Ahhhh, I smell the fresh air of a mountain forest and feel the crisp cool morning air being warmed by the first rays of sunshine is a surreal feeling of being in paradise.  That is how I felt upon  wakening at Nancy and Denny’s home.   After showering and
getting dressed I meander upstairs to the living room and gaze out the floor to ceiling windows and behold an emerald blue sea in the distance, the US Coast Guard station on the spit and beyond it the distant shore of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.  I’m dazzled by the clearness of the air, free of smog and the pollution of our big cities on the southern end of the coast.   Denny and Nancy you have a wonderful home, a true piece of God’s beautiful earth is
yours to enjoy and cherish.

I’ve learned I don’t need many clothes, less to carry when doing self-contained riding, as I’m able to do laundry every other day.  My riding clothes are wearing out but then again, as Chet one of my riding companions from stage one pointed out in sixty days we have worn them as much as several years of riding at home.

After having crossed the mid-section of America where the temperatures were almost always in the 90s or above, I’m almost constantly cold here in Washington State.  A lady shared with me yesterday, the State or at least the section I’ve ridden so far has as of yet this summer gotten to 85 degrees, it’s a cold summer.  The
exception to being cold is primarily when I’m climbing one of the many many hills.  Yesterday as an example I was soaked to the bone from sweating climbing those hills.  Yet with each downhill run I was freezing.  The hills are too short to try removing layers of clothes on the climbs or adding clothes for the descents.

Close encounters with motor vehicles are rare compared to how many pass me each day.  Even rarer are the few idiots who scream obscenities or lay on their car/truck horn as they pass me.

Since I have elected to not prepare most of my meals, daily expenses have far exceeded my $50.00 per day planned budget.  Thus, I’ve had to resort to using the couple of credit cards Ms. Vickie allowed me to
bring along.  Hopefully, she won’t cut me off before I’ve completed the journey.

The generosity and kindness of Mark and Jennie, Denny and Nancy and Larry and Charis have helped greatly to easing my expense problem.  I am embarrassed with the VIP treatment they have lavished on me, I’m so undeserving of such treatment.  That said they have filled my heart with warm fuzzies and a deep gratitude for all they have done.

What have I enjoyed most?  Sure the vast beauty of our Country is grand to behold but the real joy has been visiting with the hundreds
of folks I’ve met so far and not once has anyone been mean spirited.  As Audrey and her family expressed, the folks I met from Holland, “Americans are very friendly, helpful, kind and generous”.  Total strangers have become instant friends.  The acts of kindness from so many have overwhelmed me.  I’d so much like to give each and every one of them a great big hug.  I’m proud of our Country and the folks who make it one of the greatest in the world.

I’ve truly been blessed to be on this journey.  I’m more at peace with myself then I can ever remember being.  May all of your dreams come true for you, too.