Author: Mike Hassur
This will be a short post. We did the Puyallup Cyclopath: "Alder Lake Loop – and The Climb Ride"
today. We will recount that ride in a
blog to be posted soon. This short entry
is to introduce you to “Travis”. We were
riding up The Climb (near the top) when we see this black pickup truck parked
in the opposite lane. The driver of the
truck was standing in the bed of the truck surveying Lake Kapowsin and the
beautiful valley that one sees from this vantage point. He smiled and said “hi” as we passed on our
way up. At the top, I turned around and
headed down; because I wanted to find a good spot to take a group picture with
the valley in the background. I told the
guys what I was doing and took off. When
I got down to where we’d seen the pickup, it was still there with its driver
still standing in the bed surveying the valley.
I stopped, said “hi”, and asked what he was doing. He smiled and said that he had grown up in
the area and had always loved coming up to this spot to relax. I shared with him that we came out here a lot
and loved it as well. By the time the
rest of the group had arrived, I had learned that his name was Travis and he’d
learned my age (he’d noticed me as we went up and wondered what my age was). Anyway, he was kind enough to take a couple
of group photos of us – which you will see in the blog post for the entire
ride.
The reason that I’m writing this blog post is because he
took a picture of himself with us (and the valley) in the background, and I
think it is one of the funniest/coolest photos any of us have ever taken on one
of our rides. There have been better
photos in terms of scenery, etc.; but this one just seemed to capture the
moment:
A TRIBUTE TO TRAVIS
As Orange Shoes (Dr. Nick) and I (Mark) started the Climb earlier than our GC contenders, we encountered quite a bit of traffic for a mid-morning Saturday. One truck after another passed us. I recall Travis' truck because it was an all black truck with rims. It didn't match a utility truck for the logging company or one that a resident of Camp One would own because it was too clean. I remember thinking to myself that driver isn't from around here. He was parked around a 120 yards from the end of the Strava segment at the top. The spot has a beautiful view of the valley and lake below. He said hello and asked how far we have gone. Under my breath I muttered '60 miles so far' as Mike and Jim were closing in awfully fast.
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