We left home on Thursday at 0430.

Goodbye to the Manhattan skyline.

We passed over some of the Great Lakes to which we biked in 2014.

Then it was snow country. Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho. States to which we haven’t yet biked.

Soon we’ll double back into eastern Washington, on the ground, between the mountains, below most of the snow.

Jeffrey’s brother David and his spouse Andrea watched over our gear in Seattle since March 2019. They welcomed us back.

We had a visitor at David and Andrea’s place. Meet Clinton of Seattle Trike.

While we were away, he upgraded our Inspired Cycle Engineering Sprint 26. New tires, new chain, new shifters, new gears, new lights.

Clinton installed a small electric motor. He taught Jeffrey how it works.

Switched on when needed, it will add oomph when Jeffrey pedals. It will get us out of tight spots.

Like in 2019 when a half hour before sunset, we were climbing a sparsely traveled California mountain road. We were too slow to reach the next town before dark.

We, and you, rely every day on the kindness of strangers. Kind people in a passing truck gave us a lift.

But sometimes no strangers show up. And if our trucker friends had been in a car, we might have had to spend the night in the open.

Now we have a backup plan.

Thanks, Clinton!

Tomorrow we hit the road.