Night before the final ride......

Tonight all the thank you's were made to those who helped make this trip possible - so many people were involved and in all different ways. Tonight's supper was hosted by the Goshen CRC and Sussex, NJ CRC - they put on the biggest and best buffet supper I've seen in a long time.

Joe was able to cycle for the last three days and he thoroughly enjoyed himself which means that I did not cycle - the hills in this part of the country were just too much for me when I could not use my granny gear - they were just too long and too steep to master using only the mid range. I do plan to cycle tomorrow.......

Today's ride was supposed to be one of the toughest on the tour according to the organizer and it was very interesting to hear the rider's comments as they came to the spot where I was at SAG - the young ones all loved the rolling hills, the older riders had mixed reactions - most people made it in but there were a few that had to be driven in. Sore knees seems to be a major problem. Many flat tires also today and a few falls - these are statistics that are recorded each day.

Speaking of weather, we have been blessed with such great weather - today there was cloud cover for most of the day which was a real blessing and it was not too hot out. It's muggy right now and there is a 30% chance of rain over night and there was a few rain drops as I walked into the school to use the computer so we will hope for a great day tomorrow. It would be such a shame if the weather isn't nice for the end of the tour.

We're up once more at 5:00 to get ready for the day....can't wait until I'm home again and can sleep in. Talking about sleep - I had better get back outdoors to our trailer to get some sleep in preparation for a very busy day tomorrow. Next post will probably be from home....

Countdown to the finish line....

It's Wednesday already - we haven't had internet connection since Sunday so this will be short and sweet. We drove for 1/2 hour to find a place in Binghamton to find a library and we have to be back for supper by 6:00 p.m. or we don't eat.

Crossing back into the USA on Monday was the simplest border crossing ever. I won't give you all the details now but it went without a hitch. We had a great day weather wise and road wise on Monday and did our 125 km very quickly - the first 30 were to the border. We stayed in a campground that night which worked very well. Tuesday morning we were up bright and early again and on the road just after 7:00 - great weather again but we did have a tail wind for a bit and the terrain became very hilly - just a taste of what's coming the rest of the week. We again did 125 km. I've been masking a knee pain for the past few days with ibuprophen and decided last evening to switch places with Joe for today which I did. I don't want to land up visiting my chiropractor for the next month to get the problem fixed and with my hand still being numb which prevents me from using all my gears with my left hand, I thought it best to take at least a day off and maybe more. Al Karsten wants to SAG on Friday using Joe's van so Joe will get to ride on Friday again and I will ride in the van with Al - that day will be the toughest of the whole tour we've been told. The scenery is beautiful here in the Finger Lakes Area.

Wednesday morning had us up early once again - Joe had to get ready to cycle and I had to be on the road early to beat the cyclists to the first stop at 30 km down the road. Joe cycled with the ladies that I usually cycle with and had a good ride with them. I enjoyed my day on SAG and had to wait until nearly noon before the last cyclist passed me before I could leave and head off to camp. Met up with Joe et al a few times during the day. At the end of the ride we were met by the friendly folks at Valley CRC for snacks and cold drinks and tonight they are doing supper for us - serving us some New York State specialties - we've seen the menu and it's looking really good.

Those that have been on tour for the whole nine weeks have mixed feelings about ending this week - some can't wait to finish and others would continue on if they could. The weight loss some people have experienced is noticeable - some up to 30 lbs. in total. We'll all have to adjust our eating habits once we stop cycling. It will be bitter sweet for some - reality will set in for each one in different ways. We will be leaving bright and early Sunday morning with 2 passengers who have to be home on Sunday for commitments so that's fine with me as well.

Hopefully we will be able to post again before the weekend but we can't promise - depends where we are camped. Till later....

End of an awesome weekend.....

Bright and early Saturday morning, Bryan, Geri, Trevor, Justin and Julia met us coming back from breakfast at Redeemer all pumped for the ride to St. Catharines. Bryan, Trevor and Justin were to join me along with others who were cycling for the day. The grandsons were chomping at the bit, the rest of us had to have our Timmie's before heading off. Before you knew it we were on the way - first stop was to say hi and bye to my sister, Dorothy who was waiting for me at the corner of Stone Church Rd. and Upper Ottawa. Next to come along was brother-in-law, Tony who was on the lookout to try to find me in the crowd of cyclists. He stopped for a hug and then we were off again. The next stops were out of Hamilton so now we could cycle for a ways without stopping. I must say I have never seen a view of the city that we saw yesterday - it was neat to see it from a different perspective and it was impressive - Toronto with the CN tower in the distance was visible and the haze had lifted.


Leaving the stop hosted by Fruitland CRC, I noticed that my front tire was soft so we pumped it up and I hoped we would make it to Grimsby and then I would have Joe change it for me while I visited with my mother at Evergreen Terrace. We pumped it up once more at the bottom of Woolverton Rd. and I made it. My mother was excited to meet up with my brother, Wally and myself. I hadn't seen her in five weeks and she had her 85th birthday while I was away so this was my birthday visit. Joe promptly changed both tire and tube so I was good to go again. My cousin, Ann Mary along with her husband, Randy and sister, Grace were at Evergreen to meet me as well. It was so special for me to see them - some of you readers will know her and will know why it was so special.....thank you for coming out.

The refreshment stops kept coming and they were wonderful and at every stop you knew someone so it was a chance to connect with family and acquaintances - all great experiences and I won't even try to list them all but I sure appreciated it. This way everyone got a chance to see the tour in action. We so appreciate the response from the communities. At breakfast that morning one of the cyclists made a comment that it was too bad that some of these churches couldn't have been in Utah where they would have loved to have had some of these treats and attention.


From Grimsby Joe drove to St. Catharines, parked the van and got on his bike to meet us so we could cycle in together. He met up with us and cycled the last ten km in with us. A real treat for the grandsons who did 75 km in all - for 13 year old Trevor that was easier than for Justin who is 12 but we had fun doing it. Memories are made of times like this. How many grandkids can say that they cycled with their grand parents?


Beacon High School soon became a tent city - we parked our van and trailer and stayed with DRS friends, Lawrence and Boukje DeRaaf who opened their home to us. Wonderful to sleep on a real bed and be able to do laundry, visit, etc. etc. This is so appreciated by the cyclists.....

It's now Sunday evening - we're back from the celebration service and supper, just waiting for our peleton meeting so I'll continue my ramblings.

We woke up early this morning and our hosts had gone to make breakfast for the cyclists at the high school while we stayed home and ate our breakfast there - much more relaxing for us this way. I had to reorganize my two laundry baskets which contain all the stuff we have with us on tour and there is still stuff that I have never used or needed. It's amazing how little you really need to have to make life possible on the road. It's good too to see what really is important to you or what you think you need to have.

We were back at the highschool for lunch and then we boarded a school bus to take us to Queenston Heights - the sky is getting darker and darker and we had talked to our daughter and found out that it was pouring rain in the Hamilton area. Oh well, we just had to keep the plan since there was no alternative mentioned to us. We arrived at the park and it was already raining and it kept on raining. Many guests also showed up and we were all huddled under 2 pavilions hoping that the rain would stop. This is at 2:30 and the service is to start at 4:00 - the rain would stop and then it would start up again.....by 3:45 we were told to start making our way over to the band shell area and it was just drizzling. Just after 4:00 the service started and the first song we sang was our theme song for the tour, "Do Something Beautiful" and while we were singing the refrain which goes like, "Go do something beautiful" - the sun came out - how good is our God to have heard the prayers of his people who wanted to have this service outdoors! The rain never started again and we had a wonderful service with Brian Walsh speaking to us on the Fruits of the Spirit and David Raakman as the worship leader. Our son and our daughter and their families joined us for the service - their encouragement and support has been awesome. Many of my church family also came out to greet Hilena and myself and offer encouragement. I feel so blessed but did comment to someone that I'm hoarse from talking so much to everyone today but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Tonight we sleep in a real bed again - we're up very early tomorrow to get ready for our border crossing and then one more week of cycling.

From London to Hamilton, almost home....

It's been a few days since I last wrote - probably due to the fact that so many familiar faces pop up along the side of the road and I have to stop and talk - it's so great to be in this part of the tour.....it's home!

We left London high school on Friday morning and made our way back to Dorchester where Rita had to stop for a photo shoot with fellow people from Dorchester at 8:00 a.m. Clara, we did not see you outside so we did not stop - did see your sign on the pole in front of your house. My brother, Wally, joined the "Margarita Express" that day and he travelled with us all the way to Ancaster. He claims he wanted a slower ride - he could feel the effects of cycling 5 days in a row. It was good to have him draft us along the way. First stop was for coffee at the Ingersoll CRC and then it was off to the Streutker farm for lunch. This just so happens to be relatives of Joe so met up with some of his cousins there. Woodstock CRC treated us royally among the hay bales - unique setting.... I never realized how rolling the countryside was in that area. It was hill after hill - good way to work off all the calories consumed already. Next stop was Brantford - a little treacherous getting through town with all the road construction but we made it without mishap. Our first stop was hosted by Cambridge CRC where I met up with friends and two of Joe's sisters - cold water was priority here - we had seen a sign telling us it was 36 degrees so it was warming up. A few kilometers away was Brantford CRC with all their goodies on Jerseyville Road.

My daughter and 3 grandkids were waiting just up the road in Alberton and the grandkids rode with me for a 5 km ride along the quiet road till Nicholas got tired and they met up with me again at Redeemer College. Now the final stretch and we were happy to ride into Redeemer's yard with lots of spectators cheering us in - another 124 km day. I should say that most days are longer rides than what is posted in the Shifting Gears booklet - you kind of make a mental note of how many km you still have to go and it has never been exactly what we think it will be.

Lots more familiar faces here - I won't try to mention them all by name for fear of forgetting someone but it was so much appreciated.....a dear friend did give me a wonderful neck, arm, leg, hand, feet massage right after supper - it did feel so good - thank you, Meghan! She could feel the tension and told me just to relax - wonder why. It did help for my left hand which is still numb. Two sisters and a brother-in-law came to meet me after supper for a short visit.

This was the closest stop to our home but we did not go home - our own bed wasn't available so we stayed in our trailer - next best and no problem. Saturday morning another surprise awaited me, our son, sister-in-law and their 3 kids were joining me to ride for the day to St. Catharines.

More later...

Canada, here we come, en masse.....

Well - we were all up bright and early Wednesday morning - excitement was building in camp especially among the Canadians - friendly teasing taking place right up until we boarded the ferry. It took 3 ferry loads to get all the cyclists across the river and then a few more trips to get all the vehicles across that belong to us. I was on the 2nd ferry load crossing very excited to meet up with our daughter and her 3 children. Everything seems to take longer when you are waiting.....each passport had to be checked off, etc. etc. before we were allowed to cross the bridge to where the spectators were waiting for us and there was quite a crowd. We were treated to Tim Horton's coffee and lots of baked goodies and other wonderful treats. The welcome was overwhelming from the churches in that area.

All of a sudden, I saw them holding a big poster with "Welcome to Canada, Grandma, we are soooo proud of you! and then we met up, a few tears flowed, I'll admit. It had been over 4 weeks since we had seen each other. Now we had to wait for Grandpa who was coming on another ferry. It was exciting to say the least.

Cynthia and the kids went off to camp and were going to ride out to meet up with us so they could ride in with us. Rita, Dora, Joan and myself took off for the final 60 km. of our trip that day leaving the ferry in Sombra and heading off to Chatham along country side that I had never seen before.

About 5 km from camp I met up with Cynthia and the kids and we biked into camp together, first of all stopping at the local Tim Horton's for a drink - it's been a few weeks since my last Tim Horton's stop so I was having withdrawal.....after having supper with us, they headed back to Waterdown.

Today's ride from Chatham to London took longer than we had hoped it would - even though it's very flat countryside, the winds were not in our favour and it took us until 3:30 to get in this afternoon under clear blue skies.......124 km in total. The people here in London have treated us very well - supper is here at the high school and then we are off to the Beerda's to sleep in a real bed tonight. The computer lab was open in the school so I've made use of it even before taking a shower. Those sitting beside me haven't complained of the smell so obviously it's not too bad.
Tomorrow, Hamilton, here we come - that is to Redeemer College.

Final Days in Michigan....

Sunday's family time was over before you knew it and then we were off to the Celebration Service with Shane Claiborne - an awesome service where Shane used as his prime example, Mother Teresa, in his message on "Revolutionary Gentleness". We can all learn from her. Memories are made of all the time that we spent together on the weekend with family.

Monday morning we were sent off with words of encouragement from the staff at Calvin College - and then we were on our way just after 8:00 a.m. We had a tail wind that day which was wonderful. Rita and I averaged 25 kph for the ride of 110 km and were in camp nice and early. Tuesday night was a different story - it was a 153 km day with head winds and it took us a lot longer to get in. Joe was finished at his SAG stop early and biked to meet us and drafted us in the last 20 km. The weather both days was great.

Now Joe and Peter are on as official support crew - Joe brought along the trailer so now I do not have to sleep in a tent every night - this does make it so much easier to get up and ready in the mornings. Rita shares the trailer with us....leaving Peter to sleep in the tent which is his choice..either he snores too much or he is too tall to fit into the trailer.

Tuesday night we got the message that we were all to be finished breakfast by 7:00 so we could make our way into Marine City for our ferry crossing on Wednesday morning. This had everyone up very bright and early.

The Final Leg....

Well, more than 2/3 of the trip is over - this is the place of changeover - 10 people leave the tour and 60 new ones start. It will be overwhelming for those 60 who are starting.

The last two days of cycling were the shortest so far 77 km each day and they were short days - a real treat to be in early and be able to sleep on a real bed for the last 2 nights.

Excitement built already early yesterday morning when another 130 cyclists joined us for the ride into Grand Rapids - needless to say the roads became crowded with the extra cyclists - a challenge some time when you wanted to pass them. My brother, Wally, was registered to cycle with us - he started out with Rita and myself but in the rush he got ahead of us and we saw him at all the stops. There weren't 12 stops along the way as we had been told earlier - we were thankful for that or we would never have gotten in on time. The push was on too to get to the staging area by 12:30 for the "grand entrance" on to Calvin College site. The cyclists led by Billy D on his motorcyle were first to ride in followed by our 130 guests and then the support vehicles. I'm sure there are photos showing this - we couldn't see it but we were told it was impressive. I was overwhelmed by seeing my relatives who were cheering from the sidelines. I feel so blessed to have had so many relatives who came to welcome myself and Ed to Grand Rapids...I thank God for wonderful family members.....Last evening we were all together for pizza and beer at a cousin's home as well - was great to have some time away from the big group.

Group time is also great but every now and then you need your own space and some of the cyclists from other areas chose to camp on campus instead of taking a billet for that reason. The weather was perfect for camping.

Later I hope to post some photos showing the tan lines we are all sporting. A group of guys were posing for photos yesterday and I managed to get some shots of this.

The tallest person on these shots is Marc VanOtteren who claims to be 5'19" - he hails from Ada, MI - a great bunch of young men!

Must let some others check their e-mails and be socialable....looking forward to the big celebration service this afternoon. We did as extended family all worship together at Neland Ave CRC - heard a message on "Faith Worth Keeping" - was good to have been there....

Time for reunions....

The excitement is building - tomorrow we ride into Grand Rapids from Grand Haven. Today already so many visitors have come to see friends, family, etc. etc. All along the route today were strangers welcoming us in - neat to see the support along the way. Thursday morning we left Chesterton, Indiana just after 7:00 a.m. knowing that we would lose an hour during the day and we had 133 km to go so we had to keep going. We did stop in New Buffalo for a "latte" around coffee time and from there kept on pedaling all the way to South Haven. The last 40 km were with a strong head wind so we were very tired by the time we got to camp just after 5:00. Rita did have another flat tire yesterday and we had the bike turned over, the rear wheel off when a very kind young gentleman named Reuben stopped to see if we needed help - we said yes and within 10 minutes we were back on the road. What a relief for us since time was getting on and we still needed to travel a few kms. This day we traveled along the shores of Lake Michigan. Met up with a cousin, Sarah Boonstra-Boer who is heading up the welcoming committee in Grand Rapids - she has an enormous job trying to organize food, billets, camping, spa arrangements and many other treats for the cyclists.

Sarah was at camp again tonight with her whole family helping make supper which was being supplied by CRHM and I met up with her again. This morning, Joe's cousin, John Karsten was at Graafschap church to welcome me and make arrangements for coming to the CRC Conference grounds to bring us to his home for a sleepover. Just as we were leaving Graafschap Church this morning we see Joe and Peter drive in - talk about coincidence! We saw them for a few minutes and then Rita and I were off again to continue our ride. We knew they would catch up with us again soon. All the cyclists made Graafschap their first refreshment stop today - a lovely lunch was had by all before most of us went downstairs to see the museum they have put into the basement of their new building for all to see showing the history of the CRC in America. This is the oldest congregation. Very impressive display....

We did go through downtown Holland with a mission - someone told us we had to go to the peanut store and have a "peanut padded bar" which is their specialty and it went down very well - nice downtown area - too bad we didn't have more time to explore it better.

Rita and I arrived at camp just after 3:00 today - the earliest ever and we had 78.7 kms on our bikes. We could see Lake Michigan but the air temperature did not lure us in. Some did but did not last long in the water. Beautiful location for a conference ground....

Was standing by my bike just eating a peanut butter and jam sandwich when all of a sudden 4 people said, are you Margaret DeWeerd and here were 2 couples we have worked with on a DRS assignment, George and Grace Couperous from Trenton, ON and George and Annette Meyerink from Byron Centre, MI - it's a small world out there. I also have 4 siblings + spouses who arrived in GR today. My brother, Wally, is cycling with me tomorrow and possibly a few days next week and an aunt and a cousin and a neice have all come to GR as well and will be staying at the home of one of my other cousins who has moved to Texas - we all hope to get together for brunch on Sunday morning at my uncle and aunt's home - should be fun.

We have been told that an extra 130 riders will be joining the 145 riders on tour now for the ride into Grand Rapids and we will all meet about a mile out and ride onto campus en mass - should be very exciting but also a bit nerve racking.....and we've also been told that there will be 11 stops along the way at CRC churches for snacks on the route which is only 76 kms. long - we'll be rolling into camp if we eat at each of the stops...

I must get back to our hosts - was only going to be a few minutes on the computer and it's been more than a few - my load of laundry is almost dry and it's getting real close to bedtime - am tired tonight and there is one more day of cycling this week.

The Church at Street Level....

Well this morning we left Trinity College - were sent off with a blessing by a local Chicago minister. He likened us as being the church at Street Level - thought this was a unique name for us. He shared Psalm 122 with us in regards to this. This was a morning celebration instead of an evening one.

Since it was such a busy area that we were leaving today, it was suggested that we leave in groups and stay together at least until we are out in the country a ways. Our leader was Aaron - a Trinity College student who knew the area really well and he led us out and we had Bill Wybenga as our sweep so we really moved this morning - once we had our lunch stop we told the guys to leave and we could find our own way in. Travelling on city roads in single file does not give you a lot of chance to see what's around you - you are always keeping track of the bike tire in front of you wanting to not hit it. Once the group visited the Roseland Christian Ministries Centre in Roseland, Aaron took us to a part of the city that was famous for the Chicago Fire and the area that ...........Pullman tried to set up his utopia. Can't remember all the details he told us...

From there we headed to the church in Highland, Indiana where we were fed royally for lunch. We are not lacking in the food department and it will get busier the closer we get to Grand Rapids and then into Canada.

Rita and I got into camp by 4:30 and another area CRC supplied us with all kinds of freshly baked goodies so we had to sample some of them as well. We put 99.50 kilometers on our bikes today. Tomorrow we cross the state line into Michigan - we lose an hour somewhere along the way too so it will be a long day for us - the only perk is that it won't be dark so fast tomorrow night. It's only 8:30 and it's pitch dark already - I'm sitting outdoors with my miner's lamp on trying to type this blog on Ed's laptop - forgive me any mistakes, it's a bit hard typing with the computer on my lamp etc. etc.


Rita and I reached the mid point of our part of the trip today - 2 1/2 weeks of our 5 week commitment - at this point I have put over 1500 kms on my bike.....feels really good....

One of the sag drivers keeps getting Rita and I confused so he calls us the "Margaritas" and each day promises us a margarita at his stop - to date he hasn't delivered yet - always has an excuse that it's before lunch yet and on and on he goes. We've been asked by quite a few people if we are sisters.......sometimes we tell people we are.

Well the mosquitos are getting the best of me and I do have a few things to do yet to get ready for tomorrow. We've been warned that this is coon country so will have to store some things in the gear truck if I don't want visitors in my tent over night. Good night all

Illinois today, Indiana tomorrow......

We arrived at Trinity Christian College today - it was a ride with a lot of challenges - we were on a bike path for 60 km. but it was a little confusing at times. The route changed course here and there and there was construction so many of the cyclists did more than the listed 60 km. One cyclist added 30 km to his ride and visited Wheaton, Illinois on the way. We won't mention any names in case he does not write about it on his own blog. Rita, Dora and myself added 8 km to our trip today.

Once we got off the trail it was very busy traffic along the route - we all arrived safely so that's the main point. Construction and fresh tar and oil also played havoc with the cyclists. Supper was a rushed affair once we got in because our hosts were there to meet us who wanted billeting. Rita and I chose to do this in order to sleep on a real bed tonight and the other luxuries that come with being in a home. There is a very good chance that a thunder storm hits tonight as well so I think we made a very good choice. Randy and Nancy are our hosts tonight and will bring us back to Trinity first thing in the morning.

Yesterday's ride was wonderful - started off a bit cool first thing in the morning but warmed up very quickly. We did cycle into Illinois already yesterday along some quiet roads and saw lots of lush farmlands. The CRC in Delavan treated us to a "hot lunch" which made us very lazy and wishing for a nap but there wasn't time for that - we had some kilometers to go yet.

Tomorrow we have 2 choices of routes - some locals who were cycling with us have plans to show us where some of the first CRC churches were but had to close because of racial violence - there is quite the history lesson to be had and we have chosen to take this alternate route. Please pray for the cyclists as we get into some very heavy traffic areas.

This is it for today - I still have to shower and the laundry has to get started as well and we have to be good guests........

Mid West Hospitality

It's Sunday afternoon - we've had the most awesome reception here in Madison. The people here have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. I have just had a foot massage and they feel wonderful now - being clipped in makes your feet feel very tired at the end of the day.

I have had my first lesson on doing bike maintenance today as well - you stand there with your bike and pretend you know what you are doing and others will offer advice. I have some plastic gloves with me to keep my hands clean (a real women thing) but I did see a man doing the same thing so I wasn't the only one trying to keep my hands clean. Riding on wet roads does make the chain gritty and dirty. Some of the cyclists spend time every day cleaning their bikes - Joe cleaned my bike in Denver and I did oil it once since. It was long overdue to attend to my bike.

Last night I did choose to sleep indoors - the mosquitos were bad and it was dropping down to below 60 so we found some couches in the youth area and bunked down there for the night. Will repeat that again tonight so I will not have to pack up a wet tent in the morning. Only 5 more sleeps in the tent before Joe comes to Grand Rapids with the trailer - can't wait. When I spoke to him yesterday he asked if I was more excited about him coming or the trailer. Of course I told him I loved him and was looking forward to him coming.

The celebration service this morning was great - a good time of praise and worship followed by a good message and then we were fed an awesome lunch. The services have been following the fruits of the spirits in their themes. Today's was on "Faithfulness" - good to have heard.

This was the message painted on the front doors of the church welcoming us yesterday afternoon.


Others are waiting to use the church computer so I will sign off for today.....

Beautiful End To The Longest Two Weeks...

Well the longest and the hardest two weeks are over....we woke up to rain at 4:30 a.m. today and it rained steady until 6:00 a.m. so needless to say we packed up wet tents this morning. By the time breakfast was over the rain had stopped and we could start getting ready to go on the road. What to wear today - start with rain gear or not. Rita and I took a long time deciding and didn't leave until just after 8:00 all decked out in our rain gear. After about 1 hour of cycling on wet roads we came to dry roads and stripped off the rain gear. We did have cloud cover for a while but eventually the sun came out and we had a great cycling day doing 118 km and arrived in camp at the CRC in Madison, Wisconsin. The temperature was in the high 70's - just great for cycling. Once again we are being treated royally.....all kinds of services are being offered to us. Most of us just want to veg out at camp this weekend - it's been a tough week.

My odometre reads 1150 km since Denver.....this covers 9 days of cycling out of the 12 scheduled one.....I did take yesterday off - was under the weather and slept most of the way to camp riding with the nurse in her motor home. I did wake up in time to cross the bridge crossing the Mississippi River into Wisconsin. The scenery stays the same as what we left in Iowa - lush green farms and rolling hills. The hills are getting easier to climb - must be getting stronger with all the cycling.......really does feel good doing the pedaling......sure gives you an appetite and the cooks have done up some excellent meals - they do work very hard to feed the lot of us.

Must relate a funny story of what happened last week - one of the first days after we started Rita had a flat tire so the five of us, damsels in distress, who were cycling together stopped at the side of the road and turned her bike over. Before we knew it, 4 gentlemen stopped and asked if we needed help so of course we said yes and they did all the work. Another group of cyclists cycled by and asked, "how many North Americans does it take to change a flat?" The ladies on tour have found out that if they stand by their bike and look flustered, there will be someone who comes up and offers their help.

Hopefully sometime this weekend I will find someone who will help me download some pictures - tonight I have my camera with me but no cord and the person who was sitting beside me, his cord did not work on my camera. Pictures will not do justice to what we are seeing but will give you an idea. There are lots of pictures posted.

The movie next door is over and Ed would like to make a few calls yet so I will sign off for now.

Have a great weekend....we have another worship celebration tomorrow morning...looking forward to that.

Perspective

Tuesday night we were the guests of Dordt College and we basked in luxury. Before going to bed that night I did stop by the computer room yet and read some of the blogs posted by fellow cyclists. I chose to read Bill W's blog from Monday and he brought back to reality what this trip is all about. I have written about how tough some of the rides have been, the wind from the wrong directions, etc. etc. He stopped me in my tracks and made me realize how blessed I really am. We still have choices and lots of them. Those we are hoping to help in dire circumstances do not have choices as to where to sleep, what to eat, what to wear, etc. etc. This sure helped me to focus on Wednesday when we had a tough day ahead of us. We were all up already and getting our gear back onto the gear truck when all of a sudden we had a down pour - just what we needed on a super long day. By the time we had been treated to a buffet breakfast the rain had stopped and it was just drizzling - now, do we take our rain gear or opt to just get wet - we still have choices. We had a mid week celebration service at Dordt College as well which was well attended. Representatives from CRWRC and the Micah Challenge addressed us as to what they are doing to help alleviate the cycle of poverty.

What was supposed to be a tough day turned out to be a good day - the rain brought cloud cover which kept the temperature down and it also provided us with a tail wind which made our ride even more enjoyable. Rita and I pulled into camp just after 5:30 with 186 km on our bikes and we were on the saddle for 8 1/4 hours - not bad at all. We had stressed over this first of the 3 long days and it turned out better than everyone had thought it would. Our peleton meeting started with a prayer thanking God for the added blessings of the day.

Today is Wednesday - I have supper duties tonight and breakfast duties tomorrow morning so another person who is also on the same sweep team and myself decided to take a ride with the SAG vehicle and just do the last section of the ride today - we did 66 km - this way we will be in camp in time to do whatever we need to do to help out. Today's ride was tough - the wind was not favourable at all so the other cyclists will not be getting in early - the temperature was wonderful around 75 degrees. We took four hours to do the 66 km. We also have to unload the gear truck and reload it tomorrow morning so we just needed a break before we do another long day tomorrow.

I'm heading off to camp now to start my duties......did find the local library to post this blog first though - there will be a mad rush here after supper so I did get ahead of the rest....

Who Says Iowa is Flat?

It's Tuesday afternoon already - time has flown by. Since Sunday's posting, we've had two huge slumber parties - the first one on Sunday night at the Luthern church because the folks there felt sorry for us because of the extreme heat. They kept coming and coming with offers of hospitality...such awesome people. Last night was the second one in Sioux City because there was risks of thunder storms overnight with high winds. Again we did not have to set up tents and take them down at 5:00 a.m. - what a treat. It's actually quite funny to see mattresses and sleeping bags and pillows all over gym floors. By this time we are all like family and no one gets stressed about sleeping wherever - we are all so quiet and lights out is by 10:00 p.m. and many of us are already asleep by then.

Tonight we have real beds at Dordt College, lovely clean shower facilities, bath towels, laudromat, computer lab so we are actually being spoiled rotten. Supper is at 5:30 and breakfast will be served so we are in our glory. That's all so wonderful because tomorrow is the first of 3 very long days.


Monday's ride took us from Nebraska into Iowa - the scenery has changed to lush green farmland, rolling hills, and lots more corn and soybeans. Rita and I rode together all day and did did 144.29 km. and made it to camp around 4:45. A good day with good road conditions.


Today is the shortest ride in this 3 week section - only 99.49 km. because we have a celebration service tonight at Dordt College. Whoever said that Iowa is flat hasn't riden a bicycle along their roads - it was a ribbon of highway with one hill after another. The worst one of the day was right in Sioux City yet - we had to make a left hand turn and it was straight up a hill - both Rita and I walked that one, we weren't expecting this so soon. That was the only on we walked today. Once we got out of the city into the country we just kept going up and down - a very good riding day today.

We had cloud cover for most of the ride as well which was a real treat - we worked up a sweat with each uphill so we did sweat today in case you think it was a joy ride. About 75 km. into the ride today, the folks at Ireton CRC welcomed us with strawberry banana slushies and root beer floats and a chance to sit down for a while - what a treat before the home stretch.

I'm going to stop for now, it's Joe's birthday today and I want to make a call to family before supper while my laundry is drying (still multi -tasked even on tour) to wish him well and talk to some of the others who were all vacation last week. You wait in line for everything on tour so we do learn patience......standing in line isn't so bad either since you get to know those behind and in front of you. The community here is great - we are trying hard to be intergenerational - the older ones mix with the younger ones - we're all one big happy family.

My hands are feeling much better with the added foam on the handlebars so I am enjoying the rides more. The numbness hasn't gone away but is not getting worse.

Pray for all of us as we face 3 very long days......I'll probably be way too tired to do any postings on those days.

Till next time.

A Well Deserved Day of Rest...

It's Sunday afternoon -I'm sitting inside a wonderfully air-conditioned church sanctuary, using my brother in law's laptop, sending out an update to my blog. The temperature the last two days is in the 100's with a humidex reading of over 100 so you can imagine how hot it is outdoors. We are camped at a YMCA camp right beside a Lutheran church and the people at the church have been awesome to us. We had the choice to go to two CRC churches today, both a 45 minute bus ride away in a school bus so a few of us decided we would forego that and go locally. Some went to the 8:30 service and a few more to the 11:00 one. At the later one they told us that by 1:30 they would bring in some food and drinks for us. Up to the time that we showed up at their services they did not know about us. How wonderful to be out of the heat - I have even packed up my tent and am sleeping indoors tonight. Many have followed suit. We would love to have some of the cooler weather from Ontario come this way. Apparently some cooler weather is in the forecast for next week.

I did not cycle yesterday - having done the whole day on Friday I was exhausted to say the least and I also have some problems with numbness in my hands which I attribute to the vibration of the road conditions so thought another day off would help for both reasons. Even typing is a bit of a problem for me right now. One of the other cyclists has put two layers of foam on my handle bars and today another cyclist lowered my seat a bit and gave me some hints as how to avoid the vibrations so hopefully tomorrow's ride won't aggravate the problem. This too should pass.... Yesterday was a tough day of cycling for those who did it - the winds were mostly not in their favour. Getting into camp early by vehicle gave me a chance to set up Rita and my tents under some trees. One of these days I will ask someone to help me post some pictures so you can see how close together the tents are set up. Hopefully you don't get too close to someone who snores or have to get up overnight to use the facilities or you could trip over some ropes from your neighbour's tent. Last night it did not cool off at all so it was very warm in the tent and the trains kept going all night - we've been told there are 80 trains per day that pass through this area so you can imagine how many train whistles we hear overnight. I can say that the trains haven't kept me awake.

This YMCA also has an arena attached so it looked very comical last evening to see the cyclists in their cycling clothes in rented skates playing hockey while it was so hot outdoors. Many of the young guys landed up sleeping in the arena last evening.

It's getting close to supper time and I shall post this now or I may lose it.....keep praying for us - for safety on the roads, for cooler weather and for tail winds. Tomorrow we head north east and will be in Iowa already.

Day 5 - Mission Accomplished

Marg just called me (sister Wilma) and asked me to post this - the internet at camp is very sporatic.

Stats for Day 5 - Friday August 1:

• She rode the whole 152.8 km today.
• Strong headwinds all day.
• Temperature +/- 95 degrees F
• Rode with Rita B.
• Arrived at camp at 6 pm - just in time for supper
• Angel of mercy was Bill W. - tent all set up already - Thanks Bill !

Things are going good at camp - wonderful spirit of co-operation - a blessing to be part of this tour.

Hopefully better internet connection on weekend for future up-dates.