Utah: Part 10 (Century Ride)

On July 6th, we drove up to Idaho Falls to meet with the rest of the Hanks family and get a good nights sleep before the big century ride!

The next day, at the crack of dawn, Kevin, his siblings, and his dad, all started riding their bikes...

45 miles later, they stopped at Great Grandma and Grandpa Hanks' house in St. Anthony for a short rest and a hearty breakfast (complements of Grandma Hanks).

While our riders were resting, we (Grandma, Me, Sara, Tyler, Brooklyn, Lily, & Audrey) were exploring the farm. Auntie Janna helped the girls catch a butterfly, which was probably the highlight of their trip, the little girls played with tiny flower windmills, and Brooklyn even got to take a ride in a 4 wheeler with Kevin's cousin Travis! It was tons of fun and it was great to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Hanks again.

But our riders couldn't stall too long or they would get stiff! So they hopped back on their bikes and started peddling onward!

Aunt Kerry even joined them for a short while after they left Great Grandpa's house!

We stayed a while longer and then headed into the middle of nowhere to meet our riders for another water stop. Grandma Hanks had tons of fun things planned for each of the stops, and this one included a battery operated bubble machine! Brooklyn and Audrey played for a little while but then got distracted by the cookies Grandma had, but Lily chased the bubbles the entire time we were there!

We also had a swim stop where Grandma had filled up a kiddy pool in the back of the truck and let the little girls swim in it. Unfortunately, I was too busy trying to convince Lily that the water wouldn't kill her to get any pictures! Never-the-less, it was a nice break before the Hanks crew had to start peddling again!

We met them again at Kilgore Store where the girls played with some funky play dough, ate suckers, and launched rockets. Lily was really into her sucker, but Brooklyn and Audrey went crazy over the rockets and had a blast shooting them off!

When our break was over, we loaded up EVERYONE and drove from Kilgore to Island park (due to a long gravel road that would have killed all the bike tires) to start the ride again. It was a nice drive for everyone in the cab of the truck, but the poor boys in the back got pelted by rain the entire way! It seemed to come out of nowhere, just to pick on them, and it stopped as soon as they got back on their bikes... go figure :)

This time we waited at a waterfall where Grandma had planned a nature treasure hunt. She gave each of the girls their own bucket and let them walk around collecting pine cones and rocks. They absolutely LOVED it and came home with quite a collection!

Meanwhile, our riders were coming down the hill when Brian turned around to tell them all something. He then managed to CRASH... Kevin miraculously swerved around him but Janna ran him over in slow motion and ended up toppling off her bike as well!

Janna's fall was luckily cushioned by Brian, but Brian got some pretty groovy road rash. His arm was pretty bad, but according to him, his backside received the worst of it. Thankfully he chose NOT to prove that to all of us with a little show and tell :)

After mom had Brian all bandaged up, he hopped in the car and we drove to a river where the ride would end, about 10 miles down the road. It was really beautiful and the kids had fun waiting for our riders to finish.

When all was said and done, Brian had two popped tires and some road rash, Craig got a pretty hilarious sunburn, Dad and Janna were pleasantly pooped, and Kevin was on cloud nine!

The little girls FINALLY passed out on the way home and when we got there Brian and Janna took off to ride a few more miles to make up for ones they had missed along the way. In the end, the whole family managed to conquer the entire 100 mile distance and it was a fun memory that we all got to share together!

Stay tuned for more about our adventures in Utah...