Into Oregon, the 29th state and the people we meet along the way





Scott is off on another massive ride today, big elevation and big miles (86 miles, and over 5000 elevation is what Ride with GPS states). Yesterday the route had a "bike detour," and I had the interesting experience of “explaining” to a state trooper that yes, the Pacific Coast Bike Trail really was on the 101 freeway … . And why would they have  several "pacific coast bike trail signs" and a posted “bike detour” off 101 if 101 wasn’t the bike  route? I gave him a card and told him to get his PSA checked as early detection saves lives. He gave me a verbal warning and took my license number off the truck … I was surprised that I didn't  get an escort out of California today.

This last week we were at RV Parks with very friendly people that illustrates just how many good people are out there:

·      At Anchor RV Park Tracy made us both the nicest necklaces with charms that were symbolic of the       trip.   At the next park near SF, we met a man with prostate cancer who donated on the spot! 
    At Redwoods River and Resort, Chase and Ginny warmly welcomed us to the very cool pub, and told us about his service in the military- it was also his birthday- and he listened while we talked about Benny. ( Benny also served in military.) 
·      At Stafford RV Park near the avenue of the giants, Butch comped us the night’s stay and gave us a         very warm welcome. Know there are very friendly, lovely people out there – who give strangers the      warmest of welcomes. Praying for your health Butch. 

We have also run into not so friendly people, like where we were last night upon check in at our RV park. First, I have to say the “pull through” spot was not a pull through spot. Because we are usually staying for just one night, and I am coming in by myself, Scott following later after a long day of biking, we try to get easy pull through spots when possible. I explain this to each and  rv reservation person, each and every time, when reserving a spot,  as well as telling Scott’s story to raise awareness. 

Last night was the toughest parking we have had on the whole trip! It took 45 minutes of in and out, and inches of movement between Scott and me coordinating our efforts to get the rig parked. (They had numerous open spots all around us, but they had given us one of the toughest spots to get into without hitting a big redwood, or a sign…! HUH!)

Plus, check in did not go smoothly. The office was posted closed at 1:00 (when it was supposed to be open for check in) but we could see the people inside. Then when they let me in, they still didn’t serve me for another 5 minutes (it was 2:00 at that point as we had left to go grocery shop and get gas).  Of course, this was on the heels of my unpleasant encounter with the state trooper.  Breathe and let it go...

Who knows, maybe the state trooper is running into unpleasant people and that is why he was not terribly pleasant himself! Maybe he was having a bad day.  The point is why not try to be kind; you never know what someone is dealing with along the way! Shout out to all the people that go out of your way to welcome a stranger or help a stranger.

Today is the final day of the triple match for Zero prostate cancer – so if you are looking to donate take advantage of the match today.   If not no worries, a double match still exists.  Link to donate follows:

https://runsignup.com/Race/Donate/VA/Alexandria/MilesforMoney


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