Steen Family Bike Journey

So our first real day on the road was both exhausting and educational.  We did thirty miles from Bandon, OR to Coos Bay OR, and anybody who knows this route knows that it is both uphill and packed full of headwinds coming off the coast. We weighed ourselves on the way out at a truck weighing station and we were all impressed with how much weight you can stack on our bikes.  So we left our good friends, the Fedders house at about 1:30 p.m. after getting a bit of a late start and headed out making great speed for having the wind pushing us backwards until we hit the first hill right outside of town, not only could I feel the full 400 lbs of gear, bikes and riders, but my bikes starts slipping gears until I had to stop and figure out what was wrong, luckily our good mate Jon Alhers pulls up right behind me there on 101 and asks what the problem was, thankfully he had tools in his truck and alot of know-how about mechanical things, being a plumber and all-around crafty guy and Ryan who had made his way back from the lead and they soon had it working again.  Well, about 6 or so miles up the road there is a serious hill, 6% grade for 2 miles and we hit that and again my bikes starts up again with the splipping, Obby and I got off the bikes and start pushing our load up Beaver Hill, I am amazed how this feels, making slow progress
with my calves on FIRE, thanking God that whole way that I have good lungs so I am not keeling over, and looking ahead for the top, I think it was just cruel thing to do to my mind, to look for the top, it just wasn't ending, it was the neverending hill, or so it felt like with the girls and their accessories sitting in their trailer eating snacks and enjoying the scenery and mine and Obby's bikes.  The whole time my mind is racing with thoughts of things I could unload, I mean, do we really need 2 sweaters or any extra clothes for that matter?  Why can't we just bring the clothes on our backs? I got to thinking, do the girls  know how hard I'm working here while they are squabbling over who gets the water bottle?  I chaulk it all up to good character building material and just keep lugging.  Finally we get to the top and everything seems easier, life just seems full of ease, straight downhill at scary speeds, this has to be illegal, I've got this massive train ending in a trailer with two toddlers in it hitting speeds of what felt like 80 mph, can I get pulled over for this?  Obby is just loving these speeds were achieving, "Faster" he's yelling, like I can even do this, the very bike itself would start rattling bolts and nuts off.  So the rest of the trip in was a exercise in faith, semi trucks whizzing by and parts of road where there is no shoulder on what has got to be the world's most popular tourist byway, I mean, semi- trucks are hard enough, but R.V.s and their aged, hearing and seeing impared handlers, WITH A CAR IN TOW!!, now they are scary, shouldn't you have to go to school for a couple years to drive something so massive? but no, anybody with a driver's license and enough money to buy one can, chilling!  Thanks by to the Almighty who quickens the minds of those traveling with us on these roads, we got there no problem.  We had to walk our load up Newmark hill, which is like a 90 degree angled road but had fun with this one, Abby and Ryan got to the top first and Abby came flying back down to push everybody up, she seemed to have super-human strength and an awesome attitude of servatude.  When we finally got to our friends house that night, my first order of business was to tell all the children how proud I was of them, 0 complaints and really helpful the whole way. My heart was full of gratitude for the people that they were, real warriors, adventurous, mighty, and sweet as pie. I sure love them. Second order of business was to eat, I was famished, we left without eating lunch, and made up for it by eating 2 protein bars on the way.  About half way up Beaver hill I was thinking, we're going to be staying at Stef Ahlers house and she's a great cook, I really hope she makes a big salad with homemade dressing and sunflower seeds and rice pasta with red sauce and some kind of sprouted bread, guess what? that is exactly what she made!! I was flat stoked and ate a mountain.  Thirdly,I wanted to take a shower, and I got one which I made last about 20 minutes. Life is good, Thanks be to God.  We stayed overnight and planned on leaving in the morning bright and early but Ryan got to thinking that he wanted to tear his Burley child-turned-cargo trailer apart and rebuild it from the basic frame, he is outside right now buzzing away with Jon's power tools and making a whole new unit, it should be done tonight, he even bought new Kevlar tires for it to replace the old mismatched, knobby numbers that were there before, got me front panniers to replace the hobo-looking mound of cargo strapped to the front of my bike with bungees, got Sam the new mustache handlebars he wanted so bad and Lilly got a sweet basket for the front of her bike, that tried to tell me would be perfect for the stray cat she found down the street, don't think so.   We look forward to taking off tomorrow, we got news of a great alternative route up the Smith River that we plan on riding that will take us to Eugene with hardly any cars, starting in Reedsport. We look forward to that even though dodging senior citizens in R.V.s is quite a rush.