We're BACK!

I don't think I mentioned last week that Rich and I were heading to Spokane for the weekend with his parents. Actually Elk, WA to be more specific, and we were going on the motorcycles! 757.5 miles later, my butt is surprisingly still intact! Some of you already knew about my search last week for some butt padding (see, it's not all perks being skinny!). I can usually last about an hour and a half on the seat that Rich has on the bike, and after that I have numb legs and a sore butt! Why don't we just get a better seat you might ask? Well, according to Rich, that makes us far less cool! Trust me, I've tried! My mother in law found a 'gel pad' for her seat, but I thought the price sounded astronomical! Between you and me, I totally would have paid it had I not found anything else! I did some searching online to see if I could find anything cheaper... turns out she paid about what those things are worth... and there was nothing in my price range (under $40). As I was searching it became obvious that the things that worked were air filled or gel filled. So hmmm... what could I jimmy up? Rich and I headed in to Kmart (I suggested Walmart but he said no way) and my little mind got creative! I needed something that I could fill with air or gel, or... water?? Yes, I think water would act much like gel... so hmm... (this is where genious struck me) a rubber heating pad thing! The kind you fill with hot water, know what I'm talking about?? We found one right away, $7.00! I wanted a little padding on top of that too, just to give me little more cushion, so I bought the smallest egg foam thingy I could and we headed home. At home, I strapped a few layers of the egg foam to the heating pad, sewed a little black case for it all to go in (mostly so it wouldn't be obvious how ghetto I was being!) and tested it out! Oh, heavenly! Seriously folks... we rode straight through to Spokane on Friday, I didn't start feeling sore until about the last hour of our trip! Oh, and did I mention we didn't go the quick route? We went throught he back country on the "good biking roads" so it took us about 10 hours of driving. I was definitely sore on Saturday (mostly my knees) so we decided it'd be wise to split the way home driving over two days. A smart decision because I was just about ready to walk home once we got on Highway 9 in Monroe! My butt and legs were finished with that trip, although I can't even imagine how much worse it would have been without my ghetto little pillow! As for the trip, we had a great time! Rich's uncle and aunt live in Elk in a beautiful house up on top of a hill overlooking there 120some acres. We were able to spend all day Saturday with them checking out the surrounding area, and go to church with them on Sunday. Speaking of Sunday... my fellow Christ Fellowshipers... what was your favorite part of the open mic service? I was soo bummed we missed that!!! Ok, back on track, Sunday afternooon we hit the road again with the goal of getting to Wenatchee. We made it alright... In time to have the 103 degree sun beating down on us while we were riding! In a black helmet and black leather chaps, even wearing a tank top and going 70-80 mph, you do NOT cool down! I loved it though!! MMmmm probably the last time I'll feel that HOT sun for this year! In Wenatchee we met up with some friends of Rick and Beth's who used to be on staff at church, and then got a good nights' sleep for the rest of our trip home. Monday was a little chilly the whole way, but we made it back safe and sound. Now I get to work a few days before heading back over the mountains to Walla Walla next weekend for a conference.