Final Thoughts...Lessons learned/to learn

Here are some thoughts that came to Julie and I as we rode home from New Jersey and reflected on what the Sea To Sea Tour had impressed upon us. I'm sure we missed something that will come to mind later. We just want to share these with you.
Thank you again for you support and encouragement for our adventure. It was a trip of a lifetime!! We thank God for this opportunity and His protection and the health given us for this long tour.

Hospitality
Our tour was blessed with an outpouring of hospitality. Local churches lavished us with meals, refreshments, and encouragement along the route. One particular experience stands out….the hospitality of the Good Shepard Lutheran Church in McCook, Nebraska. They had no idea of our tour coming to their community, much less camping at the YWCA lawn across the street from them for the weekend. Some of our tour members attended services there on Sunday morning and explained our tour and cause. They opened their air-conditioned building to us for sleeping on Sunday night. The temperature at 6:40 p.m. was 101 degrees. They supplied the entire tour with refreshments all day Sunday and into the night. All this at the spur of the moment. Do I show that kind of hospitality to complete strangers…no strings attached?

Taking the Church to the Streets
One pastor in his remarks referred to our tour as “taking the church to the streets”. That stuck with me. We were interacting with people of all backgrounds during our tour and giving information about our cause. They were, for the most part, encouraging, accepting, and in some cases gave monies toward our cause spontaneously. That taught me that we need to meet people were they are in life, not just give an invitation to come to church. Real people have real needs in their life. We have the Goods News of Christ to give them purpose and direction in this life and eternally, but must also understand their physical and emotional needs. We cannot just wait for people to come knocking on our church door. Engage people in everyday life.

Encouragement/Generosity
I have been blessed by the actions of so many people. Their encouraging words, cards, emails, and yes, by monies given for the cause held me up. On particularly hard biking days, I would think about all the family and friends that were praying for me and I could feel physically and emotionally the strength that I needed to complete that day. I found out I was on prayer lists at various churches along our tour route that had been assigned to people I had not even know. My picture was on a family’s refrigerator in the State of Washington as a reminder for their family prayer time. What a lesson in what encouragement can give.

Parallels of Cycling to Life;

---Hills and valleys
Life, as well as cycling, has ups and downs. There are those exhilarating days of being on top of the hill/mountain and you can feel the refreshing air blowing in your face, or the breath of Spirit refreshing your soul by a mountain top experience. You can’t wait to enjoy the ride ahead, as it is easy, fast, and seems to take little effort. In fact sometimes you need to hit the brakes, as you are just passing everything by too fast and are in danger of losing control and wiping out. But eventually you find yourself in a valley below and at times there is no refreshing breeze there. In fact, some valleys are stifling hot and oppressive. We need to be ready for those times. The valley may even be so deep that we are in shadows and feel alone and scared. We had better have enough food and drink to make it out of there. We need to be grounded in God’s Word for those times, to hold on, to have it as part of our being to hang on to and make our way out. Then there is the climb out. It will test all of your strength as your muscles and emotions cry out for relief. But trust in your training and God’s promises and you will go on to the next hilltop.

---Keep your eyes on the path
I’ve learned the hard way of what it costs to take your eyes off the road ahead during cycling. It cost me 5 days in the hospital a few years ago, a punctured lung, 2 broken ribs, separated shoulder, and concussion. The same is true in life….keep you eyes on God’s promises and your Christian pathway. Don’t trip and stumble or veer off the path.

---Follow the pace line leader
In cycling, pace lines are used to draft the bikers in a line behind the leader and break the air resistance. In one of our daily “Shifting Gears” devotionals, we were reminded of how difficult we can make it for ourselves when we leave the pace line. We just need to tuck in behind Christ, who has done it all for our sakes. We cannot do it by ourselves.

---Perseverance
No matter how hard the wind is blowing, how hot the temperature, how rough the road, we need to keep pedaling. We need to keep our focus on what Christ has done for us and push on through the difficulties of life. He is always there for us.

---Setting goals, but taking one day at a time
Our tour needed long terms goals for fund raising, completing the route, and what we needed to accomplish. To complete the end goal requires not focusing on the end, but the day you are in. Focus on completing the task of today only. “Give us THIS day our DAILY bread”.

---Community on the move
Our bike tour was a mobile community, but a community none the less. We needed to rely on each other for encouragement, help, and support. Individual goals sometimes needed to be sacrificed for helping another. We needed to overlook differences in order to accomplish the group’s goal of finishing the tour. This is a great lesson for the church.

Hope for Future
There was a large group of young people on the tour and I was encouraged by their faith and their demonstration of their faith. They were overheard at times discussing their favorite hymns and questioning the wisdom of spending lots of money on church buildings. It is good to hear that kind of conversation and gives me hope for the church of the next generations.

Land of Plenty
Touring across North America on a bike impresses you with the abundance of land, crops, and wealth displayed. There are also great differences in areas, as to what people have and standard of living. Am I sharing as Christ commands? “Do it unto the least of these and you do it unto Me”.

Simplify Life
Living out of 2 laundry baskets of all my possessions on the tour has impacted me on how I need to simplify my life. What is important in life? Turn the TV off more. What about all the things in the basement I have not used in 10 years? Slow down and enjoy this day, it is not a (rat) race. I need to be more content with what I have and not get caught up in keeping pace with what Madison Ave says I need.

Removing Barriers
The tour was in partnership with the Reformed Church in America. We had great fellowship on the tour. I need to work to break down barriers between believers in Christ’s forgiving love and sacrifice for us.

God’s Protection
As a tour, we could feel God’s protection around us. The prayers of God’s people were answered, as there were no accidents that caused permanent injury or death. There were some tour ending accidents, but all are healable in due time. Believe me, there were some frightening roads that we rode on with heavy speeding traffic and no shoulder for a bike to ride on. One day as we biked through the Dinosaur Hills area, I imagined that God’s angels were lining the hilltops watching over us. Maybe I was not imagining?!

Passes, Summits We Biked

Here is a list of the mountain passes and summits our tour climbed that that stood out as some of the hardest days.

Day 2 Stevens Pass, WA 4,061' elev.
Day 3 Blewett Pass, WA 4,102
Day 9 Deadman Pass, Cabbage Hill, OR (2,000' climb on Emigrant Rd.)
Day 20 Little Mtn. Pass, UT (Emigration Canyon Road) 6,236
Day 20 Parleys Summit, UT (I-80) 7,038
Day 22 Wolf Creek Summit, UT 9,450
Day 25 Rabbit Ears Pass, CO 9,485
Day 27 Berthoud Pass, CO 11,315
Day 27 Floyd's Hill, CO 7,900 (700-800' steep climb US40)
Day 61 High Point, NJ 1,940 (6,900 feet of climbing that day)

Pete.

Sussex, NJ to Jersey City, NJ

Well, this is it, the last day of the tour!!



Julie had to get to mile 19 for SAG today and everyone is getting going a half hour early today to make sure we reach the staging area, about 10 miles from Liberty State Park, by 1:00. So we were up before 5:30 and had to deal with putting away some wet bedding.



Everyone is pumped for today. It was still a 45 mile ride to the staging area, over more very hilly terrain. Is nothing level in this part of the country??! The day was again overcast until we reached the staging area and then the sun came out and it was hot and humid.



The cyclists all wore their SeaToSea jerseys today for the final ride. We were led from the staging area by a police escort, and we had a whole lane of the roads to ride 4-5 abreast. We were handed off from/to 3 police jurisdictions for the final 10 mile escort. What a great time we had hooting and hollering and celebrating enroute. We waved to everyone watching and had many cars honking for us and people waving, though they probably did not know what was going on.



We rode through tough parts of Newark and Jersey City on the way to Liberty State Park. As we approached the park we could see the Manhattan NY skyline, with the Empire State Building towering over all. It was erie, not seeing the WTC complex in the skyline.

Then as we rode through the park on the water edge, we rode by Ellis Island and the back side of the Statue of Liberty. It was then on through the park to the boat landing area, where the tire dipping ceremony as to be held. There were lots of people lining the bike path and I heard Julie calling to me. I had already passed and turned to see her. There standing next to her were our three sons, Jodi our daughter-in-law and grandkids, Jenni, Tyler, Sam, Ben and Lydia!!!!!! WHAT A SURPRISE!!!!! Julie and I had no idea they were coming to the end of the tour. It was a pretty emotional moment and I was so happy to be able to share the final end of the tour with them. This was the highlight of the tour!!!!

We did the tire dipping just after all the people gathered said the Lord's Prayer together. What an exciting moment. It still has not sunk in as to what we really accomplished as cyclists.

My family stayed for a great dinner held at the CR church in Wycoff, NJ that evening and a great celebration service held there also.

I am doing this post from a hotel as we are on our way HOME! We slept in the Christian Middle School hallway in Wycoff last night and stayed until noon Sunday to help clean up the trucks and dry our gear. The decals on the cooking trailer and semi trailer had to be removed. What a job as the decals are adhered to the trailers and pull off very hard, especially after baking on with the hot weather we had over the 9 weeks. When we left NJ, nearly all the decals had been removed, thanks to many from the tour that helped out.

I will post more final thoughts on the tour later, so check in again an a few days. Thanks for all your interest, support, and encouragement. The tour has raised over 2 million dollars to end the cycle of poverty for some people. I thank God for the health, safety, and strength I had to complete this great event.

To God be all the praise and glory!!

Love to all, P & J.

Dalton, PA to Sussex, NJ

Julie and I decided to sleep in the back of the pickup last night, as it was lightly sprinkling at bedtime. At peleton last night, we had our last communion service together, in the dark, as the days are getting shorter. But that just enhanced the experience.

The ride today lived up to the billing as being one of the toughest days. We climbed 6,900 feet today. It started out tough with a couple really steep grades before I could get my legs warmed up. They were not long hills, but very steep. Eastern PA is all hills. We actually reentered NY state today as we passed through the town of Port Jarvis, a little tip on the Delaware River. We then entered New Jersey, and it is all hills in this part of the state also. After we crossed the Delaware River, we had a long climb to High Point State Park, the highest point in NJ. One of our NJ bikers family, Sandy Westra's, had a refreshment spot for us at the top if the tough climb. I t was a nice overcast, cool day though, and that helped a lot in my energy level.

I arrived at Sussex Christian School at about 2:30, putting in 82 tough miles. I biked the day with Case. He is a better climber than I, but he stuck with me.

The NJ churches put on a fabulous dinner for us in the evening. Thanks go to them.

There were not a lot of level ground spots on the school grounds, but I managed to find a spot were we could back the pickup up to a spot. Our mistake was in not sleeping in the pickup bed and it rained lightly during the night and got our pillows and bedding wet by morning. We will need to get that dried out tomorrow. I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of this long tour.

Love to all, P & J.

Binghamton, NY to Dalton, PA (Lackawanna State Park)

We had a relatively short distance today….58 miles. Julie was at a SAG stop right on the state line of Pennsylvania and New York on a remote road. The route was through pretty forested hills, with a long section along the Martin River. That section had a gentle downward slope most of the way and was like a canyon. At the bottom of the canyon was a little village called Hop Bottom. We crossed under two very old concrete railroad bridges of the Lackawanna Railroad. I am not sure if they are still used, but they were very large and had a unique design to them. Earlier in the day we had a section of bad, busy road with a lot of pot holes and cracks. That section caused me to have my third flat tire for the entire trip. The tube appeared to have been cut from one of the bad bumps. I was riding with Case and he helped me with the tire change.

After the long downward section, we had several hills that had a very steep grade. This was the road to get to the Lackawanna State Park. The park is on the slope of a high hill. The pool of the park is empty, but we did have hot showers that we had to drive to because of the distance from our camp. There are not a lot of things to do here except canoe or fish.

It has been a gray day all day, but no rain yet. Julie and I were both in camp before 2:00 afternoon.

Last night the Valley CR church in Binghamton hosted us for dinner. They served a local creation called speidies, which are chicken or pork chunks grilled on a skewer and served on white Italian bread. They reminded me of Greek Salvakis (sp?). The dinner was great.

Tomorrow, we have the greatest elevation climb of any day of the ENTIRE trip…..6,900 feet. We will be finding our way along the edge of the Pocono Mountains and many up and down hills are on schedule. Hopefully, they will not have such steep grades. It will be one of the toughest days of the 9 weeks.

Things are beginning to wind down in everyone’s minds….but we have a couple days yet. Unless a local wireless system is available at Liberty State Park, there will be NO live telecast on the seatosea.org site of the 2:00 tire dipping ceremony. Check at that time anyway.

Love to all, P & J.

Romulus, NY to Binghamton, NY

Today we had a day of climbing, of which we have not had to this degree for a while. We had to climb 3,700 feet today and some of the grades were very steep, but fortunately, not the length of the western mountain climbs we had weeks ago. We biked along side of another large Finger Lake today, Cayuga Lake. At the south end of the lake is the city of Ithica. After leaving a stop light in downtown, there was a climb that had to be at least a 10 degree grade.

Julie is final SAG sweep tonight and I think she will have a very long day as some bikers were having trouble with the hills and may need to be picked up. I am tired, but did manage to arrive at Chenango Forks H. S. were we are camped tonight, at about 2:15. That included a coffee and cinnamon roll stop in the morning

We rode through several small towns today that date back to the late 1700s. I noticed one historical sign highlighting the area as a concentration of Dutch Reformed immigrants.

Tonight, we are the guests for dinner at a local CR church just down the street from our camp.

Love to all, P & J.

Byron, NY to Romulus, NY

Today we left the flat land of northern NY behind and entered the Finger Lakes area that has more rolling hills. There are 11 finger lakes and are very long and narrow lakes that were formed by glaciers. They are very deep. Seneca Lake, which is the one we camped at for the night is over 500’ deep. We are camped at Sampson State Park, which was a former military base during WWII and they tested submarines in this lake. The base and park are about 10 square miles. We heard that the area is completely fenced and is home to a large protected herd of albino deer, which we did not see.

Today I had my first mechanical problem with my bike. My rear derailer cable broke. For the first part of the ride, we had very hilly country and quite a bit of climbing. As I approached the 60 mile mark, it broke. I was almost to a CR church sponsored lunch stop and managed to pedal into it. The people there looked in the phone book and wrote down a couple bike shops and phone numbers for me. One I had passed some miles back and the other was in Geneva, about 12 miles ahead. With the cable broke, the chain was stuck in the smallest, hardest to pedal gear. The people told me that the terrain was not as high of hills into Geneva. I took a chance and pedaled for there. Julie was off as a SAG today and she was at the lunch stop and followed me to Geneva to make sure I made it. I had to pedal at about either 18 or 24 mph and made it in great time. At the edge of town, I called the bike shop and they told me how to find them. When I arrived, they told me to go to the back and a tech immediately took it and put my bike on a repair stand and got to it. I was out of there in about 30 minutes with it repaired and a few other adjustments done. He told me I needed a new chain, but did not recommend putting that on now if I was returning the wheels I am testing for Bontrager. So, I will wait on that until I get home.

The time is winding down on the tour. We have mixed emotions on that.

Love to all, P & J.

St. Catherines, ON to Byron, NY

WE ARE BACK IN THE U.S. of A!!!

Our last full weekend on the tour is completed. We were camped over the weekend at Beacon Christian School in St. Catherines. On Saturday night we were bused to Niagara Falls for sight seeing. Julie and I and a lot of others had decided to take the Maid of the Mist boat ride to the base of the falls. We walked a long way to get to the ticket office and arrived there at about 7:17, only to find that they stop selling tickets at 7:15. It was a long walk there and we were disappointed. We just did some sightseeing of the Falls and stopped for some refreshments. The last time we were here on the Canadian side, it was in the Spring and was not very busy. This time it was wall to wall people.

Sunday morning breakfast was provided by the CR church across the street. As we were eating, someone came into the gym saying it was pouring outside. I quickly ran to the truck and began stuffing things into the rear bed of the pickup. That was a good thing, as the floor of the tent got very wet. After breakfast, we walked across the street to the CR church for their service.

In the afternoon we were bused to Queenton Park in Niagara On The Lake for a peach social to meet the local supporters and that was followed by a celebration service in the park. As we arrived at the park, it began to rain and it continued to rain hard until it was time for the celebration service. The service was planned for outdoors and there was no backup. Thankfully, the service could be held, but it probably hurt the attendance. We were then bused back to the school for a provided dinner.

Because the tent was still wet, Julie and I slept in the bed of the pickup for the first time on the bad platform Brett and I had made for the back. I was a little snug with the low ceiling, but we slept well.

The next morning we left to pedal to the border crossing at Niagara Falls Rainbow Bridge. As we were coming to the end of a St. Chatherine’s street, there was a moving, huge freighter in front of us. It was in the Welland Canal that bypasses the Falls. We then turned and followed the canal and later crossed it on a bridge. The ride to the Falls was pretty and included a bike path along the Niagara River and into the city. We all staged in a parking lot until everyone was accounted for, and then biked to the bridge for the border crossing. I have never had such an easy border crossing. The U.S. Customs knew we were coming and had a copy of all our passports. They opened up one lane on the bridge for us and about 3 booth lanes and just waved us through! They did not even look at our passports, and one even took a photo of our large group crossing.

After negotiating our way through the American side Niagara Falls, it was on to flat farmland to our destination for the night, an RV campground outside of Byron, NY. They had a nice shelter that we could eat in and 3 resident campers were Christians that came later and played gospel and blue grass music for us. It was a fun night.

Love to all, P & J.

Hamilton, ON to St.Catherines, ON

We had a short ride today....only 47 miles. There was a strong wind, but it was mostly a side wind. Some of the roads were not the best today. with no shoulder and quite a bit of traffic. We had one very steep hill today, a 12% grade, but thankfully, it was downhill. I was not familiar with the corners, so I braked most of the way down, but still hit 38 mph. Good thing I braked, because there was a stop sign right at the end of the hill and it was all I could do to stop.

One of our cyclists, Rick Gritters from Iowa, called todays ride Tour de Food!! I am not sure how many total stops there were today, but it must have been about 8 in the 47 miles. We experienced more Canadian hospitality by various CR churches. Julie had the day off of SAG because of the many stops. We kept meeting at each stop. One of our stops today was at The Dutch Store, a bakery in Grimsby where one of the cyclists works. They had free cake and coffee for all the cyclists. There have been a lot of guest riders the past several days, riding with Canadians for this area that are part of the tour. Some of those did the 2005 Sea To Sea Tour across Canada.

This will be our last full weekend hosted by a community. We cannot believe that this coming week is the last. We are taking a tour ride tonight to Niagra Falls. I had mistakenly said in an earlier post that it would be Sunday night. All the meals this weekend are hosted by the local 12 churches, each taking a turn. There are many CR churches in the area between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

On Sunday, we are being bused to a park near Niagra for the celebration service and evening dinner. Lots of food this week!!

I have my bike clothes already washed and hung out to dry, as we had our day in early today. I even washed my gloves and helmut, as they begin to smell a bit ripe after sweating during the day.

Love to all, P & J.

London, ON to Hamilton, ON

Today we definitely ate more calories than we burned off from riding!! The Canadians provided 4 refreshment and lunch stops along the 75 mile route today. Each of those stops, we were greeted like celebrities and cheered on.

The middle part of the route contained some rolling hills with a few steep ones, but nothing that us seasoned riders couldn't handle. This was probably the most humid day we have had on the tour. So, the extra refreshments were gladly welcomed. I passed on our 3 SAG stops for the CR church stops.

We are camped on the grounds of Redeemer University College in Hamilton, ON. They have fed us dinner tonight and are also treating us to breakfast in the morning. The city of Hamilton is much larger than I expected and is about 1/2 million people, though we are on the edge and have not seen any city yet.

Tomorrow it is on to St. Catherines, near Niagra Falls, for the weekend. I would expect the enthusiasm to continue. Julie and I are on a list to visit Niagra Falls on a night trip on Sunday.

Our new friends, Bill and Mary Dracht, are busy visiting a lot of Canadians that they have worked with in the past on CRWRC Disaster Response Services volunteer projects.

I seem to have a terrible time keeping track of my toothbrush. It has been missing for a couple days and I NEED it. Today, Julie stopped to buy me one and as she and her rider for part of the day, LeAnn, passed me on the road, it was waved out the window for me. Julie was off from SAG today and I met here at every refreshment stop on the route today. At least I worked past off my consumption off!!

Remember as us cyclists do each day.....every four pedal strokes, a child dies from poverty related conditions. Think of that as you pedal on your own bike.

Love to all, P & J.....eh?!

Chatham, ON to London, ON

Canadians continued to show their hospitality and enthusiasm today. We had a CR church stop with a full lunch in Mt. Brydges and once we reached London, another CR church provided refreshments at the end of a short bike path just before downtown.

We witnessed the economic extremes of London by riding first past exclusive homes, and then later in the downtown area, where the local church does a street people ministry. Some of the street people were on hand at the evening dinner and we could interact with them. The evening meal was provided and was great....with ice cream.....4 flavors!! We are camped at the London H.S.

The terrain continued mostly flat on the route today, with woodlots and farm crops most of the way. The province is trying to return some land to native forests and encourages the farmers to do this. The route was 77 miles today with some relief from the wind.

Love to all, P & J

Richmond, MI to Chatham, ON, Canada

I was on sweep team this morning and had to wait in camp to load all the gear bags on the gear semi. We all got up a ½ hour early so we could get to the border crossing at the assigned time. I left camp a little after 8:00 a.m. and pushed it pretty hard. I was able to catch and pass some of the earlier departed riders by the time I reached Marine City, MI on the St. Clair River. Our border crossing was not on a bridge, but on ferries. Our tour manager had previously given a list of all the riders and support people’s name and copy of our passports to the Canadian border officials. The crossing went really well with no hold ups. It took several ferry trips to get all the cyclists and support vehicles across the river.

On the Canadian shore, there were a whole lot of people waiting to greet us and cheer us on. Canadians sure are enthusiastic about the tour and openly show their love for their country. They had a lot of refreshments and it was fun watching all the ferries arrive with the different parts of our entourage.

From the border crossing, we still had about 40 miles to go to get to Chatham. That’s when the wind picked up in a straight on headwind. That was a tough 40 miles in open farm country, though it was pretty flat.

There was another great welcome for us in Chatham and the local churches provided our dinner at night. The Canadians are going to take good care of us this week.

Today we had a rider from Michigan that needed 2 new tires and 2 new spokes installed and bar tape at a local bike shop. He asked what the total was and was told it would be $107. Then a gentleman that happened to be in the bike shop said he would take care of the bill. Wow, another God moment!

Love to all, P & J

Lainsburg, MI to Richmond, MI

Well, we paid for the favorable winds of yesterday! Today we had a long 96 mile ride and the wind turned ENE into our faces and was stiff all day. It was a difficult day for riding and was tough on the new riders as well as the original riders. I did manage to draft some others from time to time, and also take my turn leading a group. I made camp by about 3:15 p.m.

I was on sweep team and had to set up for supper and serve and load the gear truck the next morning. The next day we are entering Canada and various churches are feeding us at night for the next several days. The kitchen crew wanted to get ride of all our extra food for that reason, so we invited the Richmond middle school football coaches and team to come to our camp and help eat up our extras. They were glad to oblige!!

We have a cyclist from the Gross Pointe MI area whose Pastor, Mark Van’t Hoff, had died suddenly of a heart attack earlier this year. Mark was only in his 40s. Pastor Mark was a strong supporter of the bike tour. He had a recumbent bike that his wife, Marcia, wanted have someone ride in the tour. There was a rider that rode it from Denver to G.R. Marcia was at our camp tonight and addressed us at our peleton meeting. She told us of Mark’s love for the tour. There were donations from the funeral that were given to the Sea to Sea tour cause. No flowers were desired. She challenged us to live out our commitment to the tour cause in our lives from here forward. It was a very moving time for all of us and her story touched Julie and I very much.

Tomorrow we are entering Canada, so we were reminded that we need our passports on our person.

Love to all, P & J.

Grand Rapids, MI to Sleepy Hollow State Park, MI (Laingsburg)

This weekend in G.R., we lost about 10 riders who had planned to end in G.R. and added 50-60 new riders for the final 2 weeks to Jersey City, NJ. Our numbers are now about 200 riders. You can tell the bathroom and food lines are longer. Julie and I went home to sleep in our own bed on Saturday night and came back to G.R. for lunch on Sunday noon. We then loaded on school buses to be brought to the Sunday Celebration service at 5th Third Ball Park.

There were many family and friends and Haven Christian Reformed Church fellow members that attended and waved from the crowd or came to greet us afterward. It was wonderful to see their support and hear their encouragement. We were challenged by speaker Shawn Claiborne to think and act as an “ordinary radical” in how we address the global needs to fight and eliminate poverty around the world. I bought one of his books and am reading it. If anyone from family or church wants to read it when we get home, just let me know. Global poverty is now something I better understand and am challenged to do something about.

Monday morning, we were faced with a 64 mile ride to a remote state park, north and east of Lansing. We awoke to a stiff WESTERLY wind….yeah!! I rode with 3 new riders the entire day, 2 of which are from Holland, MI, Chris Mulder and John Kleyn. I had met them for a training ride earlier this year. We set a quick pace and the tail wind blew us along. There was a lunch stop in Lowell at the CR church there. They had a lot of food and also breakfast items. We reached the state park just after noon and averaged 19.2 or 19.4 mph, based on who’s speedometer you read. That is clipping along for me for that distance.

Julie was having trouble with her eyes on Sunday. They were extremely sensitive to the wind and sun and were very sore. She had this several weeks earlier out west. We decided that she should return to Holland from G.R. on Monday morning to try to get into the eye doctor while we were in the home area. She was able to get in for a 1:30 appointment and asked for the day off of SAG duties. She was returning late afternoon and had a flat tire on the pickup on US-127 north of Lansing. She called a fellow SAG who found me and he and I rode in a SAG vehicle to change the tire. We missed dinner time, but called Lavonne our food manager and had her save some supper for us. Julie and I rode through Dewitt, a little off the route to get the spare pumped up further and also try to find a tire repair shop for the next morning. We did see a repair place and Julie returned there by 7:30 a.m. on Monday, when they were supposed to open. No one showed up until after 8:00. The guy who runs the shop had a like new same size tire that had a plug in it from repair. He switched that out for us and mounted the spare back under the frame. Then, the God thing……there was a retired black pastor also waiting at the shop and the owner decided to not charge us a nickel for his time and tire!! He wanted the black pastor to put in a good word for him!! Julie had told them about our tour and purpose and gave them both a card about it. Julie was able to catch up with the tour in time for her 80 mile SAG duty on Monday. Wow, God can sure surprise you sometimes.

Love to all, P & J.

Grand Haven, MI to Grand Rapids, MI

Wow, what a great day today. It was not a typical day, but it was a good time. Along with Tyler riding with me, there were about 130 other guest bikers for the day, including Brian Geerlings from our church. We had a stop at Lamont Chr. School for a great treat and refreshment break, then on to West View CR Church on Leonard in G.R. for another great breakfast stop, and them only a mile down the road, a stop at Tyler Buitenwerf's home for more treats. Tyler had to leave the tour in Colorado because of an accident and broken collar bone. Along the route today, there were many people sitting by the roadside waving and cheering us on.

We were staged about a mile from Calvin College for a mass ride through the campus and to the Prince Conference Center area. There were a lot of people on hand cheering us on and it was a great time for us cyclists to feel so welcomed. Tyler and I set up our tent on the Prince Conf. Ctr lawn and then Julie and I brought him home and are staying AT HOME IN OUR OWN BED TONIGHT!! We are returning to Calvin tomorrow for some activities and the celebration service being held at 5th Third Ball Park and will camp in G.R. to be ready for leaving the area first thing Monday morning. We need to get our heads back into the job at hand and see this effort through for the next 2 weeks and completion.

Thanks to all who have sent cards, blog comments, emails, and especially prayed for us. I can't tell you what that means to us.

Love to all, P & J.

South Haven, MI to Grand Haven, MI

Today was a special day as we rode through our home area in West Michigan. I was proud (in a good way!) to be able to have the other riders that had never been here to see our beautiful area. Everything is so green and lush.

Our route from South Haven took us along the lakeshore for the most part. It was a beautiful clear crisp morning and Lake Michigan was the prettiest blue again. We did not bike through downtown Saugatuck as I wished we would have. We entered Holland on 60th street and stopped at Graafschaap CR Church for a great welcome and complete, delicous lunch. We also toured their great Heritage Museum in the church basement. We were so surprised to be greeted by our granddaughter, Kristin, and Jack and Joyce Koeman at the church. Graffschaap Hardware just down the street also had pork bar-b-q for us.

I stopped to say hello to my son Brett who was working at Pine Ridge Chr. School that is also just down the street. It was so good to see him. I told him I was thinking of going to Meijer's to replace my missing sunglasses and maybe swing by the company I work for, Lodeso, to say hello. Brett told me to stay on the posted route and not deviate. Hmm, what was that about?

Well, I stayed on the route, except for a detour around Hope College street construction. I went right by Holland Cycle Trek store and stopped to have my pedals greased and bought my sunglasses there. Then I stopped in downtown Holland to day hello to Brett VanderKamp at New Holland Brewery, but he was out of town. I ran into my daughter-in-law, Megs, on the street and her friend Heidi. It was a surprise to see them. Trav and Megs are in town from Chicago for the annual Shawny Summer Classic golf tournament that he hosts to get friends together. It is not a benefit tournament, but an opportunity is given to designate funds for a scholarship fund in Shawn's name at Holland Chr. High School. I was sorry to have to miss it this year, with the bike tour happening at the same time. Well, anyway, I was delayed a little in by leaving Holland for Grand Haven.

When I neared the corner of Butternut and I think Quincy, I saw a bunch of people ahead waving and holding "Lodeso Loves Pete" and other signs. It was about 12 people that I work with. They really surprised me and gave me a great welcome home (for now). It is so great to have them and my company support my trip and cause. That explained why Brett told me to stay on the route....he was a spy!! He had called ahead when I left him, the only problem is I stayed in Holland a bit too long and the Lodeso gang was waiting for me a long time.

It was then on to the Chr. Ref. Conference Grounds south of Grand Haven for our camp for the night. It is a great facility. I showered and took a soak in the hot tub. The cyclists and immediate family guests were treated to a delicious meal by Home Missions. When my 3 youngest grandkids arrived they came running to my arms to welcome me. What a great welcome and treat. Chad, Brett and family, and Trav and Megs came for the dinner. What a great time we had to see each other again and to also celebrate communion with them and the others cyclists and guests. My grandson, Tyler, stayed with us in our tent to ride with me the next day to Grand Rapids.

Love to all, P & J.

Chesterton, IN to South Haven, MI

We are now in Michigan and the Eastern time zone. It was a beautiful ride, mostly along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The route took us through Michigan City, IN, and along the lakeshore there. There were many beautiful homes along the beach. We went through New Buffalo, MI also on the lakeshore and then St. Joseph as well. It was a beautiful sunny day and the lake looked such a pretty blue.

The route into South Haven took us right to the beach area and through the beach parking lot, and then to the edge of the downtown area. We are camped at Baseline Middle School on the north side of town. Julie and I plan a quick trip to Sherman’s to get an ice cream cone after dinner tonight.

We have someone coming to our peleton meeting to tell us about the plans for this weekend at GR. Tomorrow night, some of our kids and grandkids are coming to the Conference Grounds to join us for dinner there.

It was 80 miles today and the last hour we had a NE head wind. I arrived to camp at about 2:15 Michigan time. The next couple days are much shorter miles. That will seem good. It will be fun winding our way through Holland tomorrow to give the riders a look at our home area.

Our friends, Vern and Diane, totally surprised us tonight and stopped at our camp and took us out to dinner. What a treat!!

Love to all, P & J.

Palos Heights, IL to Chesterton, IN

Oops,….on my blog of last night I said we would be in Michigan tonight. I was incorrect. We are camping tonight as scheduled at Indiana Dunes State Park. We had a pretty easy day today, only about 54 miles. On the route we stopped at 3 different CR churches for snacks, encouragement, and a full lunch again. People along the way are treating us like royalty. What a lot of hospitality. Then when we got to our camping area, the Crown Point CR church had all kinds of home baked goodies for us.

Trinity College was a great host to us yesterday and last night. They had a brief send off service for us this morning at 8:00 a.m. It as really done well. A local Pastor Kooy’s word struck me this morning that our tour is really about “taking the church to the streets”. Now and challenged us to continue that after the tour.

We really do have times to interact was ordinary people. At a refreshment stop at an outdoor café in the city of Woodstock the other day, a couple people gave $20 each after hearing what our group was doing.

The last couple days you would never know that we were near the city of Chicago. We passed well to the south and west to miss the most urban of area. Today we rode in groups of 6 or more as we were in a little more impoverished areas. One group took an alternate route today to swing past Roseland Christian school. My route today had some of it on the Calumet Bike Trail. We passed through an area in Lake County Indiana that had a bad wind storm just 2 days ago and slight tornado touchdowns. There were many trees blown down and some roofs damaged.

Julie and I both were in camp by mid-afternoon and we had time to go to the Lake Michigan beach here and take a refreshing swim.

Tomorrow, we do get into Michigan and stop at South Haven on a 74 mile day.

We are getting closer to HOME!!

Love to all, P & J.

Woodstock, IL to Palos Heights, IL

We found our way through the Chicagoland far west side with the help of a 36 mile stretch on the Fox River bike trail. It was a pretty ride that followed the riverside. It was a great way to avoid a lot of metro traffic. We then cut over eastward to Trinity Christian College, where we are camped in their grass courtyard between several buildings. The total ride was about 84 mils.

The Trinty people are very freindly and organized also and we will have a welcome reception in their chapel tonight and then a choice of one of three poverty related films and discussions. They are serving Chicago style pizza and salad and sundaes. Yum!! Tomorrow morning, they have a short send off service for us.

I am using the Trinity computer lab to do my blogging today. It is much faster and very stable compared to my laptop and satelite hookup.

The forecast calls for the possibility of rain and/or storms tonight. I put the tent in about the only spot where we can back the pickup to it in case it rain hard and we need to crawl into the back of the pickup bed.

Tomorrow we enter Michigan!! I am not sure yet how we will make our way around the bottom of Lake Michigan to get there. It may mean some smoggy Gary, IN air.

Hope to see a lot of you at the GR celebration rally this Sunday. You need a ticker, but they are free and there are plenty left.

Love to all, P & J.

Madison, WI to Woodstock, IL

We had a wonderful welcome at Crossroads Church in Madison over the weekend. They were very organized and the time with family meant so much to us.

This morning we left for Woodstock, IL. Our route followed rural road most all the way that paralleled I90. It was a beautiful ride and the miles went fast. We had a lunch stop at the Delavan CR. They put on a full lunch and it was great.

Brad Addink, the son of Sylvan on the tour, rode with a few of us as he was riding to work at his engineer job at Trek. Brad provided the Bontrager wheels that I am testing for him. He did some measurement and interviews in Madison with the ones that are participating in the test.

We are camping tonight at Woodstock High School. Woodstock is a community of about 20,000 way out northwest of Chicago metro. I has a great city square like a European town.

Julie and I skipped the supper and meetings tonight at camp. We met Trav and Megs at Meg's parents place on the Fox River in Mc Henry. We had a great short visit with them and returned to our tent for the night.

Love to all, P & J.

Fennimore, WI to Madison, WI

We were awakened at 4:00 a.m. by rain coming down on the tent. I could not get back to sleep and the rain started coming down harder. I decided to get up and start packing for the day. This of course required getting Julie up also. I was a good thing that we started when we did, for by the time we had things packed away, the floor of the tent was starting to collect water. The camp we were at had a rain shelter with picnic tables, so we were ok for eating breakfast.

By the time we finished breakfast, it was only sprinkling and I took off my rain gear before starting to ride for the day. The ride was just over 70 miles for the day. It was refreshingly cool and overcast for the morning. The sun broke through later in the day, but it was still comfortable. The terrain was rolling hills of green crops. We passed by the Cave of the Mounds which I remember visiting as a kid with relatives from Michigan. I remember that we did the visit on a day when it was in the 90s and when we came out of the cave after a couple hours, which was in the 50s for temp, we all felt sick from the drastic temp change.

We past through the edge of Barneveld, a town that I remember was almost totally destroyed by a tornado years ago. We had a travel a state hard pack bike trail for about 6 miles, as the road was to busy for us to travel. There was one spot where the hard pack had sand on it and I almost lost control of the bike. We biked through the town of Mt. Horeb and I stopped for a quick cup of coffee and cherry square treat. We approached the Madison area from the southwest, a direction I was not familiar with and did not know where we were in relation to the downtown capitol square. We ended up on the outskirts on the southeast side at Crossroads Church. We are camped in a play field behind the school next door. The bikers all wore their matching C2C biking jerseys today and we were staged at a park about a mile from the church, to all ride in together as a total group. That was pretty impressive. There were a couple media photographers there, but no TV video coverage, which was disappointing, as they were notified we were coming.

All lot of people were on hand to welcome us to the church and there was a band playing. We were given a greeting by the mayor of Madison and church celebration team. The Madison folks have done a great job of welcoming us and are very organized and have planned very well. They are feeding the group for dinner tonight and lunch on Sunday, with various outings planned for Sunday afternoon and a music concert and prayer time late afternoon and evening. My brothers Jim and Larry and sister-in-laws, Ruth and Sue and my mother, and niece Kerri and husband Michael and family were also here for the festivities and see us. We all went out to eat for Saturday night dinner and had a great time. It was so good to see familiar faces! Also, our friends from Milwaukee, Jerry and Carol Veenhuis are coming on Sunday for the service and lunch.

Sundays are a welcome time of celebration, worship, and resting. Tomorrow we have toward Chicago, with a stop at Trinity College on Tuesday night. We will hook up with Trav and Megs, our son and daughter-in-law who live in the N.W. Chicago suburbs, Monday night at Megs parents’, Jack and Sue, home in Mc Henry.

Love to all, P & J.

New Hampton, IA to Fennimore, WI

Today we descended the steeps bluffs of eastern Iowa, down to the Mississippi River and crossed into our 8th state, Wisconsin, the state where both Julie and I were born and raised. Our day started out on a 10 mile stretch of the worst road for bikers that we have experienced. It was a road that had been widened by a foot or two a long time ago, and was not cracked on the seam. The cracks were at least a couple inches wide in spots and had holes several inches deep. There were also cracks across the road and it was very rough. The road was quite busy and we had to avoid all these things and the traffic. If one of us bikers would have dropped into one of these cracks, it would have been all over for the front wheel and who knows what would have happened to the biker. Thankfully, all made it through that section safely. Later, on US18, the road was great and we had a good but narrow shoulder right of a rumble strip. The problem was, the road crew had just put new gravel on the shoulder and it had not been swept off and occasionally, you had to quickly cut between the rumble strips into the traffic lane to avoid the loose gravel. This situation caught up with Don Brunsting as he slowed for the loose gravel, but two rear approaching cars were too close for him to cut over and he flipped his bike in the loose gravel and cracked a collar bone. Sadly, he is out of the tour with the injury. Thankfully, he was not hurt worse. Don is from my area in Michigan and I had ridden in training a couple times with him. I really feel for him, as he had planned to have his daughter ride with him from GR to New Jersey.

The Mississippi River bridge crossing was also dangerous, as they were working on the bridge and the width did not allow us any space. So, we just had to bike in the traffic lane and hold up the traffic. Once across, we had to climb up the bluffs on the Wisconsin side of the river. That was a steep climb. After that, the landscape turned into rolling farm land typical of WI……beautiful.

I can’t believe we have completed 3 century days in a row. I don’t think I will ever do that again. Tomorrow we have about 70+ miles to get to Madison. Julie and I are anxious to see family and friends that are meeting us there. We are camping at a Madison CR church for the weekend and they have lots of activities planned for the bikers to sign up for.

Love to all, P & J.

Algona, IA to New Hampton, IA

Another 100+ mile day in the books! Today was not as easy as yesterday, but it went pretty well. The weather was beautiful….blue sky with cotton ball clouds and temps in the low 80s in the afternoon. The morning was cool and the wind was light, but as the day progressed, the wind kicked up and was straight out of the north. The made for a side wind most of the day. I was in camp at New Hampton high school at 2:45 p.m. I had left the earliest that I have ever left….at 6:45 a.m. to avoid the winds of later in the day. At Julie’s 55 mile stop today, the cook had sent along cinnamon rolls for a treat for the riders. They are prepackaged, but not bad.

I have not been into this town, but it is small and the high school was right on the edge of town as we road in. We went through several small towns today…..Britt the hobo town, and the Little Brown Church in the Vale was about 7 miles off our route. I did not go there but someone in a vehicle did and actually played the piano in the small church. Apparently a congregation still worships there.

We had a few more hills today and probably will tomorrow as we near the Mississippi River. Tomorrow we will be in Wisconsin and I have sweep team duties again at night and in the morning on Saturday.

The last couple nights, we have been able to connect our pickup truck to the tent and that makes things a little easier to sort out and pack/unpack. We really have not connected very many times because of the areas we camped were not accessible to vehicles.

I have not taken many pictures lately, as the scenery is mostly the same……corn field after corn field. We did pass several huge windmill generator groups today. It appears that Iowa must have a good wind presence to make it pay off. They are way ahead of Michigan in this development, unless Michigan is deemed not economical for them.

Again, I feared this week as one of the toughest on the tour. I expected hot and humid days with long miles. That has not been the case and I am doing fine….tired, but fine.

Love to all, P & J.

Sioux Center, IA to Algona, IA

We had a great time staying at Dordt College. Thanks to them for providing the lodging and letting us use their facilities, Also, thanks to the Dordt food service company and the local Pizza Ranch for providing dinner at night and breakfast in the morning. The dorm use was especially appreciated as we woke up to rain coming down pretty heavy. If we would have had to get ready for the day and had to pack up in the rain it would have been pretty unpleasant.

By the time we started out biking, the rain was lighter, but we all needed our rain gear on. Everyone was pretty uptight about putting in the longest distance day of the tour today. Well, God provided for us and our fears were unfounded. The light rain and later just overcast provided cool temps. It started out in the 60s and later was in the 70s for most of the ride. The rain subsided, the winds picked up out of the WEST!! That pushed us along at the best speed to date on the tour. I put in the 114 miles by 3:00 p.m. and averaged 16.9 mph for the whole day. For me, that is great. There were times I did not have any more gears left for speed. The roads were very rural and in good shape and not much traffic. It was beautiful farmland to ride through. We had a stop in Hospers and Primghar and were treated to refreshments by the local CR churches.

Tomorrow is another long day, 114 miles and am hoping for more westerly winds.

Saturday we are in Madison, WI for the weekend and we have relatives and friends that will be meeting us there. That is something we are looking forward to.

Love to all, P & J.

Sargeant Bluff, IA to Sioux Center, IA

This is our first whole day in Iowa, out 7th state. I started out at about 7:15 this morning. The air is cooler and feels so much better. We needed to negotiate our way through the city of Sioux City this morning. That went well and used less travelled city streets. A couple went through neighborhoods of very old restored homes and that was nice.

Once out of the city, it was back to cornfields again. This part of Iowa is quite hilly and though we only had to bike 60 miles today (did I say ONLY!!?) the hills made up for it. The farm land is beautiful and bountiful.

On on route today, we passed through the small town of Ireton and the CRC there had a great refreshment stop for us. They had strawberry/banana slushes and root beer floats! Wow, that hit the spot. It was then on to Dordt College in Sioux Center. The campus is all very new here at Dordt and everything is very neat and spotless, though there is some grounds construction underway. We were greeted by one of our own cyclists, Sheryl, who works here. She gave us instructions for getting settled and explained the way around campus. We are in air-conditioned dorms with computer access as well. This dorm is really nice and spotless. We have to provide our own bedding tonight, but that is a small price to pay!

There is a Celebration Service tonight in the campus BJ Haan Auditorium at 7:00. The college is providing us with pizza and chicken tonight for dinner and a breakfast buffet tomorrow morning. Another great show of hospitality. We have been so blessed by so many people along the way by their generosity to us.

I got in to the campus today at 12:30 and registered and got a room for us. I showered, walked the campus and then called Julie to see when she would be in. The last riders had just left the Ireton church! That will mean she will not be in until about 5:00...bummer, as we have great facilities to enjoy here. Well, I guess I will catch an afternoon nap and try to get ready for the 3 100+ mile days we have coming starting tomorrow. I hope the landscape flattens out and we have a tail wind.

Love to all, P & J.

Freemont, NE to Sergeant Bluff, NE

We started out of Freemont in an easterly direction toward the Missouri River Valley. We climbed and crossed the western bluffs that line the Missouri Valley on both the east and west sides. The Missouri Valley is very wide across and long and is almost perfectly flat. It is a fertile valley with lust crops.

I missed a turn today and ended up going further east on US-30 and then north on US-75 through Blair, NE to rejoin the tour route. I missed Julie's SAG stop by doing that and called her to let her know, else she would be looking for me and expecting me to show up. That added about 2 additional miles to me route.

Once we crossed the bluffs, we had to turn north toward Sioux City, IA. This is about the first time we have had to head northerly and wouldn't you know it, the wind was from the North as it as never been the entire trip. It was gusty for a time and I could only get up to 9 mph. It was a long ride north.

We are camped about 10 miles south of Sioux City in a community rec park and center. An area church rents the facilty for their offices and services and we can use the facility tonight for our meetings, computer work, and sleep in the gym if we want. We met the pastor and his wife, Verlyn and Carol Schaap. Carol is the aunt of Monica Gravenhof that Julie worked with at Macatawa Bank. Dutch BINGO!!

Tomorrow we hope to greet you from Dordt College.

Love to all, P & J.

MY TURN….by Julie.

As I write this I am sitting in the air conditioned gym of Good Shepherd Lutheran church which is across the street from the YMCA park that we are staying in. The temperature on the business next door read 101 degrees when we came. Some of us came here for church this morning and were very warmly welcomed and also invited back for refreshment this afternoon at 1. They did not wait for a committee meeting or wished we had let them know we were coming but made us so welcome. They have cold drinks and all kinds of snacks; some of which they have made this afternoon. A great lesson learned about hospitality by their generous spirit!

Some have asked what I do on this trip and if I keep busy. I will describe what a day is like for me. We started out by getting up between 6 and 6:30AM but now because of the hot days with many miles, we now start the day between 5:30 and 6AM. We begin by folding up our bedding and repacking and put all our things back in the truck.. Then it is time for breakfast. We must remember our plates and also take our chairs unless we come back to the tent to eat. After breakfast and washing our dishes, we pack our lunch for the road. The water coolers must be filled and put in the trucks. We then go back and take our tent down. The tent and basket of clothing and supplies go on the gear truck. Pete pumps up his tires and is ready to leave. I usually leave very soon after him.

We have 4 SAG vehicles. SAG stands for support and gear. Each of us carry 20-30 gallons of water for the bikers to fill up their water bottles. Most bikers carry 2 or 3 bottles. We also carry extra tire tubes, a tire pump, bike repair tool kit and, until last week, tires. Protein bars are available for those who “bonk” (biker term for needing nourishment). If you check the web site, you will see our statistic of how many total flat tires there have been! Often 20 per day! We are placed 15 to 20 miles apart depending on the distance the bikers ride on that particular day. We drive to our spot and stay there for the day unless we have to move to a new place later in the day. Sometimes it is hard to find a place to park for the day and even more difficult to find a place with any shade. Hopefully, we give some encouragement as well as supplies! Each day, one of the SAG drivers is the “sweep” vehicle. That vehicle must make sure that everyone is in for the day before coming in so it can be rather late. Most days I arrive at camp 2-4 hours after Pete. Because of the longer days, that has not always been true this past week. When Pete is in earlier than I, he sets up the tent and showers. Otherwise we set the tent up when we are both in.

Evening meal is served at 6PM. Again, we bring our own dishes and chairs. Food has been excellent! We have a great kitchen crew! We, again, stand in line to wash our dishes. Usually, we have a little break before our peleton meeting where we hear about the day and are given our route for the next day. After this meeting, we meet with our assigned small group for a short time. For us, it is usually “lights out” by 9 PM..

I am finishing this at 9PM. Most of us have put our beds in the church. They have extended the invitation for us to also sleep in the church because the temperature has gone down to 99 degrees. We have seen Jesus in these brothers and sisters in the Lord. It will always be memorable!

Pray for us this week as we have many long days and lots of heat.
Love, P&J

York, NE to Freemont, NE

Everyone is REALLY looking forward to the weekend to have a day off from cycling. To get to the weekend, we need to close out this 94 mile day. The weather forecast was for strong and gusty easterly winds. Wouldn’t you know it, the weather forecast was correct. We had the strong wind for about half of the route today, heading easterly. The other half of the day we needed to go north and the wind was southerly which gave us a break.

The last 8 miles were again easterly, with strong side winds, and the road was busy with no shoulder for us to ride on. Then, part of the road was milled for repaving and was very uneven. Not a good mixture and throw in some hills and 90+ temp and it is down right dangerous.

We are camped in the city of Freemont on the lawn of a YMCA center and ice skating arena. The evening temp is still 90 degrees and the humidity is higher than we have been used to. It is very uncomfortable…heat index of 105 degrees. Some of the young folks are sleeping in the ice arena tonight where the temp is about 50 degrees….hmmm, that is sounding good right now.

Tomorrow, some of the group is going to the CRC church in Omaha and some to a church plant in Lincoln.

Next week, we get into Iowa and of course, more corn fields. We will be guests at Dordt College on Tuesday night.

Love to all, P & J.

P.S. Julie and I and a few others decided to stay in camp Sunday morning and attended the Good Shepard Lutheran church across the park. We had a very great welcome there and a very practical reminder that Christ gives us the victory over the powers of Satan. We also had communion with that congregation. We passed out some of our devotional books and bracelets to them. The Good Sheperd folks opened up their new gym to us for today and tonight (it is air-conditioned!!) and provided snacks for us his afternoon with no advanced warning. What a welcome!!

Minden, NE to York, NE

Today was rather uneventful from a scenery standpoint. It is just corn field after corn field, with a few soybean fields thrown in. We had one section that went on isolated county roads which was nice. It was nice to get away from the traffic. It was around 90 degrees again today and we had a 90+ mile day with a headwind for part of the day.

This has been a tough week with the long miles and hot days. The heat really takes a toll on you in the afternoon. I usually stop twice a day at a convenience store to get a Gatorade to keep my going.

We are camped on the lawn of York College, a small Christian College. Julie and I had stopped to camp a night in this town many years ago on the way out west on a family vacation. I think I biked past the Presbyterian Church we had gone to on that Sunday a.m. Many good memories come back from that family vacation, when we rented a motor home for 3 weeks and toured the Rockies with the four sons as they were young boys. One memory I cherish is of Shawn going down into the Cody, WY rodeo arena to participate in a kids event to chase down young calves and pull off a ribbon from one calf’s tail. Wouldn’t you know that Shawn with his speed was the one to run down the calf and pull off the ribbon and win an award. Great memories.

Love to all, P & J.

Mc Cook, NE to Minden, NE

The scenery is definitely getting greener with field after field of irrigated corn. These irrigation systems are huge. We had quite a few long hills to climb today, but overall lost about 1,000 feet of altitude. In Minden, we are at about 2,200 feet. It was a long, hot 96 miles today, as I had to help cleanup breakfast and could not get going as early as normal. I got to camp about 4:00 and was again wiped out.

Tonight after dinner, we celebrated the halfway point of the trip with ice cream and strawberry sundies. We crossed the calendar halfway point yesterday and will cross the distance halfway point tomorrow about 18 miles into our ride.

Julie and I had a big surprise on the road today. Some friends of ours that were our “family” while on an Israel trip some years ago, were returning to Michigan from an Arizona vacation. They knew the sea to sea tour was taking todays route and just happened to stop at Julie’s SAG stop to ask questions, and I happened to be at the stop at the same time! It was great talking to Cal and Dorene Compagner. Cal is a pastor in the GR MI area.

I’m tired again and will sign off now.

Love to all, P & J.

Wray, CO to Mc Cook, NE

We are slowing descending from the high plains, but it is hardly detectable in riding. We had a 93 mile ride and it was extremely hot. When I arrived in Mc Cook, a bank thermometer displayed 104 and then 105 and then back to 104 again. That may have been a little off, but it was hot. When I arrived on the edge of town, I headed straight to a Macs for a value meal and lots of Diet Pepsi, ON ICE! Water in your bottle on the bike gets pretty hot and non-refreshing on hot days. When I got on my bike to leave for camp, I had a flat and was so bushed, I did not have the energy to change it there and walked the bike several blocks to our camp for the night and changed it after recouping a bit. That is my second flat on the trip.

We crossed into our sixth state today and entered our third time zone. We are now in Nebraska and the Central time zone.

The landscape was still pretty dry around here, but there was some scattered irrigated crops. It is slowly getting greener. I had one area where the grasshoppers were really thick on the shoulder of the road. The day before, we had quite a few kangaroo rats that were road kill on the shoulder.

This week is turning out to be quite mentally challenging, after accomplishing the mountains and now very open and sometimes boring landscape for miles. I have to get my head back into it. Because of the heat and distance, this was one of the toughest days on me physically also, as we also had a partial head wind.

My blog is short today, as I am really beat.

Love to all, P & J.

Fort Morgan, CO to Wray, CO

We are in the high plains area at an altitude in the range of 4,000 to 4,500 feet. The landscape varies from desert to range land to beautiful irrigated crops. It is so open out here that you can see forever and there was hardly a tree in the first half of the ride. There have been a few oil wells sprinkled into the landscape also. We passed several cattle feedlots of unbelieveable size and odor. I and Case had one experience today that I hope is not repeated. We had a cattle livestock truck approach us in the oncoming passing lane and as it whoosed by, I felt a mist of what I thought was water. It was liquid, but not water, and the bad part was that the end of the day showers were still many miles down the road.

Today was close to 90 miles again and the temp reached 89. The winds were not a problem until the last 30 miles or so. It was then a headwind that made the last portion seem long. The state highway was great today, smooth with a wide shoulder. I arrived in camp at about 2:00 and did a mid-morning stop at Mom’s Café for a cinnamon roll with Case Van Maastrich (sp?) from the Midland MI area. He and I have been riding together off and on the past days.

Julie arrived early in camp and we rode over to the Wray’s Aquatic Center for a welcome swim and water slide. What a welcome time. The pool will be open tonight for our group again and we are having a pool party!

Tomorrow, I am back on sweep team when I arrive in camp and will need to help set up for supper. The high temp for tomorrow is forecasted to be 104, so I plan to get up extra early to beat some of the heat.

Love to all, P & J.

Denver, CO to Fort Morgan, CO

The mile high city is behind us. The Denver area churches were fantastic in the welcome they gave us and the encouragement and food provided. Sunday the area churches combined for a worship service at an area high school stadium. It was a time of worship and praise together and communion was also served. At these weekend celebration services, the CRC agencies and area organizations focused on helping the poor and oppressed have a ministry fair with booths and staff of hand. A the beginning of the service, all the Sea to Sea cyclists and staff did a partial lap around the stadium track to the music of our theme song, “Do Something Beautiful”.

The area churches provided noon lunch for us and evening dinner on Sunday. We were certainly welcomed and treated well here. Thank you, Denver.

This morning, Julie needed to get our pickup in for an oil change and lube. She was to be led by an area volunteer to the oil change place. It turned out that person was Roland Buteyn, our high school principal from back in Waupun, Wisconsin. They were able to chat while the oil change was completed. He is retired and has lived in the Denver area near his children for a number of years. Small world isn’t it?!

Today we had to get ourselves through and/or around the metro Denver area. This was a concern with the traffic and rush hour. It turns out that we could get on the South Platte River bike path and follow the riverside all the way through and out of the city. That was great. We biked right past the Denver Broncos football stadium.

Once out of the city, we were in rolling hills of sage and desert conditions again. We needed to use I-76 a couple times today when there was no frontage road. The frontage roads were so bumpy, that at one point, I picked up my bike and walked a couple hundred feet to I-76 and continued on that nice smooth shoulder. It was then that I noticed the ground was scattered with cactus. I had not seen that from the road.

It reached 100 or more degrees this afternoon and I was glad to be in our Fort Morgan high school camp by 2;00 p.m. after our 90 mile ride. We had a couple thunder showers just skirt by us, but the wind this afternoon was very gusty and threatened to blow our tents away. I had to add some extra ropes to hold mine down. We had another rainbow today, it is at least the 4th one we have experienced, a reminder of God’s promise to Noah many years ago.

Love to all, P &J.

Snow Mountain Ranch, CO to Denver, CO

The Rockies are behind us!! What a day and what a week. We did close to 90 miles today and had the long, tough climb up Berthoud Pass at over 11,000 feet. Before starting the ascent to the pass, we passed through the ski town of Winter Park. Just before getting to Winter Park, I saw Julie parked on the other side of the road. She had one of our cyclists sitting in the front seat. He had been involved in a tangle up with another cycle and had flipped and broken his collarbone in two places and his helmet was cracked. He is from my small group on the tour and from Grand Rapids. He was very disappointed that he could not continue on the tour and will be catching a ride home today with someone driving toward Michigan. I stopped and had a prayer with him in the pickup and tried to console him. That is the second person that I have come across shortly after a tour ending injury and the disappointment of ending the ride shows as tears in their eyes, and that is not from the injury pain.

The Berthoud Pass climb was in the beginning of the day and after it was conquered, you find yourself mentally letting down after a major obstacle like that is accomplished and you still have about 63 miles to go. We had driven through Berthoud Pass years ago and had forgotten how long it is. The scenery was beautiful. It has several switchbacks and you could see traffic way above you and had to get to that point. On the other side of the pass, it was a great long downhill ride at 40+ mph.

We still had several smaller, tough climbs before the final descent into the Denver metro area. We are camped at Denver Christian High School’s athletic field. The Denver area churches had a great welcome for us this afternoon. They had several folks cheering us on when we arrived and actually had a couple cheerleaders giving us a welcome. They had a live DJ in the parking lot playing music and making announcements and had a whole bunch of homemade cookies, pop, and water and welcome packets for us. It was great. Tomorrow, we bike to a different school park for worship with them. They are hosting us for lunch and dinner. Wow!

This weekend, we lose about 15 people from the tour today and gain another 15 or so. Russ Johnson from Holland is one of the new riders. I had ridden in training with him a couple times out of Providence Church in Holland with a group of guys. Dave Geerlings from Holland joined the tour in the Salt Lake City area.

This week, we pass the midpoint of the tour duration. Time is really flying and I have trouble keeping track of what day it is. When we arrived here in Denver, we were blessed with some mail from friends from back home. What a treat and what support. We thank God for those encouraging notes.

Love to all, P & J.

Kremmling, CO to Snow Mountain Ranch, CO

Today was one of our shortest mile days, but was very welcome after yesterday’s grueling day. It was a gentle climb to the town of Granby. Julie had the day off from SAG duties today and I met her for breakfast in Granby. Fred Meyering from British Columbia joined us. This is the first time I have had the time to stop for a full breakfast along the way.

From Granby, it was only about 6 miles from there to YMCA Camp of the Rockies, Snow Mountain Ranch. It was a 2-3 mile climb for the last miles. We are camped on the hillside of an area that has been cleared out of Logpole Pine. Julie and I were here in 1977 for a Calvinist Counselors National Convention and stayed here. The surrounding forests in the mountainsides are now mostly brown and dead Logpole Pine, as the Mountain Pine Beetle has left behind a devastating path of dead pines. It certainly has impacted the beauty of this area. The dead logpole pine can be harvested within 6-7 years for lumber after it dies for lumber. The camp had cleared a large buffer around it for harvesting the dead ones and to provide forest fire protection. The fire danger is extreme here, and I cannot imagine how fast this area of forest would burn because of all the dead trees.

The short day today was welcome by all. Julie and I went for a swim at the camp indoor pool and just hung out to recoup. I am also catching up on my blog posts and other internet traffic. The internet satellite is not picking up a good signal today, so I will go to the lodge and see if they have a wireless service.

We are looking at crossing Berthoud Pass tomorrow. That will be the highest altitude of our trip at 11,000+ feet. I’ll get a photo for you all. From there it is downhill to Denver for the weekend. We will be losing about 25 cyclists in Denver and gaining about the same as some are doing certain sections and not the whole trip. We are have a communion service tonight and will say goodbye to the departing cyclists.

Love to all, P & J.

Craig, CO to Kremmling, CO

Our ride started with a pesky headwind today. In these higher elevation areas, it is not uncommon for a wind to come down from the mountains into the valleys below during the morning hours. The valley we are in suddenly changed into a more lush area, with grass and marshy areas and the hills on both sides took on a greener shade than we have seen for a while.

Our route took us through Steamboat Springs today, a big time ski area. There were several ski slopes we could see cut out of the mountainside. Steamboat Springs was at the 40+ miles mark on the ride and at about 45 miles, our challenge for the day began. It was a 2,500 foot climb to get up and over not one, but two passes in that mountain range. The passes are called the Rabbit Ears Pass. This climb ranks up there with the toughest we have faced. It was a steady steep grade all the way up, without any level or lesser grade. Also, the altitude caused my leg muscles to cry out for more oxygen. I took my own pace and stopped several times to get my breath back. When I reached the first summit, Julie was at that spot with a SAG stop. Then it was a short break of down hill fun to the beginning of another shorter climb to the second summit. After that, we crossed the continental divide and I had someone take my photo there.

It was then a long, fast downhill ride that all cyclists love. We left the high mountain forest to another very dry area and it was suddenly very hot again. It is amazing how much the mountain areas differ from one side to another, with the one side catching most of the moisture.

Today was all on US-40 again, and once we left the mountain passes, there was less then a foot of shoulder and the traffic is nuts. It was fairly heavy, and the drivers in this area seem much less favorable to cyclists. They do not move over much, even when there is no oncoming traffic. Some wave at you to get over and there is absolutely no place to go. Others give you a verbal greeting. There is no way to look at the passing landscape in these conditions, as my nose is buried on my handlebars, staring at the white line and the one foot to the right of it.

With the hard climb and the long distance of 96 miles, it was a very tiring and long day. I arrived in Kremmling at about 5:30, having started out at a little after 7:00 a.m. Don Brunsting and I finished the last several miles together and said to each other that we used it all up today. As soon as we hit Kremmling, we were looking for a place to get a couple gallons of Pepsi, but did not have any energy to look around and stopped at a local watering hole for some of the local refreshment made with the local mountain water by another guy named Peter somebody.

The night was quite cool, probably down into the 40s and this challenged our light sleeping bag. We had a brief shower just after we set up camp at the West Grand High School soccer field that was the greenest and thickest we have had the whole trip and better than most W. Michigan fields. The Big Boy Eastern Rockies are now in sight in the distance. Wow, we're going over those!?

Love to all, P & J

Dinosaur, CO to Craig, CO

Our ride on US-40 was much better today. The shoulder was wider, cleaner, and I don’t know what happened to the traffic, but the traffic was not heavy at all. It was 55 miles from Dinosaur to the next town and that was just a four corner called Maybell. There was hardly a house between the 2 towns. We did have just a bit of rain for the first hour or so this morning, but not much. That is only the second time we have had just a bit of rain in almost 4 weeks. Maybell did offer a patch of green grass and shade for a refreshing stop, and ice and Pepsi.

Going on from there, it was again nothing but high plateaus with no inhabitants but antelope and prairie dogs. We needed to cross many hills from plateau to plateau and climbed 4,300 feet today. We are still in high plateau mountain country and the town of Craig is at about 6,000 feet. We are camped at the county high school, high up a hill overlooking the town in the valley below. Across the valley on the next plateau, there is a huge crane that appears to be loading coal that is somehow shuttled to a large coal-fired electric plant.

Tomorrow we have 5,000 feet of climb to get to Kremmling. I believe we cross the continental divide tomorrow. Kremmling is at about 7,500 feet elevation and will probably be considerably cooler.

I am thankful that my strength is good and felt really well today. I completed the 88 miles today by 2:30 and treated myself to a Macs Value Meal and about 5 Diet Pepsi refills.

Your prayers hold us up. Julie did not get in from her SAG duties today until 7:00, as some riders had a long day.

We are looking forward to the weekend in Denver. The area churches are planning a great time for us.

Love to all, P & J.

Duchesne, UT to Dinosaur, CO

Another state!!! We are just 3 miles into Colorado, our 5th state, for camp tonight at Dinosaur, CO town park. I now know why the dinosaurs died in this area. It is too hot and dry for any living organism to live here and survive for very long. But Sea To Sea bikers are a tough and determined lot and we made it for another day and will move on from here tomorrow. The day started out by riding out of Duchesne into an widening, irrigated river valley between two mesas. This slowly gave way to more rugged stony hills on the way to Vernal, UT. After Vernal, was the biggest challenge to us bikers. That section was a gradual upslope for 20+ miles and the sun was really hot. It had to be near 100 degrees. The elevation of Dinosaur is just under 6,000 feet.

The route today was mostly on US40, a very busy 2 lane road with a lot of semis. The shoulder was usually wide enough for us, but the entire length had rumble strips that only allowed about one foot between the white line and the rumble strip. Right of the rumble strips it was wider, but rough, more gravely and littered with various bolts, tie-down remnants, and retread pieces. This made it very dangerous as the best place to ride was right on the white line. Some truckers do not appreciate bikers and do not move over at all, even if no other vehicle is coming. Some even purposely emit extra exhaust fumes and smoke as they go by. There were a couple cases today of bicycle part failures that caused 2 bikers to flip. One was onto the roadway, but thankfully, there was no traffic at the time, and the bikers had minor scrapes and bruises. We truly do feel God’s protective care over us and feel the prayers of the many people who offer them on our behalf.

Some riders took a detour today to visit a national park dinosaur exhibit. I did not, as the 91 miles and the heat were enough for me. I did manage to arrive in camp by about 4:00, the same time as Julie wrapped up her SAG duties. The extra time to shower and rest before dinner feels really good.

Love to all, P & J.

Park City, UT to Duchesne, UT

We needed to cross another mountain range of the Western Rockies today. It took us on a very difficult, long, 8% grade climb. It brought us through some beautiful high mountain forests and rushing rivers. Some of the riders actually had a moose cross in front of them. Others saw a variety of deer, elk. etc. The summit was marked as an elevation of 9,450 feet. We had a few riders that could not make it today because of breathing diffuculties in the high elevation. That is the highest that we have climbed so far on our tour, until we go over 11,000 feet later this week.

Once reaching the summit, it was a long wild ride down to the next valley. I was pushing 40 mph most of the time. The surroundings suddenly changed from dense evergreen and aspen forests to more barren rocky terrain. It is amazing how one side of a mountain can be completely different from the other,

We continued down the long, slow decline to high plateaus with different rock formations, some red, some showing many layers of the rock.

It was another long day, getting to camp at about 5:30 p.m. because I was on breakfast cleanup before I could leave. I am beat tonight, so am going to close my report out. Tomorrow is another 90+ mile days to the dinosour remains area.

Love to all, P & J.

Brigham City, UT to Park City, UT

Well the warning about a hard day today was certainly true. It was the toughest yet. It was 97 miles, with 2 mountain range crossings of 5,723 feet uphill. Everyone tried to get an early start for the day and our schedule was moved up 1/2 hour in the morning. Most of the ride today was urban, at least until we got through Salt Lake City. The area from Brigham City to Salt Lake City runs together as urban area. Our day's directions were a little confusing and there were a lot of local bikers out riding. I stopped one gentleman and asked directions. He insisted on taking us through most of the city to get us to where we could find our way for sure and led us for about 15 miles. Those are great interaction times and you get to tell about the cause we are riding for.

The Salt Lake City CRC is very near downtown. They hosted refreshments for us in the church basement. In the city, all the street numbers run North, South, East, or West from the Mormon temple downtown. That makes it pretty easy to find your way around. I did not detour to see the temple, as it was such a long day and needed to conserve my energy.

Immediately after leaving the church, the hill climbing for the day started. On a city street, there was a hill that was so steep, myself and 3 guys I was biking with had to walk our bikes up it. That was a discouraging start to what might lie ahead for the day.

The mountain climbing for the day was long and hard. I had my bike in the lowest gear most of the time, which means 5-6 mph. I wish I had one or two more lower gears for the extreme grade climbs (30 gear combos is not enough!!). The first mountain climb was up a narrow canyon that had homes built into the mountain sides and there were quite a few trees at the lower levels for shady spot rest stops. I can see why forest fires could be devastating to such areas. At the higher levels, it opened up more and we had several switchbacks to conquer. When we finally reached the peak of the first range, another CRC local group had a canopy setup with refreshments and carb snacks. They were a welcome site. One of the daughters of those folks had a spray water mister that she enjoyed using to cool us down. Those folks were very encouraging to us.

After that, we had a fun downslope ride for several miles. I could not let it totally go, as the road was not the smoothest and I would rather not wipe out going 40+ mph. The valley below was suddenly very hot. We needed to get on I-80 at that point for about 5 miles. The entrance ramp was so steep and long, that I had to stop and rest a couple times just finish it. Then the climb really began. I have never seen such a long and steep interstate climb. The traffic was very heavy, but we had a wide shoulder. Some of the semis were shifted down so low that they were just creeping along and emitting a lot of exhaust to us. There were several stopped by the side that had overheated. Once we reached the top, it was mostly downhill to the Park City area. We rode past the previous Winter Olympic sites, ski jump and downhill courses. This is a resort/ski town and pretty upscale.

After Park City, we needed to get to the Jordanelle State Park for our weekend camp. We had to get on US40 for about 4 miles, and immediately we could see ahead of us for the next couple miles a very steep hill. The was mentally tough. I kept thinking, I'm in the 4th quarter here and can't lose this game now. I biked most of the day with Don Brunsting and Mark Fasse , fellow Michiganders. We needed each other to keep going and support each other. I can't begin to tell you how physically and mentally challenging this day was. Prayers were answered as we were given just enough strength for the day to complete the ride at about 6:30 p.m. The ride had started at about 7:00 a.m. Also, my prayer about my sore hip was answered as the pain was a lot better today and did not act up during the long ride. It is still sore to the touch, but I can live with that.

Julie was not back from SAG when I arrived. She had to pickup at least 2 people that could not complete the day and other SAGs had a few more. The camp for the weekend is quite spread out and requires a lot of walking to get to our meal area, showers, and camping. Julie and I would have been far from the other campers if we wanted to be attached to the pickup. We decided that this would be a good weekend to find a local hotel for a couple nights and get recharged, do our wash and get caught up on things. We are at the Hampton in the Park City area and it is WONDERFUL!! No earwigs bugs in our room like our tent has!!

Tonight we worship with the local CRC churches at the state park. Tomorrow is promised to be another tough day of mountain range crossing and are told we will probably up with the snow. We covet your prayers for continued health and strength.

Love to all, P & J.

Snowville, UT to Brigham City, UT

Today was 65 miles, with about 16 miles of down slope on I-84. It was cool in the morning and that made it enjoyable. There was some resurfacing work going on for I-84 and we could ride on the right lane that was finished, but still barricaded off for trucks and cars. We finally reached the asphalt crew and had to cut to the shoulder on what looked like pavement. It was really sand and a biker ahead of my did a complete over the bars flip. Fortunately, he was ok and his bike was ok.

It the middle of the desert today, we came across a rocket manufacturing and test facility run by Thiokol for the feds. They had a display of different rocket components outside of the secure area and we could tour that. Some of the young kids on the tour had their photo taken sitting on a polaris missle. The size of the rocket components is huge. Across the valley from there and just across the next hill range was the spot where the golden railroad spike was driven. That joined the east and west rail lines.

Further along, we entered a salt flat area that stretches beyond eyesight. I imagine it is part of the some region connected to the Great Salt Lake. It was completely dead and smelled where there were water holes. After that, we entered the Brigham City area and proceeded through town to a State Park called Willard State Park. It appears to be a huge man made lake with a levy all around it to hold in the fresh water. On the other side of the levy is the salt flat area. It was about 99 degrees when I made camp today and the heat really drains you.

I had a little tumble today that should not have happened if I would have been more careful. I was in Brigham City and had about 6 miles to go and was feeling pretty hot and tired. I decided to pull onto the sidewalk and rest under a shade tree in front of a house. In that town, there is a 2 inch curb that runs all along the end of all driveways. I knew it was there, but I thought by swinging out and hitting it more square, that I would be ok. I slowed way down, but the bike front tire did not bite and I kept going and the bike did not. I feel hard on my right hip. I was not going fast enough to get road rash, but it is very sore.

Tomorrow has everyone on edge. It is very long ride and the climbing is supposed to be very difficult. I've prayed that my hip will not tighten up on tomorrow's long day.

Love to all, P & J.

Burley, ID to Snowville, UT

We made our fourth state today. It was a pretty brutal day. It was 86 miles with 2 climbs. The first was to climb out of the valley on a 5-6% grade, over the first high hills to another valley on the other side. It was not too long, but was a steep climb. On the other side, we were back into miles and miles of desert sagebrush again. The second climb was at least 15 miles long on a gradual grade, but you could see forever and that made it worse. The temperatures rose fast by late morning. At the hottest point, the thermometer on my watch, which reads high in the direct sun by about 10 degrees, read 111 degrees.

It was close to 3:00 when I arrived at the Snowville town park site. Some did not get in until close to 6:00 p.m. Believe me, there is no snow in Snowville and not many people either. When we arrived in town, we doubled their population. There were no showers, so the camp setup people rigged up a huge blue tarp to a baseball backstop with one slowly dripping hose. That was cold! Everyone was pretty beat and ready for bed.

The vastness of the valleys is unbelievable. Our final approach to Snowville was down a 10-15 mile downslope, but by then the winds had turned to a headwind and that made the last part which was to be easy, much more difficult.

Love to all, P & J.

Gooding, ID to Burley, ID

Today was our highest mileage day since the tour began. We put in about 85 miles, which is a bit more than scheduled. We had a few extra things today that were interesting and enjoyable. First we were invited to stop at a large diary in the Jerome, ID area to have a cold water and milk break and we were welcome to do a self tour of the milking parlor/factory. It was the Ted Miller diary. I believe he is a transplanted dairy farmer from California. There are many dairymen that have done that. Apparently, their dairies became surrounded by growing suburbs and they decided to cash out and restart in Idaho. The dairy we toured milked 1,700 cows, three times a day. The milking area has a slowly rotating platform that the cows enter on and 50 cows at a time are on the platform being milked. That is just a bit more than our family farm milked as I was growing up. We milked 20-30 cows in total.

Our second stop was a great surprise. As we looked out over the landscape, it was miles and miles of beautiful irrigated farm fields. Suddenly, we came across a giant canyon, with the Snake River at the bottom. You could not see it coming until we were right next to it. As we entered Twins Falls, we crossed the Snake again via a huge bridge and the canyon was again below us. As we watched, a guy jumped off the middle of the bridge and parachuted to the bank way below.

Our third stop was a great lunch stop provided by the Twin Falls Reformed Church. They had subs, chips, cold milk, watermelon, and ice cream bars. Twin Falls appears to be a growing city and has many new homes on the outskirts were the church is located.

Our next stop was unscheduled, but only added 4 miles. It was the view the Shoshone Falls in the Snake River canyon east of Twin Falls. It was a bike ride down a deep canyon road to view the falls and a very tough clime back out again. It was worth the climb, as the falls were beautiful and wider than normal this time of year from the heavy earlier snowfall in the mountains.

The dinner horn just went off, so I will close. Everyone is a bit beat tonight from the higher miles and heat and dryness. In addition to the miles, we had a total of almost 3,000 uphill climbing today. Fortunately, the wind was at our back for most of the day. It was close to 3:00 by the time I got us settled in our new camp at the Burley, ID high school.

Love to all, P & J.

Mountain Home, ID to Gooding, ID

Well, this tour group is really starting to look like we have lived outdoors for over a couple weeks. Everyone has a bikers tan and the sights in the shower are sort of humorous in a way. I always wondered how grandkids, Sam, Ben and Lydia, always had sandal tans in the summer...well, now Grampa knows and he has the same! The air is so dry in this part of the country, that everyone's throat and skin is so dry. Noses are peeling, bleeding, and eyes are like a racoon when the sunglasses are off.

Today was more challenging again....61 miles, with over 2,000 feet net elevation increase. The first half of the ride was through more miles and miles of nothing but sage brush. I did have my first sighting of antelope today. I also saw a couple jack rabbits. We went by 2 groups of windmills again today, only today we were right next to them. They are huge.

The second half of today had the climb to the top of the buttes in the area. This area is again irrigated and the fields have either alfalfa or wheat in them. We are camped at the local high school and actually have some trees for shade. It reached the low 90s again today.

Our tour group is blending as a community and we have gotten to know a lot of new folks. Over last weekend, we lost 3 bikers who had prior committments and had to leave the tour. We also had our first mail call over the weekend, and we received an encouraging card. Your notes and comments posted on my blog are very encouraging to us.

Love to all, P & J.

Boise, ID to Mountain Home, ID

I can't believe that we are entering our 3rd week already. Yesterday the tour worshiped in a Boise park with the Valley Life Community Church. They supplied us with lunch also. Julie and I volunteered along with one other person, to stay befind and provide security while the others went to the worship time. Someone else came back to relieve us so we could go to get lunch there.

Today I felt really strong and made good time, thanks to a strong tail wind the second half of the ride. I had left early to beat the heat again. I left at 7:20 and arrived in the Mountain Home camp site at 11;30. That included a coffee break at the only place along the route today. The landscape is vary barren again. I did see a coyote today. There was nothing between the beginning and end of our ride today, but sagebrush. It reached 98 degrees again this afternoon. Julie got in from her duties at about 4:00. The route was about 55 miles today, with one 1,000 foot climb pretty near the beginning of the day. We spent about 7 miles on I-84 again today.

This town is near an Air Force base and have seen a few F-15s fly over. There are a few clouds in the sky today but only a 4% chance of precipitation. The school where we are camped tonight is very fussy about allowing vehicles near the camp area, so we are not attached to our tent. That is not the first time we have not attached.

We heard that the "goathead" thorns are very bad in the next stretch of the tour tomorrow. I hope that does not mean a lot of flats. Saturdays count of flats was 28.

Love to all, P & J

Ontario, OR to Boise, ID

It got quite cool overnight….around 50 degrees. We did not take a very warm sleeping bag along considering it is summer, so we added some fleece pullovers for the night. I left camp about 7:40 and arrived at the Boise site at around 2:00. It was a 66 mile ride today and it was gently uphill most of the way. We crossed into Idaho, our 3rd state, shortly after leaving Ontario.

It reached the low 90s today. We have not seen a cloud in the sky for the past several days. We had a lot of turns on the route today and had to follow the directions carefully. Boise is the largest city we have come to since leaving Seattle. The last ten miles or so were through the Boise urban area on fairly busy traffic. Julie was parked with the SAG truck at the 50 mile mark today on the edge of Boise. There were 10 acre lots for sale next to her that had a price tag of $299,000. We biked past the Boise State University stadium and are camped on the far end of the city at a high school. There is a strip mall and other stores across the street. We are here for 2 nights, with tomorrow off from biking.

There is a local RCA church that we will be worshiping with tomorrow morning at a park.

The internet satellite dish is still not working, so that is why my updates are posting late. I’ll see if I can find an internet café or such.

Love to all, P & J.