Today I drove the 15 passenger for the first time all trip! This is because I turned 21 and now can be covered under the van’s insurance… hurrah! Amidst the driving back and forth, catching up to the front group, setting up rest stops, and shopping for donations, today was a relatively peaceful day. The scenery was absolutely jaw dropping, and no picture will do justice to the panoramic of the Canadian landscape. It was humbling to see my teammates actually climbing the hills towards Whistler as I passed them up with a push of the accelerator. I can honestly say that I felt proud of my teammates and proud to be part of the team. Something about removing myself from the seat of the bike and placing myself in front of a steering wheel opens my eyes to the magnitude of our ride. While on the bike we rest every 20 miles, collectively it amounts to at least an hour and a half drive (every day!). And I used to think driving from Plano to Denton was tiring…

So this morning, we woke up bright and early at 5:30 am, when the sun was already shining! It was a beautiful morning. Having just turned 21, Jon invited me to lead today’s Hakka where I challenged my teammates to lift and build each other up… encourage and not discourage one another… under the notion that the person standing to you will have your back and hopefully you’ll have theirs’ too.

Team pic with Sharon and Julien!

After the Hakka, Daniel & I (the sags for the day) headed out, him to set up the rest stop, and I to seek donations. I ended up getting nearly lost in Vancouver, but luckily I bumped into our host, Sharon who drew me a neat map to help with directions. Soon I was well on my way… Getting onto Hwy 99, which is the highway which runs parallel to the water, we crossed what was called the Lionsgate Bridge which was absolutely gorgeous! I must apologize in advance for not taking many pictures today—I think driving and shooting pictures is a bit more dangerous… and I really didn’t want to crash the van on my first day of driving. That said, the trip was gorgeous!

View from the first rest stop

After the second rest stop, I headed out to seek donations, and Daniel went to set up the next rest stop. I didn’t figure that this would be the last time I saw him until we arrived at the host house… but apparently it was. I went to a Canadian owned supermarket “Nester’s Market” which donated $100 for groceries… which was amazing! Why? Because this next stretch of the trip is supposed to be our most secluded and isolated leg, camping out every night, and having to cook our own dinners. We really lucked out with Nester’s Market’s generosity, so we got to stock up on oatmeal, pasta, sauce, bread, and deli meat, among other things. We pulled into our Steve & Monika’s house and it was absolutely gorgeous! Apparently Whistler is a nice ski resort and so the houses have this lodgey feel to them—very homely and cozy. A big thank you to Steve & Monika for preparing the fantastic pasta dinner for us! You guys were more than hospitable and really helped us relax before our stretch of camping.

Baby Daniela eating her corn

Tomorrow we ride out to Whistler, and I must say I’m extremely excited to ride it. As I said earlier, I’m proud to be part of this team, part of this family. I’ve experienced the good and bad of living with our 21 teammates for nearly 50 days straight. But push come the shove, I know we are united and will hold each other up. As Proverbs 17:17 reads, “A friend loves at all times, but a brother is born in adversity.”

Onward Sierra ’09.