Pedaling Pilgrim Blog Home

For those that are worrying (mom), last night I had the best night’s sleep in memorable history. The Clover Island Inm in Kennewick WA looks great on paper, but its heyday was 40 years ago. But we set the AC to 67 and crashed comfortably in our own beds (rollaway version for Geeto to remind him of sleeping at the firehouse). So, rested and fed at the continental breakfast, we were raring to go this morning for 56 hilly miles.

More than once a day, we talk about ways we can shed weight from our packs. Every ounce we carry is more calories burned, more muscle breakdown, more burden on our trusted steeds. I’ve figured that every contact lens I put in is another 4 grams of weight gone. Every dollop of toothpaste, every scoop of Gatorade powder, every ounce of chamois crème… it all adds up to weight I’m not hauling around.

At a gas station rest stop yesterday I put a bottle of Body Armour liquid IV in my handlebar bag; though the bottle was brand new and unopened, lying sideways in my bag it somehow completely leaked out. This morning there was still several ounces in the bottom of my bag. So, I completely emptied the bag to drain and clean. Lo and behold… unbeknownst to me, I was carrying two 10” galvanized steel spikes at 1/3 pound each in this bag. Over 1/2 pound of seemingly useless prongs. Geeto thought they might be good for vampire defense, but vampires don’t really fear galvanized steel like they do wooden stakes. Geeto suggested we could pin the vampire down with these while we searched for a wooden stake, but they had to go. I still don’t know why I had these in my bag.

I mentioned the chamois crème: without getting too intimate, this has been a great recommendation from Monte for us to bring along. Riding for 6-11 hours a day can take a toll at the human to bicycle interface, but this stuff makes a world of difference: an ounce of prevention and such. Well… with sometimes socialist behavior in our democratic adventure, we often share a lot of things. In our biking when we were preparing to depart today, Geeto and I both offered our Chamois Butt’r to Lecy and Monte. It was then we discovered why we gravitated to sparkling rose in Shampoo-we and enjoyed 16 ounce Mai Thais last night… those must’ve been days when we used Geeto’s Butt’r (see photo below).

As we hit the road this morning, we realized why we didn’t recognize Monte initially last night as he intrigued us with his offer of massages; he didn’t look like himself as he’s shaved his mullet! His typical mullet has been a bone of contention for years, but since he’s become a kept man, he’s adopted a more clean cut Boy Scout look. We’re glad he’s finally growing up.

We also learned that Monte’s original surprise plan was to drive with his bike to Reali Family Vineyard (today’s destination) and then ride back toward us for a surprise meeting on the road… while carrying a watermelon for each of us. That would’ve been a lovely sight, but instead we convinced Monte to leave his car at the hotel and ride to the winery; Geeto and I could drive him back the next morning. A great plan we all agreed, so we got a whole day to pick on Monte instead of quibbling with one another!

I forgot to mention yesterday… when we were coming into Mabton, my rear kickstand was lost. I don’t mind having a little weight gone, but it’s a pain to corral these steeds without a kickstand. So today at our first break without it, I had to lay my bike on its side in the grass. I didn’t think too much about laying the bike down. After our break in a sea of apple trees, I had to readjust my mirror, which subsequently came off in my hand.

As Geeto and Lecy have discovered, the mirror is a near necessity and I’m disappointed with this minor catastrophe. I still have my Varia camera at the back that provides an audible alert to my phone whenever traffic is approaching from behind. And Jesus remains always watching my six o’clock. We now have one more thing added to the Walla Walla bike store shopping list.

We road all day through eastern Washington agriculture lands. We did manage to find a small stand of trees next to a field of potatoes that made for a nice lunch spot. We lounged in a bed of wild strawberries and savored our PBJ sandwiches and dill pickles. Before I left Batavia, when Shayla from the Lincoln Chronicle interviewed me, she suggested this trip as an opportunity to “see the country”. I’ve been around much of the country, so this wasn’t really an objective of this journey. But now being loose on the Palouse, rolling through open roads at a modest pace past wheat fields, apple groves, wineries… this is a great way to take in the diversity of our 250 year-old nation.

During our lunch break we learned that Geeto’s wife Julie successfully cut the grass! A first time in 30+ years. Lecy’s wife avoided a tornado at their home in Porter IN by enjoying their getaway home in Door County. My wife Christin made it home from Corvallis on Tuesday then today was off to Charlotte for a wedding and meeting with friends. Our wives don’t seem to need us.

The rest of the afternoon we traveled rolling hills on very abandoned byways, with a lot of silence. Monte had to make an emergency stop brought on by sketchy gas station rib sandwich from the day before; thanks for the lesson Monte to remind us not to make questionable meal choices.

After 57 relatively easy miles, just after seeing three stags and two does racing across the stubble of newly mown wheat, we were basking in the hospitality of the Reali Family Vineyard owned and operated by Lecy’s sister Kristin and husband Ken. It’s great to sit with friends and family and listen to my riding partners regale them with stories from the road. It actually conjured tears from my eyes hearing their experience so far; nearly in tears again thinking about it. Christin gave me a little notepad with a message for each day; today’s message was a great fit for my feelings.

10 years ago after sending their youngest off to college (and into their second bottle of wine) Ken and Kristin were talking about maybe investing in a vineyard. Shortly afterwards Kristin went back to school for a couple of wine-making degrees. Then post-Covid they found 82 acres of wheat fields that would be great for growing grapes. Sometime later they put 25,000 plants put in the ground (in 3.5 days!) and their wine inspired dream was literally growing into fruition.

Their wine maker Serge is from France. In France it’s tough to get into the wine business unless you’re born into it. Through some circumstances he found himself working as a chef at a winery in Washington; then 2 years after he started that, the wine maker was killed in a car accident and Serge became the wine maker. Serge did that for 20 years, and through fortunate circumstance, he was ready for another opportunity; he’s now in his third harvest with Reali’s and they’re making fabulous wines from their favorite varietals.

First leg done and haven’t yet had to touch the Chelsea bag. And we have a night of luxuriating at the vineyard and a day off tomorrow. We’re not splitting atoms, we’re not saving lives, but we feel we’re doing something courageous and useful, and we’re deserving of some recuperation.

I don’t want to get political, but I couldn’t pass up this wine tinged song from Loggins & Messina (before Kenny jumped the popular music shark): Same Old Wine.

Note: It was great having Monte along, but I blame him for keeping me up too late to write. I know some of you look forward to an update first thing in the morning, but I was falling asleep and typing in right-thumbed gibberish so had to wait to complete on our day off.