Howdy Hiawatha!

Last Saturday we joined the Ward family (including the grandparents) on the Hiawatha Rail Trail! You know the trail with that 1.7 mile long tunnel that they call "St. Paul Pass" ("Taft"). Our adventure got off to as slow start with Helen crashing in the tunnel but we had a very memorable time! Justin was only 40 feet into the tunnel when he started crying saying he was not going to go through. Luckily, there was a nice couple behind us, who were regulars on the course; they helped coach Justin and got him to go through with no problem. I was really close to turning around with Justin and due to the excitement Josh & Jacob were long gone! I keep wondering if I would have been able to get him back in there if we had turned around. After Justin calmed down a bit & his eyes started adjust, he shouted "hey mom, it keeps getting better the further we go"; This ended up being his favorite part of the trail!
We had a lot of fun and I highly recommend this trip to others contemplating the Hiawatha adventure. We ate next to the trail on some handmade large flat boulder benches, went through many tunnels, zoomed fast, went slow, stopped for pictures, had some mechanical issues with Jacob’s bike & much more. Oh yeah, sorry Helen for the terrible fall in the "Taft" tunnel - what a trooper! Helen had no previous bike trail experience and kept up with us with no problem. I hope everyone's bottoms are better now.
Jacob had to hold onto his bike while Liz pulled him behind on the trailer after his rear derailleur blew apart. What a great sport! Suzie was thrilled to partner up with Ashley in our bike trailer. They loved riding in the LONG, DARK tunnel together on the way back (yes, after the shuttle you get to go back through "The tunnel", again. We were thankful that Jacob's mechanical problem didn't start until after the shuttle. They were all such troopers the whole 14.4 miles! I was very worried that the boys would have a difficult time with this long trail. Yes, they went solo! We would do it again.
Later, we stopped at 1313 in Wallace ID to have some dinner. What great service! We left from the Ward's at about 10:00 am & got home at 9:45pm (?). Something like that.