Day 10: Bike Resuscitation

Hey everyone! It’s Julia coming atcha with todays adventures. This morning we woke with the mystery of “when are we going to be able to start biking again?” As you may remember from Brian’s post yesterday, we went to bed thinking that he had a bike with a broken frame (aka bike death). Well after a hearty breakfast full of farm fresh bacon, eggs, cheese, pancakes, and fruit, we got the great news from Angie’s friend, who owns the bike shop, that the frame wasn’t actually broken! Brian actually had a busted derailleur (the thing that shifts the gears) and the derailleur hanger (the part that connects it to the frame). Praise be, it’s looking like Brian doesn’t need a new bike!

Now came the trouble of where on earth were we going to find a derailleur hanger?! Just to put it in perspective, these things are fairly custom to bikes and not something most bike shops have on hand. Also, lucky us…. most bike shops in the area are closed on Mondays. Oh and to add insult to injury…. it’s downpouring today. 

We have been extremely grateful to have my parents as a support car these past couple days, so they were generous enough to drive us all over the state of WA to welders, a brewery, and eventually REI in Spokane (1.5hours away). We are so thankful for my parents! 

Dustin always says “REI is the best store in the world” and I gotta say, he’s right. They were able to swap out the broken parts on Brian’s bike and make it almost new, fairly used….just how we want it! Though, Brian was eyeing some new wheels seen below that he eventually decided against. 

Tonight we were able to enjoy another incredible meal cooked by Angie’s daughter, Claire. I swear Angie has the most amazing, talented kids around that can Irish step dance, weave baskets, cook/bake, build towers/furniture, and so much more! We have been so lucky to have been taken in by this family for another night, while we figured out our bike issues. We couldn’t be more thankful. And their land is absolutely gorgeous:

I feel like Brian didn’t express my excitement about the animals on the farm yesterday, so don’t mind me as I fan girl a little bit about these animals! Yesterday, I got to milk a cow, hold a baby piglet, have llamas, goats and sheep continuously nudge me to pet them, get so much puppy therapy, and hug Zodi the yak! I could not be any happier! Did you know if you rub a piggies belly it will flop over like a dog and make you keep petting their belly?! SO CUTE! Please enjoy these pictures of me with these animals: 

Alright so now that the bike is fixed, we are able to start back on our journey to Idaho tomorrow! Check back tomorrow to see how we do in the pouring rain.