Seattle = check!

Distance: 85.10 Time: 7:03:29 Avg: 12.0

Seattle! After 72 days on the road we arrived in Seattle, Washington today riding to the University of Washington and then Magnuson Park where we were greeted by family and friends.

The day began in Yelm where Pastor Gerry at Emmanuel Lutheran Church got up early to make us pancakes before sending us on our way. We all sang the 12 days of I4K for the pastor before Jay gave an amazing Mosher speech inspiring us and reminding us of how far we’ve come in the past couple of months. Nick then had everyone take a McDonald’s toy from the briefcase John and Allen had given him yesterday to attach to our bikes. I took a TailSpin toy of Kit in his racing plane and attached it to my handle bars so that my bendy Uncle Sam was hugging it. We then rolled out of the driveway of the church with roughly 70 miles separating us from a toilet paper finish line in Seattle.

Less than three miles up the road Amy got a flat and John, Connie and I pulled over to wait while she changed it. When she was done the four of us continued on until meeting up with our amazing morning van drive Allen Tran around the 20 mile mark for our first water stop. We grabbed a few handfuls of Fruit Loops and other random cereals that were in the snack door, filled up our water bottles and chilled for a few minutes with Jon, Nick and Brad before continuing on. Jon, Nick and Brad shortly caught up to us and rode we all rode the next 20 miles to lunch in Kent as a group. About two miles before lunch Kit tried to make a Dinosaur Dave escape, jumping out of Uncle Sam’s arms when I hit a bump crossing a bridge. Thankfully he bounced backward and not into the water below allowing me to rescue him and secure him inside my jacket pocket until we reached lunch. Lunch was in the parking lot of Safeway in Kent. There we met up with Mr. Ger who had kindly offered to drive the second part of the day thus allowing everyone to ride into Seattle together including honorary I4K 2K8 member Allen. We feasted on leftover toasted cheese sandwich from the night before along with the traditional peanut butter and jelly one last time. I reattached Kit to my handle bars this time with a shoe lace to prevent any further escapes in the busy Seattle traffic. Brad copied down the directions for Mr. Ger and by the time we were ready to leave lunch Nick’s bike was covered in toys all taped to the handle bars, seat post and fork.

We had about 20 miles to cover before reaching the University of Washington where we were meeting at the fountain before riding to Magnuson Park together as a team. I rode with Jon, Nick, Brad, Allen, John, Connie and Amy after lunch and as we got closer and closer to the city we could see the Blue Angles flying overhead as part of Seattle’s Summer Celebration. This celebration added a few complications to our route as a few of the roads we were going to follow were closed. After navigating up and down some rather steep hills we met up with a friendly biker who worked at the University of Washington and kindly led us the final few miles to campus and the fountain where our teammates were waiting. We had Allen take a few team photos in front of the fountain before getting back on our bikes and beginning to make our way toward Magnuson Park. The Burke-Gilman Trail took us the majority of the way from the University to the park, although getting into the park after getting off the trail proved to be a bit confusing. Once we finally made our way into the park we turned to the left and could see the orange and blue colorful Illini banners along with our family and friends gathered alongside the lake. In two lines we made our way down the sidewalk and toward the crowd where a toilet paper finish line was stretched across the sidewalk. As we approached the line Jay made a sprint for the finish crossing the line and breaking the toilet paper. About 20 people had come out to show their support for our team and their warm smiles greeted us along with two picnic tables of food! We took a few team photos in front of the lake before making our way toward the food tables covered with Pizzas, salads, veggies, fruits, chips and much more. Jill from ACS in Tacoma, WA was there to show her support on behalf of ACS and thanked us for what we had done while also reading some cancer statistics. Jon and Nick thanked everyone for coming out and Matt’s parents made a surprise presentation of t-shirts with the slogan “We Did It” to all team members! After about an hour of mingling with the crowd we packed all of the left over food into Nick’s father’s car and got back on our bikes to ride to our host location near the University.

The girls are staying at the Chabad House while the boys are only a few blocks down the street at the AEPi Fraternity house. It’s rather weird to be separated after spending 72 days together but in two days we will all go our own ways which I know will be an even bigger change. When we arrived at the Chabad house the Rabbi gave us a tour of the house after which we unloaded our bags from the van and said goodbye to Xixi as she has opted to forgo the Chabad house and stay with her parents at their hotel. After unpacking our bags we took advantage of the facilities offered to us and showered! It feels nice to be clean again although I still seem to find dirt that’s permanently attached itself to my legs. There are six of us staying at the Chabad house tonight with Amy and Xix both doing their own things. When we were all nice and clean Dana, Andrea, Yiming and I headed up the street to the AEPi house to see what the guys were up to. We found them gathered around a large screen television watching a movie ready to celebrate our arrival in Seattle! I was so tired that I fell asleep on the couch watching television. Around midnight I woke up and found most of my teammates downstairs celebrating. Still overtired I walked back to the Chabad house and went to bed. I’m a tired girl.