Carol - July 5th.  Cassandra was home so this is our last longer training ride.  As usual I get frustrated having to head out of town.  I get tired of all the stop signs and construction etc. that comes with heading out to the country roads.  Also, I knew that Rich could not meet us at a stopping point so we would have to ride the last 2.5 miles of our ride uphill. 
After finally clearing town and its traffic we headed out to Ferndale and then the outskirts of Lynden.  It was nice to have wonderful weather and such beautiful scenery.  We rode past lots of raspberry fields (which we were tempted to sample from) cows, horses, old barns and homesteads.  Cassandra of course had to stop and pee constantly (I hope this isn't necessary on the STP) and I had to stop and drink and eat a lot.  However, even with those obstacles we were able to keep a decent pace. I'm sure we will be riding a little bit slower on the STP due to the massive amount of bikers.
I'm excited to get our lists made and make our final plans later this weekend.

STP - here we come.