SHERMAN HAS BEEN CONQUERED!!!

We made it to the top of Sherman Pass at an elevation of 5575. We had 4568 feet of climbing today. The beginning of the pass was not very steep and we were doing rather well. But as we closed in on the top it became much steeper, most of the top was 6% grade and we were down to a crawl. Katie and TJ did the 27 miles up in 4 hours, I made it in 4 1/2, and Chris and Roger at 5 hours.

Today officially marks the longest bike trip of our lives! We have passed our total miles from MRT two years ago.

We stayed in an awesome room last night at the Riverview Motel in Ione. We woke up about 7:30 and got on the road at 9:00. This is pretty quick for us. It usually takes us two hours to pack, eat, and get on the road.

We left about 9:30 this morning after having breakfast in our room. We were not in too big of a hurry because it was raining. When it seemed to clear up, we hit the road.

This morning we stopped at a volunteer fire house. They were out cleaning all the equipment for an open house to the public tomorrow. They let us use the bathroom and we found out one of the guys had hunting land in Wisconsin, near Black River Falls, so he knew where we were from. We are far enough away that the only cities we can usually tell people are Madison or Wisconsin Dells. Sometimes we can just say "the middle of the state," so it was kind of neat to meet someone who could place us in our city.

We are all feeling much better with clean clothes and good showers. It was a late night though to get everything clean. We did not wake up very early, so the start was not too early. It was suppose to be a hot day, but we needed the sleep too.

Hwy 93 was not a good way to start the day. It was very busy, no shoulder, a crumbled edge of the road, and a terrible graveled/ muddy edge. We were in the gravel a ridiculous number of times because cars would not move over for us. We got off the hwy according to our route as many times as possible. It was so bad Katie even dumped off her bike into the grass after being pushed into the gravel by the cars and then hitting a big rut. She was not hurt and her bike was okay, but the road and traffic were awful.

We woke up this morning to freezing cold temperatures. I have not been cold when sleeping yet this trip, but my sleeping bag was not enough this morning. It was 42 degrees when Chris got up, and the sun had been up for awhile. It may have hit the high 30's!

Sorry for the late post, pictures to be added later.

Today was a rest day while we wait for Chris's parts to arrive at the post office in Babb. The day started out just wonderfully as the rain woke me at 1:30 dripping nicely through my tent...plunk right on the temple. It continued to rain until about 7:00 when I decided to give the bathroom a try. I returned to spend some time wiping up the puddles in the tent and trying to get some sleep.

The word of the day today was Mountains! We are beginning to see them grow and loom over the horizon in front of us lying in our path to the ocean. The massiveness in front of us seems to dare us to continue while causing us to question ourselves and our ability to overcome. The mountains are also astounding us with their beauty, even from this many miles away. This beauty urges us to continue.

Here is a few pictures showing the growth of the mountains as we saw them today.

Today we had just another one of those bad days. Roger woke up and informed the group that he caught the cold that has been traveling around the group. It was supposed to be hot and the wind would not be in our favor. We tried to get going quickly to try to get some miles done before the heat. We quickly made breakfast in the mini kitchen and headed out.

We were not on the road long and we saw an airplane buzzing by just to the side of us and not very high over our heads.

We left Wolf Point after breakfast at an expensive cafe. I don't remember the name. The food was average and the price was high. The kids went to McDonald's instead to save some money.

We will spend the next several days on or right next to Highway 2. Today we took a side road and it was not too bad. It stayed paved and there was almost no traffic. We had the wind at our backs and were making great time. Then Chris told me to slow down because nobody else could keep up. Hmmm I guess 16 mph with a tailwind is just too fast for the rest. Though my speed came in handy when I hit 22 mph trying to get away from a mean dog. Nobody else could catch me to spray the dog, but they were yelling and able to distract him. Thank goodness!

We woke up in the fabulous city park in Circle, packed our things, and left to find breakfast. There were not many choices, so we returned to Kays because it was the choice and it was close to where we needed to go anyway.

After breakfast we left on the highway towards Wolf Point. There was not much of a shoulder for us to ride on, but the traffic was light and were moving over nicely for us. We were told at breakfast that the road was hilly and we had the wind against us AGAIN! We can't see to catch a break with mother nature....I think she may have a bounty on our heads!