Kouri Island

I am actually going to write about something that just happened, maybe I can keep this blog current! We fought the stomach flu this past week but in the end we got over it and yesterday we went on a fantastic adventure out to Kouri Island. It’s another little island off the northern tip of Okinawa. This one is connected by two bridges. Tom and I were able to ride our bikes out to the island thank you to many amazing friends who did things like attend a church meeting on my behalf, watch our kids in the morning and drive our van and kids out to the island. It was a 47 mile ride with a lot of great scenery, moderate hills and some very tired legs (well mine were tired at least.)
We rode out through the city to the far coast and up for a while. Then we crossed back over the island to the other coast, yes we crossed the entire island, it’s not very wide but was relatively steep. Then we road up the coast to the city of Nago, through the city, out the other side, through the little village areas and across the bridges to the island. Quite a nice ride, we’re very lucky to live in such a unique place. We took some shots of the coast we were following. In the pictures of me you can see the ocean in the background, I include these pictures because I’m so impressed Tom took these pictures while riding in front of me, he didn’t even slow down. Next time we’ll have to get some photos of the bridge we were on, it was spectacular.

I would have liked it even more if we had slowed down a bit and I could have enjoyed the scenery more. Tom would have liked it more he could have sped up and not had to drag behind waiting for me! I was hoping that my recent training surge would be enough to help me stay up with the pack a little better and although I was more comfortable and confident on my bike I wasn’t too surprised to find that I still need to get faster and stronger. I don’t know if I can get fast enough in time for my big Tour in November but I’ll keep trying. It was the first time I’ve ever ridden that far on my bike.
Once at the beach we enjoyed a dip in the water and some swimming around. Sadly the waves were too strong to allow us to get out to snorkel. But the kids had a blast splashing and playing in the sand. We were happy to be out with friends in the sunshine. Especially because there was a power outage at our house from 8am-6pm. We got home from the beach, stopped at the commissary for some much needed groceries and arrived home right at 6:00. Unfortunately the power didn’t come back on until 8:30 so we put our food in the nearly warm fridge, couldn’t shower or cook dinner. Luckily, Taco Bell and some good friends came to our rescue. We got home just as the power came on and we put everyone to bed!