked cookies (I think a younger member of the church, Hannah has a great career in baking coming up). Several cyclists decided to swim in the river. Very cold and numbing. They told me it was refreshing, I’ll just take their word on that one. The Family of Faith church is relatively small….40 families but they have gone far beyond what we could have imagined. On our gear truck they’ve posted activities that they will either host or bring us to. The activities range from floating down the river, to swimming in someone back yard and even a boat ride. They provided rides to local malls for either shopping, laundry, or just if you wanted to take in an afternoon movie. They stayed at the park for the better part of the afternoon but had to leave for a 4pm wedding. Later on they returned to arrange the rides for the billets (or as you Americans call it, ‘hosting’). Barb and I decided to take advantage of being billeted. We are staying at Pastor Dan’s and Kristy house. They are wonderful hosts. They are very, very busy people but still offered to do our laundry (‘no, just show us where the laundry room is and we can do it ourselves’). “Can we get you water, milk” ‘No, again, just show us where the glasses are and we can help ourselves.’ We have a quiet bedroom in the basement and use of the family room so we spent the better part of the evening catching up on our blogs and when we experienced brain freeze, off to bed we went. The end.