Unfortunately this morning getting up all the current stats revealed that it was not safe to continue to ride. The smoke in Hamilton, where I left off was at extremely high danger of causing health issues. So very quickly I made a choice based on contingencies planning from yesterday that we would stop and postpone the ride. The original plan had us stopping in a couple of days to head directly to Los Angeles to babysit our new grandson and say hi to the kids. On a return trip we were going to head up the Pacific Coast Highway and visit the Redwoods. Given the fact that I would be sitting for the next several days hoping the smoke would dissipate, it made no sense to stay in Montana but to reverse our plans and head Southwest. Still there was a sense of unknown due to the fires that were raging all across the northwest and even in Northern California. Moving forward as I had done so many days when I first began the ride we traveled our route and watched it transform all throughout the day. Smoke filled skies to sunny skies hard to predict what we would see. We traveled through the high desert of the Northwest and then sighed sunk into Oregon and Northern California. Once again, very unique from what I had already experienced. Seeing trees. water, and even smoke covered mountains made the backdrop wonderful. For the next few days we will record our experience in the Redwood National Forest assuming we can get there. We will spend some time on my son in law and daughter along with our grandson. And the plan is to return to Montana to somehow complete the remainder of the miles to the Pacific Ocean. I don’t believe I’ve come three quarters of the way to stop. As I’ve been praying leading into this point, I’m asking God to send the reign and quench the fires. In about a week to a week and a half I should return biking and complete this amazing journey.

Insights from Lisa Marie