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.