Day three: June 12

The first two days have been just amazing, a little sore on the rear, but nothing worth writing about. Today was a big day for us. We were looking forward to the Long haul climb through Washington's cascades. We woke up early to get ready for the day and get moving toward the first real climb we had ahead. Nick and I both up at 4:15 getting the stuff around for the ride, only for Nick to find one of his pannier bags came loose.the inside bolt holding the bag together was stripped. After trying to fix it ourselves we had to wait around till something opened to get the right tool. by this time we weren't even on the go till almost ten. Not our intentions at all. But we set forward and began the climb, our first real climb. Sit back in the saddle prepare for a long day ahead, a very very long day ahead.whistler started of with a morning nap, which sound great, a great time to get in add many miles add you can before he needs a little more attention. How many miles do you think we were able to fit in during his nap? we are sitting on the saddle climbing the best we can with all we are carrying climbing at about 3 miles per hour sometimes 5 miles per hour. We looked at each other in awe of the pace, the lack of mileage you are actually able to get under you on a climb like this. In an 1 1/2 hours we were able to get in around 5 miles. You see this made for a very very very long day. We did hold together well, just pedaling as we could for as long as we could. We anticipated making it to the Rainy pass and 5 more miles after that to the Washington pass. Well that seriously was not in store for us.it was getting close to 5, 6, 7 pm, rain coming down, reaching cold temperatures with snow on the ground all around us and whistler wanting to get out but not put any warm clothing on. We continued trying to make it, but the day had beat us and we were ask getting pretty worked. We had to find a place to pull over and set up camp for the night and that we did. It was raining, whistler screaming because he wanted to stay outside and I think tired. . Nick worked as fast as he could to set up camp, I maintained to Whistler getting him calm down and ready to sleep. As Nick was outside a van pulled up offering help if we needed. Next think I know they are giving us extra water, food, and making sure we were okay for the night and the next day to finish the climb. Their generosity turned what could of been an upsetting situation into such a great memory for all of us. Whistler especially was so exited to eat blueberries and yogurt they had given us. We then turned in for the night snuggling as close as we could to keep warm.