To sleep, perchance to dream

Sleeping in a tent each night may have seemed like a small challenge for nine weeks, but what I hadn't expected was the number of midnight interruptions. For the most part we camp in high school fields and use their almost always beautiful shower facilities. What seems to be forgotten at times is the automatic sprinkler systems which tend to be activated when most people are asleep. That's fine if your tent has been battened down, but on these warm nights, sometimes flies are not attached, or in Greg Dyk's case, the head pops up in the tent vestibule (the space between the fly and the actual tent) ready to soak the sleeper inside. We had such an incident at 1 a.m. last night when a strange sound awakened me. Fortunately my tent remained watertight, but others weren't so lucky. Quick action to cover the heads with garbage cans, water bottles weighed down by bricks and anything else available saved a few people a wet night.

In Huntington, the baking hot empty field became a howling maelstorm in a few minutes while we were eating supper. One young woman's tent went rolling across the field, pegs attached, up a hill, over a concrete barrier, caught momentarily against a tree, then disappeared from view. Three sprinters took after it and managed to retrieve the tent but their legs were covered with thorns and scratches. All night the wind howled and gusted to about 80 kph making sleep difficult. Some chose to abandon their tents and bed down in the much quieter gym, but most of us just checked our pegs and listened to the wind screaming and battering the tents all night

Although Tuesday was a low day for me partly due to a nagging cold that has sapped my energy, I did enjoy the much less strenuous riding the rest of the week and feel almost ready for tomorrow's. The temperature today fell a little (about 96F) which was a bit of a relief. And there have been several ice cream stops when the opportunity presents itself especially at day's end.

My favourite treat was a drive with Betsy to a stream outside Huntington where 9 of us avoided the huge (3 ft)poison ivy bushes, as marked by Clare the forester, and found our way down an embankment to the water. Brian, a character from PEI who played Garth Brooks on his bike radio for me as we rode together, says he would never travel without his personal botanist. That's a good idea in this country where washrooms can be far apart. A duck into the sparsely growing bushes means watching out for rattlesnakes, thorns of many descriptions, poison ivy and poison sumac. It was a quickly flowing creek which we walked upstream a few times, then floated back down. Lovely green willows overhung the embankments. The younger group, including Marty Minnesma, tried to dam the water with their backs while it was all I could do to stay on my feet and avoid the rocks. God's jacuzzi was SO relaxing after a hot day's ride.

And,yes, I have seen quite a few snakes,some of them rattlers, but they were a little flat when they couldn't outrun the cars. And I have pulled thorns out of my cycling shorts after a quick break in the sage brush. Most of last week's ride took us along rolling roads past farmhouses shaded by huge trees and fields of various descriptions - potatoes, Swiss chard, mint, dill, corn (my preferred washroom stop), and farms with horses, cows, goats, burros, mules and crowing roosters.

As one of the cyclists said, the people we talk with along the way were enthusiastic enough from Seattle onward, but now that we have cycled through Washington and Oregon and into Idaho, we are gaining great reactions and interest in the causes. Many motorists and farmers along the way have taken our cards and spontaneously offered to contribute to end the cycle of poverty for some. It is a great feeling to see the effect that we are having on complete strangers.

Another favourite day was July 4th. We were royally treated to a dinner that started with Mexican appetizers, the main course was polled pork and beef with all the trimmings, and strawberry shortcake for dessert presented by the churches in Sunnyside. Afterward we walked to a CRC church where we were offered root beer floats, then walked across the street to the local track for a real Fourth of July celebration of speeches, rousing music and fireworks. A long walk back to camp made me ready for bed, but all night fireworks were being shot off, cars were driving close by, dogs were barking, coyotes howling, then the morning birds started chirping. Still it was a fun experience.

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The line above is where I drifted off to sleep with my fingers on the keyboard. Perhaps it's time to end for today.

Jane & George - I have carried your birthday card with me so far with good intentions of course. I hope you had a great party. I'll try to find your address now that I have stamps and a place to mail it.

Shauna - I will miss your birthday, too! All the best - a card is in the mail.