Day 44, Brook to Wabash, Indiana

Ride distance: 100 miles; ride time: 4:58; cumulative distance: 2796 miles; average speed: 20.1 mph; calories: 7492; ascent: 1414 feet; descent: 1286 feet. Last night and this morning, we were at the home of Tony and Sharon. Tony is a biology teacher at South Newton High School. He pointed out some memorabilia in the room I slept in last night -- a baseball jersey signed by Pete Rose. Tony then took Les and I back to our host church, the United Methodist in Brook. Pastor Sue led devotions and then we were treated to breakfast. Once we got on the road, the pace was fast. There was a bit of a tailwind so we made good time to Wabash. The distance was actually about 97 miles but Zack, Paul Bayfield and I rode up and down the street until we had our 100 miles in. We were trying to ride 100 miles (a century) in under 5 hours and we were successful. Wabash is noted as being the first city to be lit using electricity. There were four 3,000 candlepower bulbs that lit the courthouse starting in 1880. In front of the courthouse is a statue of Abraham Lincoln. We had a good reception at the Presbyterian Church in Wabash by local Youth for Christ supporters. Stuart and I are staying at the home of Shirley and her daughter, Carmen. Shirley prepared a delicious dinner for us and then spoiled us with vanilla and death by chocholate ice cream and fudge cake. I guess after burning 7,492 calories today, we can live a bit dangerously!

Day 43, Cornell, Illinois to Brook, Indiana

Ride distance: 91 miles; ride time: 5:10; cumulative distance: 2,­­­696 miles; average speed: 17.6 mph; calories; 5813; ascent: 1032 feet; descent: 985 feet. We met at the United Methodist Church in Cornell at 6:30 a.m. for another great meal served by the church. Today, we were a lot more fortunate with the roads – no tar. It was a hot day reaching into the 90’s. There’s one thing that bikes lack – air conditioning –although if we go fast enough, we create our own. We passed the town of Odell which was on the original Route 66. The first riders made it to Brook by 4 p.m. and others arrived over the nest hour or so. Our host church tonight is the United Methodist Church in Brook. When we arrived, we were taken to the high school for showers. We then came back to the church for dinner. We are definitely spoiled with all the good food we’ve been served. We had more locally grown and fresh sweet corn, hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, cherry cheese cake and raspberry or strawberry shortcake. (Is your mouth watering yet?) Mine was.

Day 42, Kewanee to Cornell, Illinois

Ride distance: 86 miles; ride time: 4:46; cumulative distance: 2,­­­605 miles; average speed: 18.0 mph; calories; 5633; ascent: 1692 feet; descent: 1742 feet. We had breakfast with our host families this morning. I had the privilege of staying with the Gomez Family. Shelley and Trino have two lovely daughters, Sarah and Rachel who got up early to see the riders off. We had a good ride in the morning and had a late lunch about 20 miles from our destination. After lunch, we started up on the designated route. Unfortunately for us, the designated route was freshly tarred and graveled. Zack, Paul Bayfiel, Arek and I started down the road and soon discovered our mistake. As we rode along, the gravel was pinging under our tires like popcorn in a corn popper. We started accumulating a thick, gooey layer of tar and gravel on our tires that can be compared to carmel apples covered in nuts. We were able to warn 5 of our riders from coming this way. The four of us with tar covered tires went back to our lunch spot and spent the next two hours trying to de-tar our bikes. We used a bag of rags, tar remover, Gojo cleaner, screwdrivers, and plenty of elbow grease to get the bikes back into some semblance of riding shape. We were finally able to get back on the road after 4 p.m. and made it to our host church in Cornell shortly after 5. We showered and had a wonderful dinner provided by the United Methodist Church in Cornell. We especially appreciated the freshly picked sweet corn. Stuart and I stayed that night with Dave, a riverboat captain on the Mississippi River. He had a lot of stories to tell us when we went back to his house.

Day 41, in Kewanee, Illinois

We had a good day of rest in Kewanee. Our group attended the Zion Lutheran Church at 9 a.m. and gave a Youth for Christ presentation at the social hour following the worship service. Bryan gave an overview of Youth for Christ and the projects we’re supporting. Emma told a few of the funny things that happened on our trip and Stewart gave a talk about Serbia and the need for a drop-in center for youth there. After that, we rejoined our host families for the rest of the stay in Kewanee. Kewanee is known as the “hog capital of the world”. (I know that must be true since I made a pig of myself at the Pizza Hut buffet at lunchtime – only kidding!). My host family has been great. I’ve been staying with Trino and Shelley Gomez and their two girls Sarah and Rachel, ages 11 and 7. We rested in the afternoon. In the evening, we had a delicious supper meal of pork burritos, fresh corn on the cob, and Spanish rice. I chatted with my daughter Kristin in Peru and then was shown how to play “Guitar Hero” on their Wii. The Gomez family was patient while I finally managed to make it through the first song. We then watched a family movie, the Spiderwick Chronicles, and now here I am writing this blog.

Day 40, Muscatine, Iowa to Kewanee, Illinois

Ride distance: 78 miles; ride time: 4:25; cumulative distance: 2519 miles; average speed: 17.7 mph; calories: 5047; ascent: 1603 feet; descent: 1326 feet. Stuart, Paul Luedtke and I started our day at the home of Harry and Janet, our hosts in Muscatine. Last night, they took us out to dinner at a restaurant in Muscatine. They also showed us around town. There was a lot of damage from a wind storm that hit on Monday with 90 mph winds. Many trees and limbs were blown down and the town is still cleaning up. This morning, they served us a nice breakfast and took us to our host church, the Mulford Evangelical Free Church. Paul Luedtke had two guests, Dan and Debbie, who rode with us for the day. They were in Paul’s Youth for Christ group over 20 years ago when they were in high school. Paul enjoyed seeing them again. Dan has been racing road bikes for the past 3 years so he was able to set a nice pace for us today. We crossed the Mississippi River and entered Illinois. One of the towns we passed through was also damaged by the wind storm. The winds were called “shear winds” and were clocked at 93 mph. The truck in the photo was smashed by falling limbs. I talked to the unfortunate owner and he said that he had parked the truck in the wrong spot. We arrived in Kewanee at about 2:30 p.m., took showers and put on clean clothes. Our host church today is Zion Lutheran. They fixed a nice supper for us and than we went to our host homes. This weekend, I’m staying with the Gomez family. They have two young girls, Sarah and Rachel, who were eager to have a guest.

Day 39, Central City to Muscatine, Iowa

Ride distance: 78 miles; ride time: 4:24; cumulative distance: 2441 miles; average speed: 17.8 mph; calories: 4942; ascent: 2047 feet; descent: 2261 feet. If I had to give today a title, it would be “Sea to See meets RAGBRAI”. RAGBRAI is an acronym that stands for Register’s Annual Great Bike Race Across Iowa. It is a huge one week bike ride across the state of Iowa sponsored by the Des Moines Register (newspaper). There are about 10,000 registered riders but with tag a longs, there could be twice that many. The cyclists come in all shapes and sizes and have all different kinds of bikes. Every night, they stay in a different town in Iowa. The town folk prepare for this mass invasion by setting up all kinds of food stands and other stopping points for the riders. It seems to be a very festive atmosphere. Anyways, getting back to our story, about 25 miles into our ride today, we met up with the RAGBRAI riders. They were as thick as locusts on the road in front of us. Our course intersected theirs for approximately 15 miles. We had a lot of fun riding with them. I was in our fast group consisting of Zack, Paul Bayfield and myself so we must have passed dozens and dozens of RAGBRAI riders. It was great sport. In town, we slowed down to a stop and spoke with some of the riders. We explained what we were doing and one of them gave me a donation on the spot for Youth for Christ. Now I feel a little guilty for passing so many of them. .One of the cyclists had her dog in a carrier. She has carried that dog across the entire state. She claims that the dog loves it. I can’t speak for the dog but it did seem like he was having a pretty good time and getting lots of attention. When we got to a spot about 10 miles from Muscatine, we came to a road closed sign. The road had been closed because of flood damage. One of the transportation department men drove up and I asked him if there was any way we could cycle into town. He thought about it a minute and told me that we could cycle on the closed section of road if we stayed out of the way of trucks and equipment. Since this would save us a ten mile detour, we readily agreed. The damage to the road was extensive for about two miles. The flood waters had undercut the footing of the road and whole sections of the roadway had slumped to the side. We were fortunate to be able to get through. When we arrived in Muscatine, we found out that they have had two floods this year and a bad wind storm with 90 mph winds. There were trees and limbs down all over the city. Cedar Rapids was hit even worse. The Cedar River caused devastating damage in that city. Hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed by the flood. They estimate that a flood like this only happens once every 500 years. Our host church in Muscatine is an Evangelical Free Church which happens to be the same denomination of the church that I belong to. They served us pizza then we were taken by our host families.

Day 38, Edgewood to Central City, Iowa

Ride distance: 45 miles; ride time: 2:43; cumulative distance: 2369; average speed: 16.6 mph; ascent: 1570 feet; descent: 1935 feet. Today’s ride was a short one. We started the day with breakfast at the homes of our hosts. We didn’t meet until 9 a.m. since we knew we didn’t have far to go. One of the hosts is the president of the Community Savings Bank in Edgewood. He gave our group a tour of his bank. We seemed to be a big hit with the employees. It was a bit awkward being the center of attention but we adjusted. Even though the ride was short, it was difficult because we had a headwind to ride into for all but about 7 miles. We had lunch along the way and arrived in Central City around 2:30 to 3 p.m. We had supper at the homes of our hosts. After supper, we returned to the United Methodist Church, our host church, for a meeting to present our ride and the ministry of Youth for Christ. These meetings are very encouraging. The local people are very receptive and our group enjoys sharing with them. The first picture in today’s blog is a picture of Arek as he was discussing the ministry of Youth for Christ in Lebanon.

Day 37, Brownsville, MN to Edgewood, Iowa

Ride distance: 93 miles; ride time: 5:31; cumulative distance: 2324 miles; average speed: 16.8 mph; calories: 6125; ascent: 4567 feet; descent: 4056 feet. We left Brownsville after a great breakfast from our host families and a good send off from the Zion Evangelical Church. Today's ride was one of the hardest of the trip. We had many very steep hills to climb and they all seemed to be about 3 to 4 hundred feet of climb. Some were as steep as 12% grade which any cyclist will tell you is a pretty steep hill. Inspite of the hills, the ride went very well. We saw lots of nice scenery including more views of the Mississippi River. The church pictured in today's blog was one we saw along the way. Notice the cemetary that surrounds the church. That seems to be fairly common with country churches. I also saw a fox run across the road. I tried to get a picture of it but I wasn't quite quick enough to get the right settings on my camera. Most of our trip today has been in Iowa. We left Minnesota after 14 miles. We arrived in Edgewood aroung 5 p.m. Our original stopping point was Ekander but that town was heavily damaged by floods so we had to change locations. It worked out very well. We have great host families that put on a wonderful potluck at the United Methodist Church in town. After dinner, we walked two blocks to the Bible Church and put on a Youth for Christ presentation. It went very well. There were many in attendance and we were able to do a lot of good sharing about our mission.

Day 36, Lake City to Brownsville, Minnesota

Ride distance: 101 miles; ride time: 5:36; cumulative distance: 2231 miles; average speed: 18.1 mph; calories: 6757; ascent: 3410 feet; descent: 3387 feet. Today’s ride was considerable longer than yesterday’s. We met at 7 a.m. at the teen center and soon were on the road. Three riders wanted to do a portion of the ride in Wisconsin so we split the group and both groups met for lunch at Winona, Minnesota. The group of 8 riders that remained in Minnesota had a fair amount of hill climbing to do. We ended up climbing from the river level to the level of the bluffs along the river 3 times. Each ascent was 500 to 600 feet of vertical climb. The Wisconsin riders followed a shorter, more direct and more level route so they traveled about 10 fewer miles than the Minnesota riders. We had a long lunch stop in Winona then pedaled another 40 miles to our destination of Brownsville. Our host church today is the Zion Evangelical Church. We arrived at the church between 5 and 6 p.m. and our hosts were there to greet us. Zack, Dan, Fiona, Johnny, Les and I are in two hosts’ homes that are right next to each other overlooking the Mississippi River. We all had a wonderful dinner together with tasty marinated meat and other delectable items.

Day 35, Northfield to Lake City, Minnesota

Ride distance: 52 miles; ride time: 2:54; cumulative distance: 2130 miles; average speed: 17.8 mph; calories: 3290; ascent: 1879 feet; descent: 2124 feet. Today’s ride was relatively short so we met at St. John’s Lutheran Church at 8 a.m. instead of our usual 7 a.m. meeting time. The ride went well except for 9 miles of road construction that resulted in a dirt road devoid of any asphalt. Zack had a blowout of a tube in addition to a tire that went bad at the same time. We’re getting used to fixing flats by now. They seem to take about 10 minutes to fix. Our host today was a Catholic Teen Center in Lake City. Amy was the coordinator for our stay and she did an excellent job of lining up host homes, coordinating a wonderful potluck dinner for us, and making lunches for the next day. As an extra special bonus, she even lined up the use of a 24-foot Sea-Ray speed boat for us to ride in on the Mississippi River. We had a great time of cruising on the river. There were 12 of us in the boat. Several of us even tried our hand at waterskiing. Lake City is famous for being the birthplace of waterskiing. The first waterskiing was done in the 1920’s. The skiers were pulled behind bi-planes with pontoons. It took awhile for speed boats to have powerful enough motors to be able to pull skiers. Johnny Young was the most successful looking like an old pro. Paul Bayfield was next to go and he made a very respectable showing too. Arek and I tried it and were unsuccessful. We had fun but we couldn’t quite get up on the skis. Mike tried it and was able to get up on his third attempt.

Day 34, at Northfield, Minnesota

I enjoy taking a day off each week. It gives us a chance to relax and get to know our host families better. This weekend, Les Chermak our new support person and I had the privilege of staying with Sharon, Derek, and Kristi Rasmussen. They have been excellent and gracious hosts while we’ve been here. We got spoiled eating Sharon’s brownies and Kristi’s chocolate pie. We went with them this morning to their church, Bethel Lutheran, in Northfield. We then came home for lunch. This afternoon, I’ll have to confess that we joined millions of others on this opening weekend in viewing the latest Batman movie, the Dark Knight. We noticed a few others from our group were in the theatre too. Northfield is famous for having the last bank that Jesse James and his band of outlaws robbed. They tried to make off with about $5 in money but members of the group were either apprehended or killed. Jesse apparently escaped but that ended his bank robbing days. Every September, they have a reenactment of the robbery. Thousands come into town on this weekend.

Day 33, Glencoe to Northfield, Minnesota

Ride distance: 73 miles; ride time: 4:12; cumulative distance: 2078 miles; average speed: 17.5 mph; calories: 4670 miles; ascent: 1678 feet; descent: 1722 feet. Today’s ride started in Glencoe. I had a delicious breakfast at the home of my hosts, Pastor Brad and his wife Ruth. I took a picture of them but unfortunately, it didn’t come out well – my apologies, Brad and Ruth, if you’re reading this. I did take a picture of the beautiful Asiatic lilies that they have in their back yard so I’ll include that picture instead. The ride today took a little over 4 hours. The wind was a cross between a headwind and a crosswind which means it slowed us up somewhat. I rode with Zach and Paul Bayfield again today. We seem to make a pretty good team. We ride together in a pace line which really helps when we’re fighting the wind. We take turns being the lead rider. The lead rider breaks the wind and the others are shielded by the rider in front of them. We try to find the “sweet spot” where we’re best protected from the wind. Sometimes we ride in a diagonal line for best protection. The picture on today’s blog was one I took with my left hand and the camera pointing behind me as I rode along. It was a blind shot but luckily, I was able to get some of the riders behind me in the shot. We had lunch out in the country and arrived in Northfield about 2 p.m. We had some time to kill before our hosts arrived so Paul, Zack and I rode into town and soon found the local Wendy’s for a little mid-afternoon ice cream snack. We’re being hosted this weekend by two Lutheran churches, St. John’s and Bethel. My hosts for the weekend are Sharon Rasmussen and her son Derek. We had one of my all time favorite dinners of spaghetti and meatballs. It was delicious. Thanks, Sharon. Les, our new support person is staying with us too.

Day 32, New London to Glencoe, Minnesota

Trip distance: 78 miles; trip time: 4:09; cumulative distance: 2005 miles; average speed: 18.7 mph; calories: 3345; ascent: 1150 feet; descent: 1332 feet. Sometimes we get an early start and sometimes we get a late start. Today was a late start day. Since some of our riders stayed to the end of the concert at the Sonshine Festival last night (around midnight), we decided that it would not be good to meet at 7 a.m. Instead, we met at 9 a.m. That gave me time to have a nice breakfast with my hosts, Mark and Julie Thompson and their 3 boys, Tristan, Gabriel, and Micah. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them and was glad to have an extra day at New London. Mark made up the route maps for us in Minnesota. Today’s trip marked a milestone: We just passed the 2,000 mile mark on our trip. We arrived in Glencoe around 4 p.m. and the first place we visited was the local Dairy Queen. We seem to be giving Dairy Queens and Tasty Freezes quite a bit of business these days – especially when it’s hot. We’re being hosted tonight by Christ Lutheran Church in Glencoe. Bryan, Les (our new support person) and I are staying with Pastor Brad and his wife Ruth. For dinner, we went to the home of Lowell and Colleen, members of the church, for a barbeque featuring good old Minnesota bratwurst. The family lives on a farm with lots of ducks, goats, and cats.

Day 31, at Sonshine Festival in Willmar, Minnesota

Today, we had an extra lay-over day so that we could be at the Sonshine Festival in Willmar. This is a big Christian music festival that attracts about 25,000 people. This year, it started on Wednesday night with a free concert by the group Jars of Clay. Some of the groups playing tonight were Superchick, Jeremy Camp, and Third Day. Youth for Christ had a booth in the main pavilion. The riders took turns at the YFC booth meeting with people and passing out cards with information about the ride we’re taking. The picture in today’s blog is the stained glass window in the sanctuary of Peace Lutheran Church in New London, our host church for our stay in the area.

Day 30, Alexandria to New London, Minnesota

Ride distance: 55 miles; ride time: 3:08; cumulative distance: 1927 miles; average speed: 17.3 mph; calories: 3362; ascent: 1357 feet; descent: 1371. Well, here we are at the half way point of our trip – time wise that is. I think we have more miles to go to be at half way point in distance. Our morning started in the breakfast room of the Hampton Inn. One of the local Youth for Christ supporters generously put us up in the hotel for the night. We had a very filling and hearty breakfast while we waited out a rain shower. By the time we left, the rain had stopped and we were able to make the trip with no further rain. I had my third flat before I started the ride today. I was filling one of my tires with air and tore the valve stem as I was removing the tire pump valve. Oh well, those things happen in the life of a cyclist. We arrived in New London at Peace Lutheran Church around lunch time. After lunch, we went to our hosts’ homes. I’m staying with Mark and Julie Thompson. Mark rode with us for 3 days and planned all the routes in Minnesota. We had to revise our route so that we could attend the Sonshine Festival this week. Youth for Christ has a booth at the festival featuring our Ride Across America. The riders will be at the booth on Thursday meeting with people at the festival. On Wednesday night, we went to the Jars of Clay concert. It was a good concert and thousands attended.

Day 29, Pelican Rapids to Alexandria, Minnesota

Trip distance: 78 miles; trip time: 4:24; cumulative distance: 1872 miles; average speed: 17.6 mph; calories: 4967; ascent: 2048 feet; descent: 1943 feet. We got an earlier start this morning and made good time today. The first 40 miles of the trip were very hilly and we passed by many lakes. We had lunch at the town of Dalton then got on the Cental Lakes Bike Trail for the final 35 miles of the trip. The trail was built on an old railroad grade so the grade never exceeded 2 percent. It was a great way to finish the ride. In Alexandria, we gathered near the giant statue of a viking. A runestone purportedly left by Vikings hundreds of years ago was found at a local farm. Some think that the vikings visited this area well before Columbus discovered America. Our group then went to a local bike shop. The owner is a Christian and associated with the local Youth for Christ organization. He also owns the local Subway restaurant so he provided lunch for our group with party sized sandwiches. The local group is putting us up tonight in the Hampton Inn so we're sleeping in style tonight.

Day 28, Fargo, ND to Pelican Rapids, Minnesota

Ride distance: 50 miles; ride time: 3:06; cumulative distance: 1794 miles; average speed: 16.1 mph; calories: 3051; ascent: 1326 feet; descent: 919 feet. Today was a fun day. We had a short ride of just 50 miles. The wind wasn't too bad although we did have some headwinds today. We left Fargo around 8:30 this morning after some good devotions by Dennis, the Youth for Christ Director in Fargo. He reminded us that it's not about making the 4,300 miles that's most important but what Christ has for us each day and the impact we're able to make on the people we come in contact with. We arrived in Pelican Rapids around lunch time and had our favorite lunch of wraps (made with large flour tortillas, roast beef, cheese, chopped tomatoes, ranch dressing and salsa). The lunch today was provided by an anonymous donor. We were grateful for it. After lunch, some of went swimming at the community pool located immediately adjacent to our host church in Pelican Rapids. The park we ate lunch at was right next to the church as well. Some of us also took short walks around Pelican Rapids. They have a beautiful walking bridge over the river and a 20 foot pelican statue in honor of the white pelican for which the town gets its name. At 6:30, we had dinner with the host church which is a Lutheran church. I'm staying tonight with the pastor of the church. Right now, everyone in the house is gone except a cute Sheltie dog named Oscar and a very gentle cat named Max. I made sure I petted them while their masters were away.

Day 27, at Fargo, North Dakota

Today is Sunday which is our day off. Zack, Arek and I have been staying with Scott Kruse, a Youth for Christ leader in Fargo. Scott had to leave for his own church at 7:30. The rest of us got picked up by Emma in the van at 9:15 and taken to Atonement Lutheran Church in Fargo where most of our group was. We shared with people at the 9:30 social hour then attended the 11 o’clock service. Paul and Becky Luedtke did a nice job of sharing about our trip during the service. For lunch, Dennis, the Youth for Christ Director in Fargo, treated us to a meal at a Thai restaurant in Moorhead, Minnesota which is just across the river from Fargo. The food was delicious. After lunch, we did some shopping. One of the places we went to was a huge sporting goods store with about everything imaginable. We came back to Scott’s place and watched Minnie, Scott’s 140 pound Newfoundland dog pull him up and down the street on his bicycle. (Now that’s almost as good as a tailwind). At dinner time, Arek, Emma, and Zack went back into Fargo for dinner and I stayed in West Fargo with Scott. Scott’s wife is visiting family in Norway for two weeks so Scott is batching it. I took Scott out to dinner at HuHot’s Mongolian Barbeque and was it ever good! I highly recommend it if you’re ever in Fargo.

Day 26, Page to Fargo, North Dakota

Ride distance: 53 miles; ride time: 2:19; cumulative distance: 1744 miles; average speed: 23 mph; calories: 3597; ascent: 348 feet; descent: 636 feet. We started the day with a delicious and hearty breakfast provided by our host church, the United Methodist Church, in Page. A mentally handicapped young man on his 3-wheeled bike led the riders out of town. Once we got to the highway, we headed east with the wind at our backs. Zack, Arek, Paul Bayfield and I took full advantage of the tailwind and averaged 28.5 mph for the first 13 miles. We got quite a bit ahead of the rest of the group so after about 28 miles of riding, we waited for the others to catch up. Two of the men passed us by and didn’t stop. We found out later that the reason they passed us was for “character building”. We couldn’t follow them immediately because we had chairs and a mattress pad from the van which had gone back to check on the rest of the riders. About ten minutes later, the van came back, collected the chairs and we began our pursuit. We finally caught up with the two men after about 40 miles into the trip and passed them by with pizzazz and our own bit of “character building”. It was all good fun and we elicited howls of laughter by some antics which I won’t mention. I had shot my wad in the pursuit, so for the first time in the trip, I dropped behind the young guys. Oh well, there’s always this week when I can attempt to reestablish my somewhat tarnished reputation. We arrived in Fargo before lunch and went to the beautiful city park on the Red River. We had lunch and spent the afternoon there. Some of us rode back into town for ice cream and another group went to the mall. At about 6 o’clock, we had a chicken barbecue in the park hosted by the Red River Youth for Christ. Dennis, the YFC director, provided all the food including the chickens which he had raised on his farm. It rained during dinner and grew cold but luckily for us, we were under a picnic shelter. Some of us warmed our hands over the coals after dinner. At 7 p.m., we made a presentation about our ride to the host families and YFC supporters that had come. After the presentation, we rode our bikes back to the YFC office in downtown Fargo to store our bikes for the weekend.

Day 25, Cooperstown to Page, North Dakota

Ride distance: 40 miles; ride time: 2:18; cumulative distance: 1691 miles; average speed: 17.3 mph; calories: 2490; ascent: 459 feet; descent: 723 feet. On Tuesday, we had the longest ride on the trip at 119 miles. Today we had the shortest at 40 miles. The wind was not such a negative factor today. We had some headwind but most of the wind today was crosswind. We didn’t leave today until 10 a.m. This was our latest starting time. We didn’t have lunch until we arrived at Page, our destination for the day. Along the way, our group was greeted by a sheriff’s deputy who was curious about our ride. He was a good sport and let us take pictures of several of our riders spread eagled against his squad car or sitting in the backseat. He even played along on a little prank on our ride director Bryan. He made it seem like our van driver, Emma, was in big trouble and we would need to post bail. Bryan got reeled in, hook, line and sinker until Emma couldn’t keep a straight face any longer. It was all in good fun (although Bryan might not agree). In the afternoon, several of us traveled back to Hope and went swimming in the community pool. The rest of the team stayed in Page and relaxed. We’re being hosted tonight by the United Methodist Church in Page. They put on a very nice spaghetti dinner for us. We had a nice time of sharing with those that attended. After dinner, Mike and I went to the home of our hosts, Toby and Sue. They own a crop dusting business in Page known as Tall Towers Aviation. Mike and I were impressed by all the planes they have including a completely restored P-41 Mustang. They even made a movie which will be coming out soon entitled “Thunder over Reno”. They have at least three crop dusting planes that are controlled by GPS. They have been using GPS since it was introduced in 1992 and are very impressed with the control it allows them to have in their spraying of crops. Toby was not able to crop dust today since the winds were gusting to over 35 mph. The winds need to be 15 mph or less for crop dusting. In the winter, Toby and his son rebuild planes. Some they keep and others they sell.

Day 24, Tokio to Cooperstown, North Dakota

Ride distance: 67 miles; ride time: 4:22; cumulative distance: 1651 miles; average speed: 15.4 mph; calories: 3883; ascent: 1283 feet; descent: 1420 feet. After a hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy and oatmeal, we said our farewells to Mike and Libby at the Spirit Lake Christian Center. It had rained during the night so the dirt road back to the camp was muddy. Mike and Libby shuttled our bikes out to the paved road in three trips using the "Sidewalk Sunday School" trailer. Today was a particularly hard day of riding. The distance was only 67 miles but we were fighting the wind all day long. I'm not used to east winds. Our group much prefers tailwinds but I'll bet that after today, they'd even settle for crosswinds. We arrived at our destination between 3:30 and 4 p.m. and were greeted warmly by the pastor of our host church and his wife. John and Kirstie opened up their home to us and we were able to take hot showers after the tough day of riding. Every year, the local bank puts on a free dinner for the community the day before the county fair starts. That happened to be today so we were treated to dinner by the Community Bank. After dinner, we went to the homes of our hosts. Dave, Darlene, Bryan and I are staying at the home of Charles and Diane. Charles is a retired farmer and Diane is a retired teacher. They're finding that retired life keeps them plenty busy.

Day 23, Rugby to Tokio, North Dakota

Ride distance: 97 miles; ride time: 5:21; cumulative distance: 1584 miles; average speed: 18.1 mph; calories: 6676; Ascent: 2065 feet; descent: 2016 feet. Our ride started in Rugby, the geographical center of North America. We had a continental breakfast at our Econolodge then hit the road. Our ride today was a little shorter than yesterday’s ride – only 97 miles instead of 119 miles. I had my second flat tire of the trip and it came at a very opportune time. We called for the support van to come back with the floor pump. Just as I started to work on the tire, it started to rain. The four of us who were riding together were able to get in the van just as a downpour started complete with thunder and lightning. The rest of the group was able to get to shelter in a recreation center a short way behind us. After waiting out the shower and fixing my flat, we were about to leave when Paul Bayfield discovered that he had a flat tire too. The rest of the group passed us by but we were finally able to get back on the road again. We passed a huge lake called Devil’s Lake. It has been flooding for the past 10 years and has continued to expand in size. Over 100 dwellings have had to be relocated due to the flooding. There are many dead trees around the lake due to the increase of the lake’s size. The lake is a natural lake and this expanding and contracting is part of its normal cycle, although the flooding cycle only occurs every 100 years or so. We are being hosted tonight by the Spirit Lake Christian Center, a camp run by the United Methodist Church for the purpose of hosting church groups that come to work on projects on the local Sioux Indian reservation. Mike and Libby are missionaries and run the camp. They have a “sidewalk Sunday School” trailer that they take to the various Indian communities in the area and have vacation Bible School for the kids. Mike and Libby shared with us how God brought them to this place, It was a great story. They served us a delicious barbequed dinner. Afterwards, they took several of us on a hike and showed us an Indian burial mount that is thought to be the burial mound of an Indian chief. There is a smaller mound nearby that may be the burial mound of his wife. You can also see stones nearby that are called “teepee stones”. They held down the flaps of the teepees that were pitched in the area,

Day 22, Stanley to Rugby, North Dakota

Ride distance: 119 miles; cumulative distance: 1487 miles; ride time: 6:09; Average speed: 19.3 mph; calories: 8421; ascent: 1649 feet; descent: 2328 feet. Our host church in Stanley, Our Savior's Lutheran, put on a pancake breakfast for us. Pastor Olson led us in a singing table grace and devotional. We got sarted on the ride between 7 and 7:30 a.m. We don't all leave at the same time -- the slower riders start first and the faster ones wait awhile to start. It keeps us together better this way. This was the longest ride of the trip at 119 miles. The wind didn't help us much today but it didn't hinder us either. We started arriving at Rugby shortly after 3 p.m. Rugby is known as the "geographical center of North America". There is a monument in town which proclaims this fact. We don't have a host church tonight so we're staying at the Econolodge. We ate at a local cafe.

 

Day 21, Williston to Stanley, North Dakota

Ride distance: 72 miles; ride time: 3:27; average speed: 20.8 mph; calories: 4765; ascent: 2410 feet; descent; 2098 feet. Here are the cumulative totals of our trip so far: Total distance: 1368 miles; total time: 83:46; average trip speed: 16.4 mph; total calories burned: 88,938. average calories burned per day: 4941; total ascent: 53,368 feet; total descent: 51,118 feet. We had breakfast with our host families today then met at the church at 7 a.m. We made good time again today due to a tailwind. We like tailwinds! :) We had lunch at a rest stop about 16 miles from our destination, then arrived at Stanley at the Lutheran Church around 1:30 p.m. The church had arranged for us to use the indoor pool across the street and we put that to good use. We relaxed in the jucuzzi jets then played pool basketball and pool volleyball. As I'm writing this, we're in the fellowship hall of the church awaiting dinner which should be served shortly. We are sleeping at the church tonight and have been provided with mattresses and bedding. Tomorrow will be our longest ride of the trip. We'll be travelling to Rugby which is about 115 miles from here.

Day 20, in Williston, North Dakota

It's great to have a day to relax, catch up on sleep, and unwind from six straight days of cycling. All of us went to the 9:30 a.m. service at First Lutheran Church in Williston. It was held in the chapel of this very large and beautiful church. The pastor acknowledged our group and said a few words about our trip and mission. After the service, we were on our own until evening. Zack and I went with our hostess, Francis, to a breakfast buffet at the airport. My friend, Jerry Irwin, will appreciate knowing that we had (in no particular order): egg souffle, cinnamon rolls, fruit, french toast, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, and a few other things that I may have forgotten.I took a long nap in the afternoon. At six o'clock, we gathered at the home of Bob and Eleanor, members of our host church, for dinner. We appreciated their screened in porch, particularly because of the horde of hungry mosquitos hovering outside the screens.

Day 19, Poplar, MT to Williston, North Dakota

Ride distance: 78 miles; ride time: 3:38; average speed: 21.6 mph; calories: 5407; ascent: 1941 feet. This was a day that all of us appreciated. We had the wind at our backs all day and were able to make good time. It was a welcome change from the headwinds we’ve had earlier in the week. Zack, Paul Bayfield, Arek and I were the first to arrive in Williston. We found the church which was being used for a wedding reception of a couple that got married in Jamaica earlier in the year. They invited the four of us to their reception so in we went, riding jerseys and all. We felt like wedding crashers. We even got our pictures taken with the bride and groom. It was fun. For dinner, we had pizzas that our host church, First Lutheran, provided. Zack and I are staying at the home of Francis and her son, Dean, We’ll be here until Monday morning when we leave for Stanley, North Dakota.

Day 18, Glasgow to Poplar, Montana

Ride distance: 71 miles; ride time: 4:24; average speed: 16.1; calories: 4176; total ascent: 808 feet. Our host church in Glasgow, the Evangelical Church gave us a wonderful send-off breakfast. They even had two of the latest Belgium waffle makers to make waffles for us. On our ride, we had some headwinds in the morning but were able to go a bit faster after lunch with crosswinds. We arrived at Poplar at about 3;30 p.m. and went to the home of the Associate Pastor of our host Church. Stuart and I went with our support couple, Dave and Darlene, to the home of our hosts, George and Roberta Budak. George and Roberta are retired farmers and have several thousand acres of property. I noted the unusual number of trees near their house and the water nearby. They explained that the Missouri River used to flow there. In fact, Lewis and Clark came through in the 1800's just a short distance from George and Roberta's house. A major flood in 1916 rerouted the Missouri River so that it now flows further south of the property. We were served a delicious dinner and then drove about 30 miles to a genuine Indian Pow Wow. It was the 50th annual Pow Wow at Fort Kipp and featured many Native American dancers and singers.