An apple a day . . .: The STP

My dad, sister (Ginny) and her hubby (Steve) all rode on the STP this year. STP is the Seattle to Portland bicycle ride: 200 miles. They do it in 2 days (actually I believe their riding time was 15 hours and 20 minutes or something like that). This year was the 30th anniversary, it was a sold out ride of 10,000 crazy bikers!
Anyway, Saturday, July 11th was the start day. That day I went to visit my pregnant friend Katie (we haven't seen each other in pretty much forever). Katie lives in Tenino. So when I drove their, I noticed STP riders on part of the road. I immediately texted my dad. (Actually I didn't text him while I was driving, so it was almost immediately). However, my dad did not respond right away. So, I visited with Katie, toured her house, gave her a whole bunch of stuff and then we decided to go out for lunch in Olympia (about 20 minutes away) at the Olive Garden. Just as we were heading back from our lunch, Dad calls and lets us know where they are on their ride but that they had stopped for a break. They were pretty close to the road that was right near Katie's--but we were still in Olympia, so we figured we would miss them. Surprisingly enough, when we were at the stopsign to the road they ride on and watching riders bike by, we saw Dad, Ginny and Steve. It was quite awesome--I mean what are the odds! (ummm yes they are odd, but I meant, it was rather unlikely we would see them!) They were disgusted we didn't have ice cream with us, but other than that were having a good time on a hot day riding their bicycles. (My dad was featured in the newspaper regarding this ride.--It is his 7th time on the ride--while he missed it for Beth's wedding--he still thinks he should have shown for her wedding in spandex--snicker, he did not miss the ride when he found out he had cancer--he scheduled his surgery AFTER the ride--such the priorities!
Anyway, it was great to see them and cheer them on!