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Sunday, August 31, 2008, Robbie and Joanna's house, Salem, Indiana.
Today we overslept a little. Aunt Janet had a delicious breakfast ready before we headed out to the meeting at Joanna (my cousin) and Robbie's house. Uncle Paul and Aunt Harriot were there also, along with Sam Manly. We studied the book of Job. I always appreciate the Salem meetings and the spontaneous sharing of the Lord's insights that occur in the group. So encouraging. After the meeting, we all sat down to a delicious lunch. Later Sam helped me plan my route to the east coast. After everyone left, the rest of us sat down and talked while some of the kids swam in the pool. At 6:00 pm, we drove to see Mark and Donna Avery, our friends we met in Fallon, Nevada, who were also traveling around the country - by motorcycle. We had a great time with them and their church family at their house talking and eating. Later in the evening, we returned to Robbie and Joanna's. Another great day!

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Saturday, August 30, 2008, Uncle Herman's house, Salem, Indiana
We started off the day with a delicious waffle breakfast that Uncle Paul and Aunt Harriot made. We spent the morning sharing our thoughts on a variety of topics. At about 2pm, we went to Uncle Herman's house. It was great to see them. We spent the first hour catching up on family news. The kids played croquet outside while we talked inside. We also saw some of Uncle Herman's more recent paintings and Janet made us a delicious meal with three desserts (we're all developing a new protective layer of fat to prepare us for the next several weeks of biking). Before going to bed we all sat in the living room and sang hymns - a wonderful day.

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Friday, August 29, 2008, Uncle Paul's house, Salem, Indiana
Today we went to see Aunt Martha, my dad's sister, in Louisville, Kentucky. I used to spend summers there since I was 10 years old until after graduating from college, so it was a summer home away from home. Almost nothing in the house had changed. The trees were bigger and the house was more run down but the furniture was all the same, so it was like stepping into a time machine and returning to the 70s when I walked through the door. Aunt Martha was older and thinner and she needs cataract surgery, but she was cheerful and happy to see us. We went for lunch at Bob Evans then returned to her house for a couple of hours. Great to see her. Next, we drove to see my cousin Nona and her husband Phil and their prize-winning bulldog, Sophie. After playing pinball and getting a dog show demonstration, we all rendezvoused with my other cousins, Danny and Joanna and their families at Cici's, an all-you-can-eat pizza parlor. It was great to see everyone again and fill up on delicious pizza. We made plans to have a picnic at the park on Labor Day.

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Thursday, August 28, 2008, Uncle Paul's house, Salem, Indiana
It was nice to sleep in a bed again. Aunt Harriet made us a delicious lunch. Uncle Paul and I went into town to buy some DVDs. I have completely used up the video camera's hard drive, so I have to download the seven hours of movies onto DVDs. We also worked on the bikes a little and took a spin on the tandem. Mostly, we talked. So much to talk about after all these years. A great day!

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008, Uncle Paul's house, Salem, Indiana
Well, I goofed up on the date on the last few posts; this is the correct date. Today we made it farther than we planned - all the way to Salem, a milestone in our trip. We started rather late after eating breakfast. We left Mom to finish the packing and headed out around 10:30. We headed out on Hwy. 150. Unfortunately, it had a rumble strip going the full way across the shoulder, which was wide, about 10 feet. So even though we were safe, we were putting unwanted wear and tear on our bikes, especially the tires. After awhile it started raining on us, but not too hard. We made pretty good time to Pauli and planned to camp there but couldn't find a place, so we decided to go all the way into Salem, a couple hour's ride away. By the time we got to Salem, it was almost dark, and before we arrived to Uncle Paul's house, he drove up and escorted us to his house. Before going to bed, Uncle Paul and the rest of us went to Wendy's for fast food. It was great to see him and Aunt Harriet again. 95 miles.

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Tuesday, August 27, 2008, Wabash Campground, Vicennes, Indiana
Well, today we made it all the way into Indiana. We rode Hwy. 50 most of the way because even though it was busy, it had a good shoulder most of the way, had fewer climbs, and was more direct. Actually, I think the draft created by passing trucks on the same side of the road help offset the breeze against us which tends to slow us down. Lots of riding today with minimal rest. An annonymous nice man paid for our campsite when he saw us pedal in. Nice. 87 miles.

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Monday, August 26, Stephan Forbes Lake, Illinois
I woke up to discover that destructive raccoons had ripped open a hole in my bike seat fabric during the night, looking for who knows what. Oh well, it still works. We greased our chains and headed out hoping to make it all pretty far. We were told that Hwy. 50 was dangerous in that area so we opted for the smaller country roads. With the wind against us, it took forever, and we made slow progress; however the roads were peaceful and the conversations were lively, but I felt pretty tired from the day before. The end result was we didn’t get too far, so we settled for a shorter day to Forbes Lake. We tried fishing before going to bed, but no luck. I stumbled off to bed rather early after showering, but couldn't get to sleep because the kids stayed up throwing rocks at the stubborn raccoons who were determined to make off with some of our food. 45 miles.

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Sunday, August 25, 2008, Hazlet Campground, Carlyle Lake, Illinois
After our Bible time, we pedaled east along a nice bike trail and road. Wille, Adriana, and I raced a guy for about 5 miles who passed us. It was kind of funny because he didn’t acknowledge it was a race but everyone knew it was. In the end we won; he pooped out. We saw these big caves about 15 mile past Grafton. Later we saw a very nice Visitor Center for Lewis and Clark. It was very interesting with life-size replicas of various tools and materials they used, lots of information, and even a movie. We couldn’t stay very long, however, because Mom wasn’t answering her phone and would be waiting for us and worrying that we were not there. Near Granite City we all stopped for drinks, and we also decided to finally hose off our mud-caked bikes, dirty since the rainy night ride on Katy Trail (I ended up forgetting my panniers there, and Gloria had to go back and pick them up 20 miles later). Gloria had new tires put on the van and also changed the oil. The kids and I passed a White Castle hamburger place, and since they had never eaten one, we all bought some for snacks. Good, but now they’re 67 cents, when they used to be less than a quarter when I used to buy them. Towards the end of the day, we found ourselves winding our way along country roads, not really passing through towns. With no good place to pitch our tent, we decided to make it all the way to Carlyle Lake, about 15 miles away. So we mounted our headlights on the bikes and went as fast as we could. We ended up going about 8 miles out of our way, but finally made it by around 9:30 pm. After eating and setting up camp, we went to bed. 94 miles.

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Saturday, August 23, 2008, Campground six miles west of Grafton, Illinois
We got up early for our big day. We wanted to make it to the Saint Louis zoo by 8:00 am to get in free to the children’s petting section (after 9:00 it’s $4.00). The entrance is free to the other sections and we really enjoyed it. The penguin display was my favorite; it was a cool place in more ways than one. I also liked the big cage you could walk through and see hundreds of beautiful and colorful butterflies. By 12:30 we were all getting tired and hungry because we hadn’t eaten anything before we left, so we ate lunch at the Emperor’s Wok, a Chinese buffet, and got our money’s worth. After eating we went to the Science Center, which was a hands-on center with lots of interesting things to see and do, kind of like the Exploratorium in San Francisco. I was so tired, though, that I fell asleep on a bean bag chair. By the time we left, it was about 3:30 and we still had to see the St. Louis Arch, so we drove there and the kids all got out to walk up the steps while I got bike directions out of the city. We finally left the city about 4:30 and headed for the town of Grafton at the Illinois border. We had to take a ferry to cross into Illinois; that was fun. On the ferry a nice couple told us of a good campground 6 miles outside of Grafton in the opposite direction of what we were going. However, it was getting dark and we needed a place to stay, so we pedaled over to where the police station was supposed to be to ask if we could park our bikes there for the night. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there so I asked some people at a store if they knew how I could get in touch with the police, and a nice teenager, Cody Sutton, said he could help us. He ended up letting us store the bikes in his uncle’s shop and told us to call him in the morning. Nice guy.
Then we drove to the campground, set up the tent, took showers, and went to bed. 18 miles.

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Friday, August 22, 2008, St. Charles City Park, Missouri
Sorry I have to be so abbreviated with these entries [Quite a bit actually happens each day, but I am falling behind], but I want to update our progress before too much more time passes. I will try to go back in the near future and attach pictures to these posts as soon as possible...
After exchanging goodbyes and taking pictures with Maggie, we rode the rest of the way on the Katy trail to St. Charles- the farthest point- so we traveled the entire 234 miles on the trail. It was nice because we could talk as a group the whole way and we played Password. It was almost dusk by the time we arrived there, so I asked two patrolmen where we could put up the tent for the night and they directed me to the city park pavilion area a mile or so down the road. It was pretty secluded with picnic tables but no open restrooms, so we had to make doo the best we could. We ate well and went to sleep on the grass next to the pavilion. 48 miles.

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Wednesday/Thursday, August 20/21, 2008, Concord Hill Bed and Breakfast, Marthasville, Missouri
Today was the day we began our night ride, so we weren’t in any hurry to start real early. When we finally had finished eating and packing and were pedaling away, my back support on my seat gave way. So back to Walmart for some replacement screws. By the time we left, it was 11:30. The sky was overcast and there was a slight breeze against us, but not too bad. It was cool with a slight mist covering the ground, perfect weather for cycling. Trees and greenery were everywhere, almost a tropical feel to the place. Bunches of caterpillar nests in dense web-like cocoons were clustered in the branches all around. Nobody was on the trail, so it was ours the whole way to be as loud and entertaining as we wanted. Of course, Sarah is always entertaining on the back of Becky’s bike, dancing instead of pedaling, and John is always asking and talking about hysterical things. As the day wore on, I thought it would be best to buy more lights, so we stopped again at another Walmart and I bought a regular flashlight and one that took a 6 volt battery to tape to my bike since I was going to be the first one in line in case we hit something. The trail was so much fun for the group because it was safe to ride abreast and entertaining to listen to all the conversations along the way. At dusk we prepared for the night ride by making lots of sandwiches and putting Vicky, John, and Sarah’s bikes on top of the van. The rest of us headed out into the dark around 8:30. It had begun to sprinkle, but not too bad. It was a blast. I had four headlights taped our attached to my bike and the others all had one. Riding abreast and close together, we sent out quite a beam, making everything in front visible, and we never came close to hitting anything. For about 2 hours all was great. Then the rain came. And came. And never ceased. With our rain gear on, we were still getting wetter by the mile. At every stop under the shelters at every trailhead, we would eat, drink, and redo anything loose before heading out again. We didn’t take long stops after awhile because of the cold. Being wet all the time for hours takes its toll, even when riding. The only way to stay warm was to ride. After hours of riding in the rain, I got a rash, which wasn’t pleasant. By 4:30 am, all were soaked and sleepy. All the towns we went through were small and shut down for the night. So we decided to sleep in the warmest place we could find – a portapotty. It was made of cement and had a door. There wasn’t enough room for us to lie down, so we sat against one another and the walls. Surprisingly it didn’t stink, too bad, so we all fell asleep. We woke up after a couple of hours and the sky was light so we headed out, still wet and raining. To be continued…
I was very tired and sleepy, plus my handlebars had loosened slightly which made the steering a little unstable. We managed to go on to Treloar Trailhead and finished up our riding there. Gloria had met Maggie, who ran the Concord Hill Bed and Breakfast in Marthasville beautiful bed and breakfast, and she was willing to let us stay in the bed and breakfast for only $50, what a bargain, so we agreed. We were too tired to ride even though it was only a few miles, so we asked the local restaurant help if we could lock the bikes up under their porch for the night; they agreed. So we got a bite to eat there while watching some Olympic wrestling before going to Marthasville. The house was beautiful and Maggie was such a good hostess, we felt right at home. Some of the kids went in the hot tub. After my shower, I melted on the bed at around 7:00 pm and didn’t wake up until about 8:30 in the morning. I hadn’t slept so well in ages; I needed it too. All in all we had ridden 148 miles.

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008, State Fair Grounds camping area, Sedalia, Missouri
I got up and went to Walmart to buy milk for the cereal. The tomatoes the nice lady gave us were starting to go bad, so we ate those too. Next we went to the library to update the blog, and the kids love to go. I was there about 3 hours on the computer. We weren’t in a hurry because Paul starting feeling sick and had a fever, so we postponed our “through the night ride” until tomorrow. So we went back to the state park and unpacked everything and set up the tent for another night at the campground. After setting everything up, we went back to the library until it closed, then drove around Sedalia for entertainment and our main filler up food – Caesar’s Pizza. We usually eat four but today only three. When we got back, some took showers and we all relaxed. Before bed, we had our Bible time and some wrote in their journals.

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Monday, August 18, Fairgrounds Campground, Sedalia, Missouri
We had to be at the church this morning at 9:00 to pick up the bikes. The pastor met us and let us in and before we left, a nice lady arrived to give us some of her garden tomatoes and corn. Nice. We rode to Marilyn’s fixit shop, Clinton Mower and Saw Shop, and her son Sam helped us a lot with the bikes, fixing my chain, Vicky’s crank and Willie’s bottle holder, all for almost no charge. Nice people. The kids were at the library while the bikes were being worked on. Adriana updated the blog for August 12 and 13, so you may find those entries more interesting than usual. After the bikes were done, a newspaper man interviewed us at their shop about our trip and wanted us to keep in contact with him when we arrive in Maine. Before beginning the Katy Trail, we stopped at Wendy’s for some filler food. All rode today. The trail was great. I think we saw two or three people the whole way. It was quiet, composed of fine compacted gravel with plenty of room to ride abreast and talk the whole way. So we sang, played games and talked/argued the whole way. It’s always so much fun when all are riding, but especially when we can have the whole trail to ourselves and be sheltered along the way by a shaded tree canopy. We stopped at the trail heads which were marked by a real box car or caboose, and set at the locations of the same rail stops that were formerly used by the old trains. There was historical information at every trail head at each town, which made it interesting. We ended up riding into the night and I hooked up the bikes with headlights. It was the first time the kids and I had ridden at night. Fun. We ended up staying at the town fairground campground and didn’t get to sleep until almost midnight. 46 miles.

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Sunday, August 17, 2008, Sparrowfoot Campground, Clinton, Missouri
We woke up pretty early to go to a church service. I thought it would be nice if the kids attended a Church of Christ service since their great-grandparents were missionaries with the Church of Christ and it would be good for them to be a little familiar with it. We arrived on time, unusual for us, for Sunday school at 9:00 am and stayed for the main service at 10:00 am. There was communion and all the songs were sung without musical accompaniment. We met some nice people there. Marilyn, one of the members who cycles, told us we could come to her shop and have her son Sam look at Vicky’s troublesome crank and any other problems. So we decided to take a break from riding until tomorrow in order to fix up the bikes. We went back to the camp to grill up the rest of the catfish – delicious. Later Vicky, John, Willie, and I went swimming in the lake – warm. After that we tried fishing, but no luck. Oh, by the way, any mail can be sent to the following address:
Bill Fox
General Delivery
Yorkstown, Virginia

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Saturday, August 16, 2008, Sparrowfoot Campground, Clinton, Missouri
We drug ourselves out of bed at 8:30 to make it to the continental breakfast before it closed at 9:00. We ate as much as we could and then headed back to the room to lounge around a little before we packed up. All I wanted to do was sleep, but we had to be out by 11:00. We finally left at just past 12:00. Not too far out of town we passed a cemetery with a sign that announced “Ripley’s Smallest Tomb,” but we never found it and there was nobody around to ask. The hills were like yesterday, up and down, but not too long, but the road had no shoulder whatsoever, so we had to be careful. Fortunately, there was little traffic. Now that we are doing our own routing to Indiana, off the Transamerica trail, we will probably be on more difficult roads. We were looking forward to going to Clinton because that’s where we begin the Katy Trail - the longest rails/trails bike path in the country, 264 miles – and it heads in the direction we want to go to see Uncle Herman and Uncle Paul in Indiana and ends about 20 miles from St. Louis. It should be a lot of fun. When we arrived in Clinton, we had to camp outside of town because there are no campgrounds there. The policeman let us put our bikes in the police garage and we drove 7 miles to Sparrowfoot Campground, a nice green shady campground with shower and laundry facilities, plus it had lake fishing. That night we ate the catfish we had caught in Pleasanton with rice. 44 miles.

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Friday, August 15, 2008, Super 8 Motel, Butler, Missouri,
Well, we made it to Missouri today, and even though we didn’t ride too many miles, it wasn’t that easy, lots of continual little hills. I woke up and wanted to go fishing. Willie and I started around 7:15 am using the stinky bait with stew meat and boy did it work. Our hooks weren’t the right kind so we would miss lots of bites but we did catch some eventually. I went back to get the rest of the kids so that we could catch more. When I was leaving a park ranger came and said that three of the catfish were under the required length of 15 inches. He ended up telling me to throw the three undersized fish back and didn’t give us a ticket. I was very thankful and began carefully measuring them. Vicky caught the biggest fish right before we left, about 19 inches. We ended up with nine nice-sized ones but we smelt pretty bad from handling the bait, so the kids took cold hose showers at the campsite. It was pretty late by the time we left on our bikes, about 4:00 pm. Vicky couldn’t ride until we fixed her crank. We took back roads, some unpaved, to make it to Butler. We didn’t even see a Welcome to Missouri sign as we entered. The roads were very hilly, but at least they were short hills, not huge mountain passes like we had in the Rockies. We arrived in Butler around 7:30 and eventually decided to stay in our second motel of the trip and watch some of the Olympics, something we all have been wanting to do. We saw Michael Phelps win his 7th gold and saw some women’s gymnastics, diving, track, and beach volleyball. Therefore, it was not a restful evening because we didn’t turn off the TV until almost 3 am. 38 miles.

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Thursday, August 14, 2008, City Park by the lake, Pleasanton, Kansas
We woke up early, about 6 am. It was starting to sprinkle slightly so we wanted to get an early dry start. We rode our bikes to McDonalds for breakfast, but unfortunately, wouldn’t be able to wait around until 10:00 am for the opening of the Russell Stover chocolate factory to get samples or see a tour. The weather was mild, not much wind. We have seen about 5 dead armadillos since we crossed into eastern Kansas. I’ve eaten them before in El Salvador, and of course, I liked them. Vicky’s crank arm on her bike loosened and I didn’t have a socket to fix it, so she had to ride in the car towards the end of the journey. I must mention that it seems like everyone you meet in Kansas is helpful and friendly. We stopped at the police station to ask directions to picnic and he helped us fix Vicky’s bike (temporarily). As we were heading there, we saw a small local museum that got our attention and as soon as we got in, a nice lady gave us a private tour of the displays. We were very hungry during the tour since we had pedaled over 50 miles and hadn’t eaten lunch yet, so when we were finished, we found a grocery store, bought a bunch of stuff, and headed for the park for a picnic, which turned out to be right behind the museum. After eating, I asked the museum lady if she knew of a sheltered place we could put the tent. She made a couple of phone calls and waited for someone to call back. Finally, the same policeman who helped us earlier showed up and took me around the city in his squad car showing me the possible sites we could set up camp around the lake. Really nice. The rest of the family set up the tent while the younger kids and I went fishing. The lake was stocked with different fish and they were fed regularly with feeders placed in the lake. When the feeders went off, we could see the boiling water of fish teeming near the surface. It was frustrating because there were two men who were fishing near one of the feeders who were catching big catfish left and right and we weren’t even getting bites. At dusk before we left, I went over to them to ask them how they were catching them and what they were using. One of the old guys gave me the rest of his jar of Premo- stinky catfish bait- mixed with stew meat. I’m going to use it tomorrow morning. 53 miles.

70

Wednesday, August 13, 2008, Campground, Iola, Kansas
We got to sleep in a little late this morning which was most pleasant. The rolling hills began as soon as we left the church. The mountains were nice because we got nice long downhills for a reward after trying so hard. With little downhills you don't really get a reward. However the hills are getting us stronger and are a challenge I'm sure. When we arrived in Eureka we took a break and stopped at the gas station. While I was in there I met some National Guard soldiers that were going to a funeral of an eighteen-year-old soldier who had died in the war and whose hometown was Eureka. They had to be there to hold off the protestors if there were any. With the information that there would be a funeral procession also before the funeral we all wanted to watch it. We rode our bikes to the library and waited for it to begin. People of the community were lined all along the streets with American flags. The procession included at least fifty motorcyclists riding down the street with flags and then the mourners. The kids and I wanted to watch the funeral so we left our bikes at the library parking lot and drove the car there. The ceremony had already begun by the time we arrived. Some soldiers in uniform were folding a flag that had been covering the cascat in a very precise way. When the folding was over one soldier invited everyone to refreshments but we walked back so we could get going. As we walked away we heard bagpipes playing Amazing Grace. It was a sad event. We rode again with the next town being Yates Center. There were no showers at this town either so we decided to keep riding to Iola. It was now dusk. Adriana and I waited for the others to arrive at the Iola campground at the campsite. There was no one in the office, only a sign that said for tents to be placed by the big tree so that's what we did. When they arrived Gloria began to prepare some spaghetti. There was a Wal Mart in town so everyone wanted to go, of course. By the time we got back to the campsite after our trip to Wal Mart it was 11:00 pm. Tomorrow we hope to make it to at least Pleasanton and maybe Missouri! 66 miles.

69

Tuesday, August 12, 2008, Rosalia Christian Church, Kansas
We left the Wiebe's house today headed toward Cassoday, the Praire Chicken captial of the world. There are a lot of Mennonite families in this community and there are a lot of churches in the area. Even with good weather and good time everyone was getting hungry so we took our first break after only ten miles. When we began again Adriana and I could surprisingly go pretty fast and not get very tired even though there was a slight headwind. It was cool and the weather was still nice. Even though the goal in the beginning was Cassoday there wasn't a campground with showers so we decided to keep riding to Rossalia with was twenty-eight miles away. The wind was now with us and it was still sunny. I found a man who told me that the church nearby called Rosalia Christian Church always had its doors open for any weary traveler. I knocked on the door of a church member and sure enough it was fine with them. After we settled ourselves inside the church I began to cook dinner with Gloria. There was entertainment the whole night with John and Sarah dancing. When we were done eating we had our Bible time. It's going to be great to sleep in an air-conditioned room. God has been very good to us.

68

Monday, August 11, Weibe residence, Newton, Kansas
Jim came over to see how we were doing and talk a while before we left. We faced a headwind as usual and didn't make real good time to Newton, but finally arrived around 2:30. We looked up the couple in Newton, 35 miles away, whose names were mentioned on the bike bulletin board at Zion church, as people who liked to host cyclists. They were very nice and hospitable and served us a delicious meal. They were Mennonites. I talked with them some about their religious beliefs; one thing they believe in is being servants. They share their gifts, talents, and resources with others. We enjoyed talking and laughing with them about all kinds of things. We met their neighbors, a family with five children, who homeschool. Very nice. We also were interviewed by another one of their friends who was a newspaper reporter, so maybe we'll see an article about us. Another friend came over, Lee, who likes cycling and is a member of their church. All in all, it was a very social evening, and enjoyable. Also, earlier in the evening, we went to the public pool and swam and showered. Later we went to the library, but only for a short time because it was closing. Finally, we stopped at Little Caesar's Pizza to feast on pizza. A very enjoyable day. 35 miles.

67

Sunday, August 10, 2008, city park in Buhler, Kansas
It was nice sleeping again on a mattress. We slept in till about 8:30, then started getting ready for church. I hadn't ever attended a Lutheran service before and was pleasantly surprised. It had more rituals than I was used to, but more participation from the congregation too. Lots of scripture reading and scripted congregation responsive reading. Prayer time, children's time, communion, all more formal, but relaxed at the same time. And many friendly people there made us feel at home. Afterwards we went to the Cosmosphere attraction, a huge collection of space artifacts, the third largest in the world. All of us loved it. Then we went to the famous salt mine in Hutchinson. Later we went to the zoo. The kids loved it. We finally had to go because Kenneth Burgess, the fire chief, was expecting us around 3pm and it was almost 4:00. We finally got our bikes and headed for Buhler. Before we could leave the town, I needed directions, so I asked this nice couple in front of a building. They ended up feeding our whole family the desserts from their baby shower goodies. After about 5 miles, we met up with Allen Short, a local cyclist who helped me chart my Missouri route, away from the Ozarks and along the longest American bike trail -almost 300 miles long -- all the way to St. Louis. We also met Jim McIver, who was very helpful and told us where we could camp and contacted the local paper to run a story on us. He also clandestinely placed $20 in a map he gave us. Nice man. 20 miles.

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Saturday, August 9, 2008, Zion Lutheran Church, Hutchinson, Kansas
Well, today we rode to Nickerson. The wind was against us again. The locals tell us that the prevailing winds are usually from the south/southwest but because of the hurricane in the gulf, it is affecting the wind direction here. We made it 60 miles, but it was hard. The sky was overcast, which helped. When we got to Nickerson, we looked for a place to put our bikes for the night because we were supposed to spend the night at the in Hutchinson, but it was too far out of the way so we were going to drive there instead and come back for our bikes the next day, back to Nickerson. So we called up the church that Nathan, one of the three college cyclists we met a couple of days ago, had told us about that houses cross-country cyclists. We made arrangements with them to spend the night in the church basement. Then I began looking for a place to store the bikes in Nickerson. I asked a man at the store if he knew of a place in town to store the bikes for the night, and he said he could open the fire station since he was the fire chief. That worked out great. So then we drove to the church in Hutchinson and met one of the members who gave us a key and showed us around the church. Part of the church's ministry is helping the cross-country cyclists who pass through. They offered us showers and a place to sleep in the basement. It was great. We signed a guest book with other cyclists' testimonials. After getting situated there, we went to a delicious buffet - Sirloin Stockade. I overdid it. We all ate well before going to bed. 60 miles.

65

Friday, August 08, 2008, Campground on hwy. 156, Larned, Kansas
After eating cereal, we headed out, around 8:30. The wind was against us, like usual, but it was sort of a crosswind and not blowing too hard. We met Brian, a guy riding to Idaho, and two cyclists traveling together to Santa Barbara, Isaac and Dave. They were not on any time schedule, so they had complete freedom to take as long as they needed. That’s the way to go to really be spontaneous and enjoy the trip, in my opinion. After 25 miles or so, Adriana and I stopped at Fort Larned, a national historic site. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay too long because the others didn’t know to stop, so we couldn’t keep them waiting. We finally arrived in Larned around 12:30 and rested and snacked at the park. Then Gloria dropped the boys off at the library and we went around town to find the best place to camp. We ended up choosing a regular camp ground with a pool, laundry facility, and showers; all for $10. Pretty good. After setting up the tent, the younger ones went swimming, while the older ones rode the bikes to the library. I played Becky a couple games of checkers there and updated the blog. Later, Sarah helped cook up the dinner. 31 miles.
To be continued.

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Thursday, August 7, 2008, Rush City, Kansas
At around 6:30 am, it started raining on us in the tent. We were pitched under a large tree, so it took awhile for the tent to get saturated to the point of leaking. When that happened, we quickly rolled up the bags, took everything out to the covered picnic table area, and waited for the rain to subside. I drove the van to Perry’s Body Shop, where Gloria had made an appointment for 8:00 the day before. When I got there, it was still raining pretty hard. He wasn’t there, so I waited inside and there was a 1949 Chevy being restored with only 60,000 miles on it. It had seat covers and was in very good condition, considering the age. It had been sitting for 30 years in a garage. Finally Perry arrived and he had his assistant fix it, a broken rod, and charged me only $10.00 – very fair deal. I asked about a sheltered place we could unload and reload the van (a necessary procedure in order to fit us and all our stuff in whenever we have hurriedly packed). Then I drove to the place and unpacked most of the stuff and then headed back to the others, who were still huddled around the covered picnic table with the sleeping bags. I shuttled the younger kids to the new location where I had unloaded most of the stuff and returned to the rest of the gang to wait out the rain so we could ride the bikes there. An hour later the rain stopped so we made our move, transporting everything except the wet tent, which we left standing. Then we pedaled over to the library to see how the weather would hold. If it stopped raining, we would ride, hopefully at least to Alexander 20 miles away, preferably farther.
To be continued….
We ended up riding through the rain all the way to Rush City. The semis drag a sea of mist with them in the rain and when they pass by you, you get blasted. So we were pretty wet when we arrived in Alexander, our first stop, to pick up my birthday card from Mama I had forwarded from Pueblo. It was a nice card and she sent me $100. Thanks, Mom. Then we rode to the next town, Rush City, where a crowd in the store told me where we could pitch our tent under cover – the shed across the street where the gas station went out of business. It was a very large garage with a rocky ground, but pretty clean, with an old truck parked inside, and best of all, it would keep us dry if it rained. The coop across the street left its restroom open 24 hours, so we could use it. So we cooked up more pork chops (the cheapest meat we can find) and potatoes and ate whatever we had in the cooler. After eating and our Bible time, three guys rode up who were going to Denver, Dan, Nathan, and Ziod. Nice guys. We talked a while, but then they had to go. They like to ride at night and have lights. Dan is from Philadelphia and Ziod is from Washington D.C., so we will plan to visit them when we get there. We ended up bedding down around 10 pm. 32 miles.

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Wednesday, August 06, 2008, Dighton, Kansas
Well, today we got up very late for us, around 10:00, but it was worth it. The bed was so comfortable; we just melted in the sheets. I let everyone sleep in. The weather looks the same as yesterday, overcast and windy blowing against us. Oh well. I’m not sure how far we’ll go today, but I hope we make it about 30 miles; we’ll see. This morning, Becky and I went to the store to buy more milk. Now I’m here at the library while the rest of the gang is packing stuff up at the B&B. I’ll continue this later....
Well, we made it to Dighton, Kansas. The weather was overcast most of the way, and, unfortunately, the wind was against us. All rode, which is always more fun. A truck driver who saw the kids a ways back from the rest, stopped and gave them some bottles of water and Gatorade. Nice. The hatch door on the van wouldn't open, so we decided to stop at Dighton instead of a town further on because Dighton was bigger, population 1,000+, than those which followed, and finding a reliable mechanic might be harder. When we arrived, we stopped to find a place to set up the tent and the city park was the only place. Because we had had bad experiences at city parks, we were reluctant, but the friendly guy at the store assured us it was safe. It was right next to the public pool, which was still open for another hour and a half, so we headed there to swim and shower. By the time we got there, they decided to close because of threatening weather; however, they did let us shower there for free, which was great, even if it was only with cold water. There was supposed to be a pretty good fishing lake only 9 miles away, so we went to try it out. We caught about 18 small perch and bass and kept only about half of them. After setting up the tent and eating fish and hot dogs in the park, we went to bed. 32 miles.

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Tuesday, August 5, 2008, Bed and Breakfast in Dighton, Kansas
I'm going to try this method of keeping the journal up: I'm going to enter information in it whenever possible, even before I finish the day, and I will add additional information later. Right now we are in a library in Dighton, Kansas, taking a break. We haven’t decided if we are going to stay here for the night or go on. The wind has been against us all day and we’ve only gone 24 miles since we left Scott City this morning. We’ll see. We got up a little later than usual because I got up around 5:30 and noticed it was overcast and the wind blowing against us, westerly, so I didn’t think we needed to start early because we might not go too far today. Randy and Jonelle got up and we talked a lot about the trip. They want to sell their belongings and travel around the country in an RV next year, so they could identify with a lot of our feelings. We finally got going around 8:30 under full cloud cover, cool skies, and a headwind. After about 10 miles, the kids called out for me to stop. I thought one of them was having bike trouble. When I turned around, I saw Randy running over to me. Did we forget something at his house? He reaches out his hand to me, and as I shake his hand, he deposits a 100 dollar bill in it, Then he smiled and left. What a blessing! God is surely taking care of us, and may we somehow be a blessing to others. We averaged around 9 mph, quite a contrast to yesterday, and most of us never really felt too energized. When we finally arrived in Dighton, I was glad to stop. We made our usual stop at a convenience store for drinks and to relax a bit, then we went to the library, where we are now. A few minutes ago, a woman came in, looked at me, and asked, “Are you the ones with the bikes?” and then offers us a place to stay a block or two away. It was an old home she was making into a bed and breakfast but it wasn't finished completely. I asked her how much it would be and she said, "Oh, $30 would be fine.
I haven’t even told Gloria yet. I’ll see what she wants to do. I’ll update this entry later........
Well, after she left, I told Gloria about the proposition and she wanted to see the house, so we called the woman and rendezvoused with her there. It was beautiful on the inside, but the outside needed a paint job. Built in the late 1800s, it had high ceilings and plenty of space. There were two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room and parlor. It was clean and newly remodeled on the inside. She gave us the keys and we went to the store to buy some meat for the evening meal. We all enjoyed lounging around on the beds and couches and listening to different kinds of music on the CD player. After eating and showering, we had our Bible time and finally used the hymnals the nice lady from the Austin Baptist Church had given us and had a nice long time singing the good old hymns. So today was a short riding day, only 24 miles, but we really enjoyed the change of pace and relaxation of staying in the old bed and breakfast (only without the breakfast).

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Monday, August 4, 2008, Randy and Joanelle Ryan’s backyard, Scott City, Kansas
Well, we made it to Kansas today. I’m writing this before the day is over just to keep the blog more up to date. Lane got us up when he woke up around 5:00 am. Gloria and I had a good night sleep in a bed, the third since California. After eating breakfast and taking pictures, we headed over to the church building to pick up our bikes and head out for Kansas. We didn’t get a real early start, just before 8:00, but an unseasonable wind was blowing in our direction, east, so we made real good time, the best so far this trip, probably averaging close to 20 mph the whole way. We stopped after 2 miles at the Kansas border for a picture then headed all the way to Leoti, 40 miles away, before stopping at a Convenient type store for drinks and French fries. We rested there for about an hour before continuing on to our final destination, Scott City, population almost 4,000, the biggest we would encounter for some time. We were going to stay at the city athletic club, which had a nice pool and showers, but it was too expensive. Even though the owner was going to cut the price by almost 50%, it was going to cost us $80. So we decided to look around and saw a man standing outside a church (Randy Ryan). We asked him if he knew a place we could set up a tent and he said, “Yeah, in my backyard!” So, we put some of our stuff there at his house, then headed for the public pool to swim and take showers. It was only $1.00 per person. Big black clouds were approaching fast, so we hurried to beat the closing of the pool. When we got there, it began to sprinkle, and before everyone could get in, lightning started, so they shut down the pool, but not before we could shower, so everyone got a shower. Afterwards, the man who worked there walks up and gives me back my money since we couldn’t swim. Nice gesture. Then it began to pour, so we waited out the worst of it, then headed to the library, where I am now. I will update the day tomorrow if there is anything noteworthy to say....
...Continued. Well, we left the library at 7:45 because it was still raining and the wind was blowing pretty hard and it didn't look like we would be able to set up the tent in a dry place, so we hurried back to the athletic club before it closed at 8:00 to see if we could work out a deal with the owner. He could go no lower than $45, so we decided against it. Instead, we went to a cheap Chinese all-you-can-eat and filled up there, hoping the rain would pass in the meantime. It did, and we set up the tent in the Ryan's backyard. This was the first time we have used the tent in over a week. We put the tarp over in case it rained. We got everything set up in the dark and went to bed with the wind gusting pretty hard, flapping the tarp loudly all night, but it didn't rain. Sarah got sick after all that food. We didn't get such a good rest after that. 66 miles.

60

Sunday, August 3 (Gloria’s birthday), 2008, Stum’s house, Towner, Colorado
We all slept well and got up early enough to pick up everything before the people started arriving for breakfast at the church. Every Sunday they bring over different breakfast food and eat before Sunday school. Lots of good food. The group was fairly small, maybe 30 people total, but the Bible discussion was good and insightful. Afterwards we all headed upstairs to the main sanctuary for the sermon, delivered by a man who preaches at another church in Kansas later in the morning. Afterwards, Chris’s dad, Lane, invited us to his house to spend the day with them. Lane and his family are farmers who raise wheat, sunflowers, and birdseed. They also are very knowledgeable, like most farmers are, about machinery, mechanics, construction, and business, and had their hands full with different projects. The family was very hospitable. We also met two sisters who are working with the Stums for the summer, Martha and Joy. Nice girls. We ate lunch and dinner with them and they asked us to spend the night. The kids played cards, Pit (I have never played it), swam, and watched a movie. Lane managed to reconstruct Paul’s broken chain link from welding rod, and helped us fix the van’s faulty headlight. He also showed us around Towner. Nice people. Lane’s dad came over in the evening and we talked politics mostly. Fun time. Some took showers. All in all, it was a restful, relaxing, enjoyable day. God has placed good people in our path.

59

Saturday, August 2, 2008, Methodist Church, Towner, Colorado
Finally after a restless night, the phone alarm went off at 4:15 am. It was still dark, and I got up to use the portapotty, As I was walking, I noticed a guy standing across the street in a black shirt looking my way. I thought it was a little strange, but didn’t think much of it as I entered. After a few seconds –BAM. Something hit the side of the portapotty hard. I bolted out and saw the guy running away, so I dashed after him. Once I entered the back yard it was too dark to see well and littered with all kinds of junk, parts, furniture, so as I was working my way through it, he got away or hid and remained quiet. Too bad. We haven’t had very good luck in the city parks, and we probably won’t stay in another one. After eating cereal we left, around 5:15, before sunrise. The wind was slightly with us, and by the crack of dawn, we had already pedaled 10 miles. After about 15 miles, Vicky turned too sharp on a street with gravel and fell. She was a little hurt and after a while, couldn’t keep up, so she rode with the van. Shortly thereafter, we saw two women cycling to Oregon; one was on a recumbent. Later, we saw a guy, Rocco, going to San Francisco. By then it was 11:00 and starting to get real hot; plus the crosswind was starting to become a headwind. When we finally stopped riding at around 12:00, we had gone 73 miles and were very hot, tired, and thirsty. We found shade under a tree, but it was still HOT – too hot to really rest well. I wet myself and kept a wet towel on my head. It worked, and after a while, I could rest. I wasn’t really very hungry but kept drinking. While waiting, I called Uncle Herman and Joe McCroskey. We stayed around 4 hours to wait out the heat and finally got going around 4:30. By then, the crosswind was blowing hard. It’s too bad our direction wasn’t just 5 degrees more to the north. It would have changed to a slight tailwind and made all the difference in the world. As it was, it was slow going, about 10 mph, and we had 30 miles to go. One mile from a small town, Sheradon Lake, Paul’s chain broke. I can’t believe I forgot a master link. Fortunately, we were close to town. Paul walked the bike the remaining mile to the only business, a gas station with a small store. Gloria was already there when I arrived, and the guy at the gas station had already her and us to stay at his church building in Towner, only two miles from the Kansas border, for the night. It was a blessing, especially since it was getting late. He also said he would check for any spare chains and bring them to church tomorrow. It was great that we would be able to attend a church meeting. I like doing that whenever we can. It was only 11 miles to Towner and by dusk, we were there and the odometer read 102 miles. Paul made it too. He wanted to complete the century ride, so he rode Vicky’s bike the last 11 miles. Once there, we ate cold food outside the church and hauled our panniers and sleeping bags to the church basement where we would sleep on the floor for the night. A cleaning lady came over around 8:30 and cleaned up. Once she left, we went to bed. 102 miles.

58

Friday, August 1, 2008, Ordway City Park, Colorado
Well, we’ve heard after the fact that Ordway is home to many drug affected weirdos. I wish we had known that before we stayed there. We all got up quickly once the first Pueblo Park maintenance worker arrived at 5:30. Since the tent wasn’t set up, we packed up everything and left just after 6:00. The riding was pretty nice – flat and not too windy and the traffic moderate. Johnny rode part of the way; Vicky the whole way. There was a crosswind which probably didn’t affect us much, but the heat really oppressed us, over 100, and by 11:00 am, we were hot and tired, so we stopped in the first café we saw in the town of Ordway. The waitress gave us a cyclists’ welcome brochure with a map and pertinent information for the journey. Apparently they try to cater to the many summer cyclists who pass through. After eating and relaxing there for about an hour, we drove to Lake Henry to swim. The water was warm but refreshing. Later we went to the town store and bought pork chops but came to find out that there were no grills in the park, so we had to use the propane stove. We decided not to set up the tent because it was warm and it didn’t look like it was going to rain, so we just laid down the tarp and sleeping bags. The plan was to ride 100+ miles tomorrow, so we went to bed fairly early, but we didn’t realize the weirdos congregate at the park after dark. First, the athletic weirdos at the basketball court who can’t communicate without screaming at the top of their lungs and find only unsavory subjects to scream about. Then the motorized lowlifes who screeched around the park for 1 ½ hours burning rubber and shouting obscenities out the window at who knows who, maybe us. The police station was at the corner of the park but seemed oblivious. At one point Gloria got in the car and followed the car to get the license plate but no luck. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep well that night. 52 miles.

57

Thursday, July 31, 2008, Maintenance Facility, Pueblo City Park, Colorado
Like yesterday, I got up around 8:30 am and everyone was asleep except Sarah, who was sitting in the living room quietly reading magazines. I finally perused my bike maps and got a general idea of what to expect on the route to Virginia: the roads will be windier as we head east, more congested, narrower, and in poorer repair than what we’ve had so far. So in many respects, it will be more difficult and more dangerous as we head eastward. I’ll have to buy replacement mirrors for the ones that have broken off the kids’ bikes since we started. Later in the morning, Gloria gave me a haircut, the first one she has ever given me. It turned out good according to all reports. Then we organized the van and filled a box of unneeded items to leave with Emily until we head back west. At 2:30 we left back toward Pueblo. On the way, we stopped at Focus on the Family Headquarters in Colorado Springs. It’s a big place with lots of fun displays and activities for kids. James Dobson was in California, so there was no hope of meeting him. At 6:30 we arrived back at Pueblo. We stopped by the tennis facility to get our bikes and give Ed a bag of pistachios. He gave us all t-shirts from the youth tournament he was holding. After that, we all went to the amusement park and used the free tickets the director had given us. The rides were a great deal: $.25 a ride, the same price I paid for carnival rides as a kid. By 9:00 pm when the park closed, we were hungry so we decided to go to McDonalds, a mistake. It was the worst one I have ever been in. Why? Here are the ten reasons: 1) It was dirty, floors, table tops, counters 2) No ketchup in dispensers 3) Got order wrong 4) Got order wrong the second time 5) Slow, took forever. Some people in line even left 6) Didn’t tell us of specials until after we had ordered and eaten our food 7) Hamburgers were very lopsided, thrown together without any care 8) The ice-cream machine was broken 9) Some employees were openly hostile to one another in full view of the public and 10) The employees were young “cool” teenagers who didn’t like working. So, it took forever to get our poor quality food and it was late when we finally left to Walmart for addition food. By the time we arrived back at our evening resting place, the maintenance facility, and went to bed, it was past midnight, too late to get a good rest for our planned early start tomorrow. I’m tired and tomorrow is supposed to be a scorcher – 105 degrees.

56

Wednesday, July 30, 2008, (my birthday), Reynolds’ house, Denver, Colorado
I got up at 8:30 after a nice, restful, and therapeutic sleep. Sarah had already gotten up and was out walking their dog, Angel, with Susan. John was up and we ate cereal and blueberries (I’d forgotten how delicious blueberries in cereal were). By 9:30 all were up, and Susan made French toast. Such a hostess! After eating, I was relaxing on the swing on the back porch gazing out at the Rockies, and two hours later I woke up. Then we all went to John’s school where he is principal and had a tour. He wanted us to surprise his secretary by saying we wanted to enroll all seven in the small Christian school as this would be a significant increase in the enrollment. We did and she reacted as expected, happy and excited; then John let her in on the gag. Later, Emily, Haley, and our family went tubing down a river in Boulder. What fun. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my bathing suit, but everyone else did and had a good (and cold) time. On the way back, we stopped at Costco (our first one since Carson City, Nevada) to stock up on biking food. Once home, everyone relaxed and snacked until John came home. I barbequed steaks and we had a delicious meal. After dinner they had a German chocolate cake (my favorite) for my birthday along with some presents. Later, the kids stayed out at the park until past 1:00 am playing Blind Man’s Bluff, while we stayed up talking. A great time. Again, another late night, but refreshing to the soul.

55

Tuesday, July 29, 2008, The Reynolds’ house, Denver, Colorado
We woke up one by one to the sound of park workers arriving. At around 7am, I got up and walked around the park looking at the zoo, amusement park, and open restrooms for the family. Soon all of us were up so we went to the park office where the director gave me another key and several dollars worth of amusement park tickets for the family. Nice guy. Then we drove to the Laundromat where we washed clothes and dishes; then it was off to two different libraries; the first one had no Internet service. I updated almost all of my journal, but couldn’t upload pictures. Some libraries are very limited in this respect; it’s been an ongoing problem. After the second library, we stopped at Little Caesars for lunch. Then we dropped everyone but Becky off at the movie theater to watch Batman – The Dark Night. Becky’s friend, Emily Reynolds, was driving over from Denver, 130 miles away, to see her, so Becky wanted to be here when she arrived. We went back to the post office to see if my mom’s card had arrived. It hadn’t, so I gave a forwarding address to Alexander, Kansas, where we should be in about a week. Then we went back to the library where I finished updating the blog. Emily called later and came to meet us at the library. She brought another friend with her who was visiting from Georgia: Haley. Emily convinced us to change our plans and stay at her house for a couple of days. Before we could accept, we had to make arrangements for our bikes because they were at the maintenance facility and we were supposed to be out of there by tomorrow morning. It was already past 6pm, so the park director would normally be already gone. If we could not get permission, we wouldn’t be able to leave them there. It was already raining again when we arrived back at the park and the director had already left. [The normal summer weather pattern so far here in Colorado seems to be clear and sunny in the morning, cloudy weather in the afternoon, thunderstorms in the late afternoon and early evening, and clearing skies in the later evening]. We needed someone of authority to give us permission to leave the bikes. The only one available was Ed, the tennis director; he was still in his office by the tennis courts. The youth tennis class had just been cancelled and the lobby was teeming with kids and parents scrambling to get out of the rain and into their cars. I waited for the bustling to simmer down then asked Ed if he could help. He did. He said we could keep our bikes in the tennis lobby and pick them up when we returned. Nice guy, real helpful. So, off we went to pick up the kids from the movies and ride our bikes over to the tennis facility. Then we were off to Denver to stay with Emily’s family. It was already dusk when we left and I was sleepy, so Gloria drove. We got there around 10:45 and Mr. Reynolds, John, had already cooked up a bunch of hamburgers and Mrs. Reynolds, Susan, had prepared other food. Everything was delicious and even though it was late, the food, activity and conversation energized us and we ended up staying up till after midnight. The Reynolds had beds or mattresses for everyone. What a treat! I hadn’t slept in a bed since Nevada.