Monday June 30th - excitement and joy

Monday morning the excitment built as the gear truck was loaded, and everyone got the last minute things ready to roll. It looked like an organized chaos, but there was method in the madness. The support staff were so good to pack us lunch as usually we have to do this at breakfast for ourselves. We headed down with the fabulous bike path to the Golden Garden Beach in Seattle, where the local churches presented us with a breakfast fit for royalty. It was wonderful to share it with good friends and enjoy the scrumptious food while looking over the ocean. I particularly enjoyed smelling the salt water, as that is what I miss about the great lakes. It was a glorious sunshine morning with fabulous weather for Seattle, the locals said. The tire dipping happened with great excitement and a good mix of emotions. We all said the Lord's Prayer together, and many blinked away a tear. I was careful not to let the corrosive salt water and sand get onto my bike, and only dipped the rubber of the wheels. It was a touching moment with a whole bunch of mixed emotions that rushed through my spirit, like a huge sense of thankfulness to our Lord for the privilege and honor to get to do this amazing experience with and for Him, as well as some nervousness about one's ability to cope with the great physical, psychological and emotional challenges. I thank the Lord for the sense of peace and empowerment I experienced after we all prayed. Those were special moments that I will always remember. It was wonderful that Kobie could also be there to experience the beginning of the tour! He flew back on Monday night, after he had a nerve wrecking discovery at the airline check in that we had our passports accidentally switched!! He quickly rented another car and dashed off to where we camped at Sultan, 80km from Seattle, and made it back just in time! Kobie enjoyed it very much to meet many cyclists and support staff that he will work with when he joins us in Madison WI.
Monday's ride was very scenic, the first 20 miles following a bike path that was built on ex-railway tracks. It wound around the bay and later along the shore of a huge lake. Mostly the trail was enclosed by a canopy of green leaves, a lush tunnel of huge trees and rays of sunshine shining through. It was a delightful ride, full of humor and excitement! The camping went well and everyone got busy sorting out his or her stuff and get it into an organized efficient system, as we have to get up at 5:30 am, break camp and leave at 7am for the huge climb of the second day.
I slept like a log on my inflatable mattress, and had no problem with setting up the pop-up tent in 10 minutes. "Gotta get quick, good and efficient at this, as I'm gonna do it for about 120 times during this tour!"