A "Short" Day

It’s very interesting how the evolution of miles on this trip has progressed. I remember during my “training days” when I rode 15 miles and that was enough for a week. Nowadays when we ride 50 miles we call it a “short day.” Well the ride to Gilman was just that, a “short day.” I believe it was a 60 mile ride and we quickly brushed through the first 40 miles before even stopping for lunch. Lunch on this particular day was awesome because our food came from so many different places! Our bread was donated from Panerea bread, all 40 loaves! Our meat and cheese was donated from subway. We claimed that during one of our pee breaks. Subway quickly packaged it up for us and we rode the rest of the miles to lunch with meat and cheese on our







While on the ride we met a guy who is riding cross country from Washington to Maine, but he is doing it all alone! His wife is driving his SAG wagon (aka their mini van) and he has only taken one day off. He left on may 28th so by the time we saw him he was pretty much almost there. He said he was going to take about 17 more days to get to his final destination. Wow. The discoloration in his skin did scare me a bit and encourage more personal sunscreen application.

Once we arrived in Gilman we held a bike clinic for the little kiddies in town. They loved this. There was one boy who was particularly adorable, his name is Dakota. He stayed with us the whole night, throughout dinner and our presentation. He even made it to breakfast the very next morning to send us off. Since we left Gilman Dakota and his mom have been keeping up with us through our online journals. Here's what she had to say:





HAPPY 4th of JULY!!
All of you were wonderful to Cody (Dakota) and all of us! He is so tickled with his "Bike and Build" shirt and water bottle. I'm sure as soon as it's washed he will have it on again. Please pass on to Evan that Cody gets on his bike all by himself by tilting it way over to the side and adjusting the pedal like he taught him. His bike helmet is on its way from his Mom and Dad in San Antonio, Texas. He said as soon as you were all gone "I'm going to miss all of them." Thanks for being part of our lives even for such a short time. I gave my phone numbers to one of your leaders--you are ALL welcome to call if ever though this area again even not on a bike.