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.
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