Took Shanna and her friend, Alexa, for a weekend at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort in British Columbia. The plan, agreed upon with Lane, was for me to get Shanna out of the house while Lane arranged to send Laurel to a wildness treatment program in Utah.

So I had a lot on my mind as I rode at dawn from the resort east along the lake shore. Happily, I soon discovered a sweet little bit of single track that followed what appeared to be an old gravel road bed around the base of the mountain past a quary to wetland along the Miami River, and eventually came back to the main road at the grade school.

Then I circled back around and continued down the main road past the marina, the art gallery, and the expensive-looking homes and B&B's along the east side of the lake until I came to the valley that leads to Sasquatch Provincial Park. To get some verts, I climbed a Provicial Forest Service gravel road marked "closed due to landslide," and worked up a good sweat getting up to a vista point where someone long ago had dumped thousands of cilindrical rock bores, all in wood trays that were largely rotted away.

Didn't get either Shanna or Alexa on the bikes I brought, but they geneuinely seemed to have a good time, mostly staying up late, watching movies on the TV, going to a fancy dress up dinner with dad in the Copper Room, and flirting with the younger hotel staff.

When I got back to Bellingham, Lane and I told Laurel she was leaving for Utah that night. Laurel's reaction was immediate and violent. After pulling books off the bookshelf and pelting me with them, she ripped up everything she could reach, including the clothes I brought her as a gift from Harrison.

I had also bought matching jade rings at Harrison for Laurel and Shanna, with the thought that even when the sisters were separated, these rings would symbolize their connection. I intended to give one to each of them, but Laurel took the one I gave her and hurled it against the wall.

In all the pandemonium, there was one noteworthy moment, though. At one point I took Laurel's hand to stop her from smashing a plate, and she pulled away from me -- just as she had on the lawn last spring -- and then she slipped my grip -- just as she had on the lawn last spring -- and then she fell backwards to the floor on her butt -- just as she had on the lawn last spring.

Only this time, Lane backed me up (which is a wonderful thing). After nearly a half hour of battling with Laurel, Lane called the Bellingham Police, who sent a black officer to ensure Laurel got in the car to drive to the airport for the flight to Utah this evening.

Approximately 500 verts.

Vert Quest chronicles "The Man Known As Mongo's" pursuit of the World Record for climbing on a mountain bike, 404,000 vertical feet, or the vertical equivalent of 13 sea-level-to-summit ascents of Mt. Everest during a 12 month period. Mongo's mountain bike climbing tricks are distilled in Mongo's Over-the-top Guide to Climbing.