After dipping the tires in the ocean at Mukilteo Bay on Wednesday, Lisa and I spent four days in Seattle. Two days were spent getting our home away from home the past two months ready to sell and selling it: the travel trailer. We have a new happy owner and happy sellers! We celebrated the sale with lunch at Spud’s, a “Seattle Tradition since 1940”. While I was talking to my son Jon on the phone as lunch was served, Lisa struck up a conversation with the owner and shared our passion for small business owners. A little later, he brought us over a gift of two shirts as a momento!

My sister Karen flew in from Columbus, Ohio over the weekend to celebrate with us (Gary & Lisa and Alan & Sheryl). We enjoyed time with her and our nephew Chris and his wife Jess, recently married and recently moved to Seattle.

We got to see the sights of Seattle together with them. We took in a Japanese Garden, a tour of the locks and a fish ladder, the farmer’s market on Pike Street, a Seafood Festival, the first Starbuck’s that opened in 1971, a Harbor Cruise and a tour of Zillow’s office where my nephew works.

On this past Monday morning, we started the drive back to Atlanta. Our first day included a stop at Twin Falls, Idaho where the temperature based on our car thermometer was 108 degrees. We took some time to take in the views of the Snake River from a bluff at Twin Falls and caught some guys diving off the bridge at Snake River.

As we were watching them do their thing, a fellow observer asked me if I did jumps. I just laughed and responded: I do bicycles.

The next morning I woke up with the sun and decided to take my first morning ride since we dipped our wheels in salt water. Before Lisa awoke I had 20 miles in and determined that the cows in Idaho were watching me just like the cows had watched the three of us across North America. 🙂

After a day of driving through Utah, and Wyoming we entered Nebraska and stopped at a Pony Express Station in Gothenberg.

We learned that the youngest rider was 11 years old. a piece of mail cost $5 to deliver out west, and the venture was a private enterprise eventually taken on after the founders went bankrupt by Wells Fargo. The whole operation lasted about 18 months. They selected young riders around the age of 18, preferably orphans (because of the high risk of being killed), who were skilled in horseback riding with excellent stamina and paid them $25 per month which was a high wage at the time.

We also stopped at a Lewis and Clark exhibit along the Missouri River at the border of Nebraska and Iowa. That was a treat given my reading material the past month or so.

After the stop in Nebraska, we made a beeline back to Atlanta, arriving Thursday evening. During the four days of driving we took time to study a book together on marriage entitled: Let’s Get Real, by Dale and Jena Forehand. It was a good read and study for us. We both recommend it for anyone at any stage of marriage.

As Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz once said: “There is no place like home.” We have enjoyed getting plugged back in here at home while being fully aware that there are going to be new rhythms for us in life. We released the old rhythms when we embarked on this adventure. If they were not fully released when we headed north to New Hampshire, they surely were after a few days. 🙂 I promised to share some observations and reflections from this trip on my last post. I intend to finish that up tomorrow and post then. That will be the official “Wrap up”.

In the meantime I will leave you with our list of favorite signs we noticed on the trip. Lisa was really good about keeping tally on them for the both of us:

-“Stop and Listen to the Rhubarb Grow”: Only in Canada was there a sign like this even though Rhubarb was in season across the whole Northern Tier
-“Nebraska State Penitentiary-Start a Career that makes a difference”: This one cracked me up as I was driving.
-“Watch wind on overpass”- Lisa wondered how you “watch” the wind? The three of us who rode our bikes know about watching the grass weaving in South Dakota. When it is weaving and dancing, we know we have challenges.
-“Strong possible winds next 5 miles”- Take out the word “possible” and it was still a true statement when we passed through.
-“Return to Laramie if Road is Closed”- Where else would you go in Wyoming?
-“Cattle Crossing”-They still roam the range out west.
-“Game Crossing”-Ha….could be grizzly bear, prong-horned deer, Buffalo, Bighorn Sheep or pretty much anything Lewis and Clark recorded back in 1804-1806.
-“Drowsy drivers pull over here”-If you drove for hours on some of the roads in Wyoming, you’d be drowsy too!
-“Drowsy drivers next exit 1 mile”-Apparently, they are very serious!
-“Drowsy drivers cause crashes”-I think we got the picture.
-“Report Wild Fires”-If they are tame, no need to report?
-“Report Drunk Driving”
-“Frequent Winds”-Subtle hint…these are serious cross winds.
-“Port (name of city), check boats”-These surfaced in Wyoming and were in Montana and we believe Idaho, not exactly bastions of what we in the east would consider ports!
-“Falling Rocks”- Trust me these signs had new meaning as cyclists. In one area coming into Sandpoint, Idaho we rode under a rock overhang for far too long. I pedaled faster!
-“No parking except while chaining”- You know there can be a snow problem here.
-“Chain up”-Summertime too?
-“Chains on area”
-“Wind”
-“Deer”-These four legged species like to jump out in front of everyone, including bikers. We all experienced this during the ride.
-“Check brake ramp”- When we went down the six mile grade on our bikes after seeing that sign, we understood why.
-Flashing electronic signs: “30 hours no accidents, drive carefully!” Another one in another area flashed “45 days and no accidents.”
-“Is this the way you want to be remembered? (picture of a person) DUI”-No joking, I was impressed that they take this so seriously out West to go to this extent.
-“University of Great Falls-Where will your courage take you?”- Recognize this was where Lewis and Clark discovered the Great Falls of the Missouri. Lisa caught this one and I loved it.