Well, we really didn’t labor at all, in fact, we hardly moved this past Labor Day weekend, unless you count packing up the van and heading east of the Cascade mountains moving.  I really don’t, as it was primarily the wheels on the camper van that were moving, as opposed to my own short little legs.

Come Friday morning, amongst my sniffles and sneezes, Gina loudly proclaimed that we were going SOMEWHERE, anywhere, as she was NOT going to spend a 4-day weekend at home.  I, having just returned from a work-related trip to North Carolina with an apparent virus in tow, would have welcomed a few restful days at the Beach House.  But sensing that was not going to be a wise suggestion on my part, I quickly jumped online looking for camping opportunities (and sunshine) elsewhere.  Leavenworth, a small Bavarian town in the heart of Washington’s apple orchards, was where we needed to be.  And, as luck would have it, our friends Kris and Cheri and Faun were going to be over that way as well (near Plain, to be exact), so what better place to head?

Even better than all of that (or at least on par) was the fact that sunshine, who is also a dear and often sorely missed friend of ours, was to be there as well.  And she was, through Friday evening, as we set up camp at the Leavenworth KOA (which I now believe stands for “Kids Overly Abundant”).  Typically for us, setting up camp involves pitching a tent, but with sunshine threatening to disappear, we opted to pop the top on the camper van instead.  This was also driven by the fact that our $40 campsite was the size of a postage stamp.  Van, picnic table, bicycles, and three logs for the fire … um, now there’s no room for the tent.  Clearly we were in the ‘overflow’ tent site, but given our lack of reservations, we felt fortunate to even have a spot.  Plus there was free coffee in the morning, so who could really complain?

Turns out we could when we awoke the next morning to the sound of rain on the pop-top.  This was spoiling our plan for riding a solid 40 mile loop that day outside of town, for we are IN TRAINING for the Tour de Lacs later this month.  The Tour de Lacs is a bicycle ride from Spokane, Washington to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and then back again – about 68 miles on the first day and 72 miles on the way back.  (Don’t ask me how that’s possible, but it is.)  To prepare our various body parts for this task, we need to be practicing it.  So far, we have practiced only the carbo-loading part of our training plan, to which I’d say we’re on a Gold Medal pace.

Our friends, who I might add are NOT in training, were not deterred by the rain and met us that day in Plain, us having arrived by van and them, by bicycle.  We were excited to see their property there in town, where they will be building magnificent homes to which we hope to get invited for long weekends of hiking, biking, tubing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and, of course, more carbo-loading.  We practiced our guest skills when they invited us to their cabin for the afternoon, where we were treated to great photos and conversation, a tasty, steaming bowl of homemade tomato soup, and a relaxing walk in the woods where we reaffirmed that life is short, friends are to be cherished, and adventures are out there waiting for all of us.  Thank you Kris, Cheri, and Faun for your hospitality and for turning a rainy day into a sunny memory.

With these thoughts in mind and a bit more rain on the pop-top, we packed up the van and headed home on Sunday, where we spent the remainder of our rainy Labor Day weekend relaxing, as one should, even if they are IN TRAINING.