Cassandra: (Wed June 20) I have vacation for the next (almost) two weeks and have wanted to get some additional training in for the STP, so I have decided to do a cross-Washington bike/road trip. Originally, the plan was to go by myself since Dennis is going to Philadelphia for vacation, but then last night my friend, Lisa, came by for some wine. We hadn’t seen each other for almost 6 months because of her school schedule; she is a nursing student at Shoreline Community College. So she came over, along with our other friend from study-abroad in Austria, Michelle. We were drinking wine and I was telling Lisa about my planned road trip when she decided it would be a good idea to invite herself along. The more we thought about it, the better it sounded. We would drive together to different destinations around Eastern Washington, each bringing our bikes so we could do day-trips wherever we went. It would be safer because we’d be together. And it would be more fun. So, at 11:30 pm last night, Lisa headed home to pack.

Today we drove from Seattle to Wenatchee along Highway 2 and were lucky enough to get a camping spot at Wenatchee Confluence State Park. After getting our tent sent up we unloaded the bikes and headed into downtown Wenatchee for some food. Lisa felt like something greasy, not the sandwich-making materials we had brought with us. We traveled along the Wenatchee Loop Trail on our bikes about 2.5 miles each way, at a slow to moderate pace. There was lots of people watching to do, and Lisa couldn’t go very fast because her bike seat was still adjusted for her mom (she is using her mom’s bike). Our little 5-mile ride was a nice warm-up and a good reminder for me that riding bikes can be fun. It doesn’t have to be all sport and hard-core.