FLASHBACK TO DAY 2...

Courtesy of my brother Tom

DAY SEVEN – AN INTERESTING DAY

I left Odell later than I wanted but it was the first time I’d camp and everything went ok I think. I knew it was going to be a short day so I didn’t get up until 6:00, then left by about 7:30. I had a slight tail wind that I’d guess might have gotten up to about 10 mph. Why are head winds always stronger than tail winds?

So, I’m tooling along just enjoying having what tailwind I have when I hear this air type noise. It really didn’t sound like a tire going down but I look at the rear one while I was still riding, it seemed ok. But, I kept hearing it and occasionally in interrupted intervals. Then I looked back….here came the NDOT paint stripe truck approaching fast. I knew I could not out run it so I was forced to pull over. After he got by and left a nice white line at my feet about three feet away, and all the following traffic passed, I had to hoist the 120 lb. bike over the white line one tire at a time without stepping on it. Well I succeeded thankfully and I went on down the road.

Next problem was that I usually rode on the white line. So I had to force myself to stay away when traffic passed….no need to add white tires to my already colorful bike.

Then, I decided to do something really dumb. I hadn’t had a picture of myself yet while trying to ride down the road. You know, the kind you hold the camera up at arms length and point it back at ya. So, like an idiot I tried it. Now, it’s hard enough balancing the Pilgrim the way it is without trying to point and shot a picture at the same time. As it happened, as soon as I pulled the shutter, I lost balance and swerved towards the freshly painted white line! I recovered just in time and put the camera away a little more wiser. The picture was good though.

When I was arriving close to my destination of Hebron I came to an intersection. For some reason the Hebron campground I had wanted to stay at was two miles off the route. My directions told me that but I just had forgotten. I wasn’t in the mood to ride and extra four miles to be right back where I was in the morning. I looked at the map for options but didn’t see any. As I was ready to give in and pointed the bike towards Hebron, I took one look back at cross traffic and there it was….a sign advertising free camping at an RV park in Deshler 8 miles on down the route. Alright!

It was going to be a short day anyway, (oh, did I say that it had been raining on me since I left Subway in Fairbury about noon?) so I had no problem going a little further. When I got to the nice park I was reading the sign that gave the rules and a lady pulled up and asked if I needed help. I said I’d like to find a place to shower. She said go back a few blocks to the City Building and they could help. As I pulled up at the City Building out walked DeAnn Nielsen and some of her children. She is the Lutheran pastors wife and after we chatted she offered me a vacant house to sleep at and a meal with her family. Double alright!

We had a wonderful meal and they are a great family. Theirs Pastor Phil, DeAnn, Jess, Eric, Isaac, Reece, Sheila and Keisha. I really enjoyed myself and they even served apple crisp with ice cream! God sure has had His hand on me today and I’ve been seeing His goodness and love for me all along the way.

Here’s a little humor that happened to me when I was done at Subway today. I went outside and it was raining with no cover so the bank next door had a little lean to. I got my rain gear out to put on. I have a plastic bag that I keep my plastic Croc want-to-be sandals in so I took them out and slipped the first one on. Just then a gust of wind came along and started blowing the bag across the parking lot. I needed that bag to put my riding shoes in. So, here I am running after bag holding on plastic shoe, one on and only my sock on the other foot. I soaked my sock of course. Wish I had a picture but you get the picture. Wasn’t funny at the time but was later.

Tomorrow’s destination Franklin, NE. RV Park (unless God has some other plan.

Ice cream today – Vanilla with apple crisp.

DAY SIX – GOING A LITTLE BIT FURTHER

I actually made it about 12 miles further than I planned last night. I skipped Barneston and, with the advice of a NDOT worker, went on the Odell which had a nicer City Park and a grocery right across the street. I had been having a fairly decent SE tailwind and wanted to take advantage of it.

It was the first time I was going to need to set my tent up, so since there was a slight chance of rain at night, I set it up under one of the shelters. An older gentleman on a three wheeler stopped by to see what I was doing. He just turned 80 yesterday he said. Later a couple sixth grade girls, Taylor and Madison, came to play at the playground then came over to chat. I gave them each a Curve Illusion tract which they thought was cool. They told me about the town and its surroundings. They then went to play with a couple high school future Football Hall of fame guys that had arrived. They had a friendly scrimmage game. The girls left when it started getting dark and the guys came over for a minute to chat the left. Nice kids and I was glad to meet them.

I had just got the computer out to try and type of a post and the mosquitoes came out in force. I put everything away and went to bed. There was a big grain elevator next to the park so I had to put in my ear plugs to try and sleep but I slept fairly well.

Tomorrows destination Hebron, NE.

DAY FIVE – GOOD BYE MISSOURI, HELLO NEBRASKA!

I don’t remember a whole lot about the weather conditions today (I’m typing this on 9/10/10) but I know I was still doing a lot of hill surfing. I do know that when I was trying to get thru Savannah my directions routed me on a County Road. When I could not find it I stopped and asked a couple guys at a Co-op. They said it was right in front of their store. So, I rode a hundred yards or so around a corner and what I saw was gravel! Oh, no! I went down it to another corner a short distance and looked around the bend….more gravel. So, I turned around and went back to the same guys. They said every County Road was gravel but told me a better route.

Back into the hills I went until I got to Oregon (the town) and stopped for a break. The lady in the grocery store said after Oregon it would be mostly flat. That was true because I was dropping into the Missouri River bottoms near Rulo, NE. They had had a lot of bad flooding there and the bridge was still being worked on. But, before I got to the bridge and after things finally did level out, I had a pack of three blood hounds try to take me down. I blasted my horn and peddled as fast as possible. Thankfully, a car was coming from the other way and they gave up the chase when confronted by the car.

After crossing the Missouri River I still had to climb some substantial hills to get up on level ground again. But, things got better and I arrived at the First Baptist Church in Falls City about an hour before their Bible Study. I met their intern pastor, Gary Williams and his wife, plus some of the congregation and Elder Jim Hersh. They let me spend the night in the church which I was most grateful.

Tomorrows destination is Barneston, NE.

ROAD UPDATE - 9/9/10

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am doing fine and am sitting at a Subway in Fairbury NE watching it rain. I made it 12 miles further than I expected yesterday so I got a little bit of time today to sit down and try and catch up the blogging. Unfortuniately I only had a couple days wrote up so will have to try and do DAY 5 later.

I have a hard time getting a cell signal or a place to stop close enough to the route to WIFI. I'm thankful for Subways. I also have a lot of pictures and comments I'd like to make but it may have to wait. Most my time is concentrating on the riding and staying on schedule.

Please keep me in your prayers. The roads a better,flatter I mean, and I'm getting my average up and leg strenght is getting better as well.

Well, I'll be back with you as I can but right now it's raining and I've still got about 25 miles to go. I've not had a shower for a few days so this might be a good thing. Tonights destination Hebron, NE.

DAY FOUR - SAME AS BEFORE

I think there might have been a few less dogs today but I may need to get a new air horn soon. I think there might have only been about 7-8 of them. But, there was no reduction in the hill category. It was a shorter day but the hills clean my clock. About 7-8 miles from King City I just gave up trying to ride up them. I’d coast down then at the base start walking up. I’ve got way too much weight on the Pilgrim.

And the wind smiled on me only for a short time out of the Southeast. About 11:00 it shifted to the South then came full force at me in the afternoon at about 25-30 mph out of the Southwest. There’s a reason that King City is sitting right in the middle of a wind farm.

I met with the Pastor briefly at the First Baptist Church then he drove me out of town about 9 miles to a private hunting lodge where I met Tony. He’s the care taker here. He made me a great stir fry supper, we had a good conversation then I had the lodge to myself for the evening. He’ll be back in the morning early to pick me up for breakfast.

I ran into three pairs of these guys. They were sniffing the air and checking it's quality. I asked them how I smelled.

Nice.

No ice cream today.
Tomorrow’s destination Falls City, NE.

DAY THREE - MORE OF THE SAME

I got a good send off from Pastor Mac and his family. He made me his version of a “Mess”. It was excellent.


Unfortunately, I had another round of dogs, hills and wind. The wind was coming hard out of the South and actually helped me a little for all of about 5-6 miles maybe later in the day. I stayed at the First Baptist Church in Trenton in their Family Activity Center. It rained last night and early this morning. Thankfully they had a nice shower and couch so I didn’t have to deal with a wet tent this morning.

I stopped at the Trenton McDonald’s sending this post before I head out to do battle with the Missouri mountains. Pray for me please.

NO INTERNET CONNECTION

Dad wanted me to inform all readers that he has not had an internet connection where he has been recently. Posts will be coming as soon as he can get online.

Heather

DAY TWO:THE MAIN COURSE-DOGS, HILLS AND A SIDE OF WIND

Today was a beautiful day with and a lot less windy. It was only about 5 mph out of the NNW when I start. It gradually picked up speed and by about 11:00 it was back up to 15+ mph. But, I lost count of how many dogs chased me and how many hills I had to walk up. I was so thankful that there was no dogs at the houses that always seemed to be at the top of the hills I was pushing the 110 pound Pilgrim up. I would have had to let them maul me. I was just too tired to run. I could have really used my brothers dog Harley the boxer to chase them away. I instead used my air horn to run them off. I have mace I could you but with the wind blowing the way it was…..I know I would not have wanted it in my face.

I made it the 72 miles to La Plata and the home of Pastor Elmer “Mac” McCully, pastor of the First Baptist Church here. I had supper with him and his wife Nancy, their son Jarod, his wife Heather, and their two adorable daughters Olivia and Hanna, and their grandson Zach. We had homemade pizza and homemade ice cream. It was excellent. I appreciate all their help and making me feel right at home.

Tom and Harley.



This is what I saw most the day.

Oh no!

I thank the Lord for little things.

My new friends.

Today’s ice cream flavor: HOMEMADE Vanilla with strawbaby (that’s what Julia calls it) syrup.
Tomorrow’s destination: Trenton, Mo.
Mileage today 72.6

DAY ONE - WHAT AN INITIATION!

Can you say windy?! I could make a long post and tell you all the negative things that happened today but the only thing I’d be talking about would be the wind. It was horrible! It was gusting at 30 mph in some places along the way. It was WNW which was where I was headed and I don’t believe ever got under 20 mph while riding.
I think instead of going on about how bad it was I’ll just focus on the positive.

One of our church family and friend Bud Cole came to see me off this morning. That was nice of him to do that. Thanks Bud! I also waited for my grandkids to show up before I left. Our three girls were there as well. After all the picture taking I hit the road. Also, it was a beautiful day temperature wise and only partly cloudy.

I has in the saddle a little long than I had wanted to be today and was pretty sore in the legs (for some reason which I’ve said I won’t mention) when I arrived at my brothers home. His wife Leslie made a great supper and after a nice shower I’m feeling much more refreshed now, yet tired. I’ve got a longer day tomorrow but hopefully the weather (wind) will be a little kinder to me than today.

Yeah, that’s what it was like all day.

Today’s ice cream flavor: Vanilla in a Wendy’s Frosty Root beer float.
Tomorrow’s destination: La Plata, Mo.
Mileage today: 65.9

Oh, Happy Birthday to my friend Danny Goodall at Living Waters. Hope you had a great day ol' man!