Rainy Days and Sunshine

Did you know that it has been 12 days since the last fatality climbing highway 2 on Stevens Pass? And that there is an 8-mile train tunnel that ascends up the hill that causes trains to lose air so they have to pump the tunnel with air so the engines can still work? And that Skykomish has a bear problem because Seattle catches bears with donuts and brings them up here to be set free, but the bears have nothing to eat so they enter this hinky dink town of 300 to find more donuts at the local general store? And that this town used to be a thriving milling and lumber town but government imposed regulations so now hardly any one has jobs and 50% of them live on under 8000 dollars a year? AND that this city was part of an underground oil cleanup process so they lifted all of the 100 year old houses out of the ground and replaced the soil and then reset them back into position? Yeah, neither did I, until last night when we had a guy give a riveting presentation of the history of the area. And I don’t mean that lightly, It was quite interesting and quite funny!


Yesterday we biked 36 miles from Monroe to Skykomish, WA. It was a change in elevation from about 55 feet to 950 feet. Minus the fall, the minor scrapes on my right ankle, and the rain the entire way, I would say it was a very successful climb. Speaking of which, yeah, it rained the entire way! I could hardly see through my glasses, especially when a Semi would go whirling by. But the climbing was not over. Today we climbed another 3000 feet up to the top of Stevens Pass and then descended the 50 mile journey down into Wenatchee. The descent down the mountain was one word: hypothermia. I though I was going to stop breathing as the cold wind flooded my lungs at the high speeds we were escalating to. But 5 or so miles down the clouds dissipated and it started getting extremely hot, per usual in eastern Washington. Now we are just chillin in Wenatchee. Tomorrow we have a 96 mile journey to some ho dink town in the middle of no where named Wilbur. It will be my longest ride that I have ever completed!


So what do you take away from Stevens Pass in two days? Well sometimes you are going to have rainy days. You aren't going to be able to see; you are going to be wet; you are going to be cold; and your gonna think you can't finish. But the next day will always bring sunshine. God will always bring you back out and show you His glory in every storm. So next time it rains, remember there is always sunshine on the other side of the mountains.


Hopefully I'll be able to update again when we reach Spokane in two days. until then, God bless and keep praying for us!