another day; another state

Well friends, between sending a few emails, dinner and talking to my host family, it's probalby already later than i should be up. But I wanted to just post a quick note to let you all know about today's progress. We are now in the great state of Ohio. Which is exciting. Almost like being back at school, but i'm still 2 weeks away from that...

Alright, it's now past 10:00 and we're meeting at the YFC camp to start biking at 7. I'll try to write more tomorrow, plus i have a few pictures that I still want to post for you (like the tar picture i promised but still haven't gotten from Dan).

Goodnight.
Mike
mcsc2c@gmail.com

PS as much as I poked fun at Indiana in my post yesterday, I did really enjoy my two nights there. Thanks!

just confused

Well as we were biking our (almost) 100 miles today i ran into several situations where i had to stop and consider for a moment. Like the time that we came to Denver. I had to ask myself if we'd made a wrong turn. Then there was Chile and Peru. I hope those people realize they're living in Indiana. :)
Then I came upon this sign right next to a corn field. First of all, who plants crows?? And second, i'm pretty sure the bible states that you reap what you sow. If in fact they planted crows there, there should be crows coming up... not corn. ah well, Indiana has been a fun state. Alas, tomorrow we move on yet again; this time to Ohio. And I'm just now getting used to the idea of actually being in Indiana. My mind has been stuck in Illinois.

Blessings!
Mike

mcsc2c@gmail.com

Hot and Humid and into Indiana

Well today was hot and steamy; the first really hot and humid day that we have had. (there was a small herd of cows standing in some water to cool themselves). Though, it felt good to work up a good sweat. The picture here is of Nikki from Cornell (where we were yesterday). Though, I messed up last night and called her Cindy (woops). She very graciously donated $5 for the YFC ministry. It's amazing how the giving spirit of Christ has been exemplified through young children investing in ministry. Thank you Nikki! And thank you to everyone who has invested in the ministry to military teens, both financially through prayer and by supporting us in our trek.
We are now in Indiana. (though the only evidence was a change in the road condition and the license plates) Again, I'm amazed at how quickly the last couple states have passed by. I'm at a loss for what else to write today. Is there anything in particular that you all like to hear about?

Mike
Mcsc2c@gmail.com

Tar, gasoline and hospitality

Todays 83-ish mile day was moving along quite nicely until right after lunch when the route mapped out for us took us onto a gavel covered tar road for about 10 miles. Dan and I were out front, having left early from lunch, and biked 3 miles on that road accumulating what probably came out to a pound of rocks and tar on each tire plus whatever splattered on the bike. Dan got a couple pictures of the bikes at the end of our 3 miles (I'll try to get copies and post them tomorrow). The guys directly behind us were smarter and only went a half mile in before realizing the situation and turning around. The rest of the team at the back ended up not even having to deal with it, and just going around completely.

I ended up getting to the church at about 4 and spent the next 2 and a half hours cleaning bikes. I ended up learning something new in the process: gasoline is an excellent cleaning agent for getting tar removed from pretty much anything. From bike tires to frames to skin. I'll have to keep that tidbit filed away for the future. Though it's getting expensive....

The hospitality of our hosts in the cleaning process was just astounding, though. The found old t-shirts for us to use as rags, gasoline to clean with, soap and water to rinse everything off with, a hose (and spigot). They offered several time to run and get other cleaners and this that and the other thing. Then, after all that cleaning, we of course smelled like gasoline and they still sat with us for dinner! Thanks to all those who were part of the team that got our bike cleaned, provided food, spent time with us, etc. I have really appreciated it!

In Illinois

One more quick post for today. The team is pretty excited to have finally made it to Illinois. We've got all of our 'big' states behind us. Its amazing to think that we only have 19 days left until we arrive in Bar Harbor. Just a couple days in IL, a couple in IN and OH. A few in NY one in both NH and VT and a couple in ME and we're done.

It's been so nice biking, there's nothing to worry about, you just get up in the morning, eat, bike, eat lunch, bike some more, eat dinner, give a presentation, have the opportunity to talk to hosts, go to bed, wake up and start over. Getting back to school is going to be a big change.

Providence

I've mentioned a couple times how we have been unbelieveably blessed with the weather and lack of injury on our trip. It has now been 41 days since we left Anacortes and still, other than the 10 minutes of a thunderstorm that we biked througha few weeks ago on our way to Tokio, we haven't had any bad weather.

Its interesting though, I mentioned the other day that we are below our average on number of miles traveled so far and at times I have honestly been bothered by that. But, I realize now that per usual everything is part of God's plan. I can't even imagine the amount of prayer that has gone into this trip.

Had we been closer to the average than we have been, it could be that we would have been in this area when the 100+mph winds hit on Monday throughout the day. It would have made biking impossible and dangerous even to be in the area. Dan and I found this truck not far from Kewanee almost a week after the storm!
But by the Providence of God we are here now and not then.

You know you're a biker when...

I just thought you all might be amussed by this... You know you are a biker when you have tan lines on your fingers from wearing fingerless gloves. You can even tell which fingers I have wrapped underneath the handlebars on a regular basis. We all have really well defined tan lines on our legs and arms as well from our shirts and spandex shorts. Some of the guys even have tan lines on the sides of their faces from the helmet strap and a couple guys who are either loosing hair or have really short hair have tan lines where the sun has come through the holes in the helmet.

I'm looking forward to getting back to school with these lines. :)

Today was a great day. We had the opportunity, for about 15 miles of our ride, to join along side some of the 10,000+ Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). It was a lot of fun to talk to some of the riders. I talked toa couple guys that were there with Military cycling teams. (Air Force and Army).
I also had the chance to talk to a guy who was there with the Livestrong Foundation. It was neat to hear about some of their experiences. I think i'd really like to do the ride sometime in the coming years. Of course I handed out a couple cards, but I only had three with me after handing a bunch out last night...

As we got close to being done with our 75 mile ride, we came to an area where the road was closed due to recent flooding in the area and then 100 mile straight winds that brought down a bunch of trees. Dan, Staurt and I started on the detour while the other stood at the corner trying to figure out the directions. Well, it turned out that the bridge that was out cor cars was passable with bikes. So, Dan, Stuart and I ended up doing an extra 18 miles. Life goes one. We were pretty tired by the end, but we all made it.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Mike
mcsc2c@gmail.com

Wind, Exhaustion and Christian Fellowship

The wind was really blowing through Iowa today. You might be able to get an idea by how much some of these stems are bent over. It's hard to get a picture of the wind. It really took it out of me. Actually, today was just a rough day for me in general.

I woke up this morning and for the first time didn't really have a desire to get on my bike. I was just tired. I stopped a couple times to read through some psalms, in order to remind myself of God's promise for provision. We only had 46 miles to bike, but I really needed that to get me through.

Even so, as I got about 10 miles out, all I could do was ask for God to sustain me. About 2 miles outside of Central City I saw a Baptist Community Church and a man (presumably the pastor) mowing the lawn. I had a burden to stop, give him a card and talk to him for a few minutes. I pulled over and considered for a minute,but really just wasn't in the mood to talk. So I decided to keep going. Over the the next 100 yards, the burden just kept growing to go talk to the gentleman. So I turned around and had the opportunity to talk to Bob and his daughter. I mentioned what we are doing, the projects we're supporting, but in reality, Bob was ministering to me. I can't tell you how much of a ministry it was to me to just talk to a Christian brother along the route. Bob, if you have the chance to read this, thank you.

Mike
mcsc2c@gmail.com

Iowa, flat?

Today was a pretty tough day! It was our first day in Iowa, and I never expected the number of hills that we saw today! Everybody talks about Iowa as being flat (or at least that's how I've always pictured it). We biked about 96 miles with something like 4000 feet of climbing. It was interesting though, because the hills weren't like the mountains we've crossed so far. Just a long gradual (more or less) up hill. They were short and steep. Several were 9 percent grade.

We did have fun today, though. Arek and I were singing Disney songs through several hills. It may not have made the hills easier, but definitely more fun. :)

This evening we are staying in the small town of Edgewood, IA, and had the opportunity to visit with two church congregations. We shared a meal with the first and gave our presentation at the second. There was a lot of interest in our trip and the ministries we're supporting from the congregations. We set it up more like a panel ended up having a lot of really good questions. It was great to interact a bit more with our hosts than to just tell them what we're doing and call it a night. Which, is what i need to do... I'm exhausted.

22 July - to Brownsville, MN

Today actually turned out to be closer to 100 miles for me, when all was said and done… Arek, Paul L. and I took a detour off the route to make it into Wisconsin. We figured we'd take the opportunity to add one more state to our number visited. We met back up with the group in Winona. Evidently the bridge there has just been reopened recently. Good thing! Afterwards, I kind of headed off in the front leaving a little early from lunch and I didn't stay more than a 3 min at the rest stop. I was just enjoying the ride through the hills of Southern Minnesota and worshipping with some music on my mp3 player.

Before too long I found myself cruising down a really nice hill in and out of the turns at around 35 or 40 mph. it was just great. When I got to the bottom, I checked my map to see how much further I had to go before I reached Brownsville. Unfortunately, I had just added about 2 and a half miles to my trip. So I turned around and went back up the hill. Unfortunate about having to climb back up, but it really was a nice ride. And the view from the top of the ridge, overlooking the Mississippi River valley was just gorgeous. The pictures don't do it justice.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.

21 Jul - To Lake City

I'm writing this after the fact for Monday's ride. It was a pretty short ride, just 50 miles or so to Lake City, MN. The whole team was in pretty early, which gave us the opportunity to enjoy a boat ride and water skiing on Lake Pepin/Mississippi River. I'd never been water skiing before, so that was a treat for me. In addition my girlfriend was able to come visit me for the evening. After dinner we were able to share our presentation with the folks that were there.

The hosts I stayed with last night were a young couple, Amy works with a youth ministry in the town. They were a lot of fun. When I walked into the house I got shot with a marshmallow out of a blow tube. Yeah, it was a good day. Fun, relaxing. Got us ready for today's 90+ mile day.

Oh, yeah... On the way to Lake City we crossed a 9 mile long 'construction zone' where the road surface had bee torn up leaving a road almost as bad as gravel. At the end, where the pavement restarted, there was a sign to warn us of the "BUMP" They should have had a sign at the beginning that said "Bump - Next 9 Miles"! I'd uplad the picture, but I'm borrowing but I'm having trouble getting the pics to go from the computer I'm borrowing.

Weekend #5

It is hard to believe that weekend number 5 has now come and gone. (I'm not posting this until Tuesday). The weekend has been wonderful, yet again. I've spent time relaxing around the house, got to talk to a friend on her birthday for a while, went out to see a movie.

Church this morning was interesting for me. We were at St. John's Lutheran, here in Northfield, and I'm not used to the way that a Lutheran service is held, with so many different congregational responses and songs that were sung in response to things. So of course I was flipping through the bulletin and the hymnal most of the service, trying to keep up. The message was on Jacob and his dream of the ladder from heaven.

Also, I wanted to give you an update from the post I made on the 13th (http://mcsc2c.blogspot.com/2008/07/acts-189-10.html). I'm not going to go into details in case the person I'm referring to reads this blog, but I did have the chance a couple times to witness to people in my host families and a guy a met on the road one day. Basically the question arises, why are you doing this ride and of course my answer is, ultimately so that teens around the world have to opportunity to receive Christ as Savior. "Well, what does that mean?"

It means that you have recognized Christ as Lord and that only through his sacrifice do you have any chance at forgiveness of sins. It means that the Holy Spirit has begun to work in your life to make you like Christ. All of which will be evidenced by a burden on your heart to do the things that Christ did. It means that you no longer have an acquaintanceship with him, but a relationship through which you want to please him.

For those of you who have 'significant others' (I don't particularly like that term, but it prevents me from listing all the different possibilities of relationship status), this might help you understand what I mean: When there is someone you love, you do things simply in order to please that person. Not to win points so that you can have some advantage later, or so that the 'love' is returned (that is in fact only loving yourself), but simply because you want to please that person. Love and relationships are a two way street, I understand that. But ultimate love is done without thought of the return benefits.

Christ loved us in the ultimate way, by giving his life in payment for our sins even before we loved him. Without requirement for us to love him in return. Remember what DC Talk said, "Luv is a verb." So, today's challenge is simply to love.

What are we doing?

This post is specifically for anyone who is new to this blog. I handed out over 500 cards at Sonshine on Wednesday and Thursday, telling each person about what Youth for Christ (YFC) is doing in Europe, Middle East and North Africa. I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you all, and maybe reiterate for those who have been following along, what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it.

First off, I'd like to recommend that you check out my video, which will give you the basics: video

Now, Let me tell you a little about myself and what my team and I are doing. My father is a civilian working for the US Army in Germany. I spent 7^th-12^th grade going to school on base there with mostly with military teens. During the summer after 9^th grade, I trusted Christ as my savior through the work a military youth ministry.

Most people aren't familiar with military teen life. Everybody already talks about how hard it is to be a teen already. Military teens move every three years. I graduated from HS with a guy who moved 14 times in 12 years! In addition they are fatherless (or motherless) for up to 15 months at a time. There just isn't any real sense of stability for the kids. They learn to make friends quickly (since they're always moving), but they don't let anyone get extremely close to them for fear of being hurt. It's just a tough life to live.

In an opportunity to support the ministry that YFC has to these teens I am biking across the US from Washington State to Maine with a group of 10 other riders talking to churches and families about this ministry as well as five community centers that they are trying to build throughout their Europe, Middle East and North Africa region. 75% of the money that is raised will go towards military youth ministries and 25% will go to support of the five other projects.

If you are interested in more information, I'd encourage you to check out these websites:
www.mcym.org – Military Community Youth Ministries
www.yfcbikeride.org/sponsorship.htm - Links to more information about each of the community centers
www.yfcbikeride.org - The main bike ride page

If you are interested in supporting this ministry, please visit my support page and pray for us, the teens that these funds will be used to minister to and the ministry of Youth for Christ: www.firstgiving.com/michaelscott

God Bless!
Mike Scott
mcsc2c@gmail.com

PS I'm going to leave this post up here for a few days to give new readers the opportunity to read more about what we are doing and who I am supporting. I'll post updates for the next few days later.

HI everybody, I'm sure I'll have a few more readers starting this weekend. I was at SonShine festival in Willmar Minnesota yesterday and the day before and handed out 538 cards to tell people about what YFC is doing, and why we are biking across the country. Right now I need to get going, we're supposed to be on our way to Glencoe right now... My plan is to write a post to tell all of my new readers more specifically about the ministries that I am supporting and how you can be praying for us. If you have any questions, please email me at mcsc2c@gmail.com

A not so rainy day

I woke up this morning at 5:10 to the sound of pouring rain outside of my room. My alarm wasn't set for another hour, so I went back to sleep, but started preparing myself for a 65 mile ride in the rain. At our daily morning meeting, Mark (the guy who re-routed our path through Minnesota) gave us a shorter route.

Supposedly the wind was going to be going against us the whole way. We got under way around 8:30 and moved to the south. At the time it had stopped raining. By the end of the 56 miles I hadn't seen a drop of rain and the wind was at our backs for about half the ride. It turned into an absolutely beautiful day!

So, now we are half way by time. today was day number 30. We've still got a few days befoerr we get halfway by miles. This evening and tomorrow we're hosted at Bryan's church in New London and we'll be going to the Sonshine music festival this evening and tomorrow to talk to whoever is there and interested in what we're doing.

The festival is a huge Christian music festival, going several days with tons of bands. Supposedly there will be about 25,000 people that come through over the next few days. Should be a great opportunity to talk to a lot of people about YFC. And maybe even share the gospel with people. Please be praying for opportunities. Thanks!

Well, we certainly are in the land of 10,000 lakes. Today, as we were riding from Pelican Rapids to Alexandria, MN, it seemed like there was a new lake every quarter mile. Most of them were pretty small, probably more ponds than lakes, but all the same, there was a lot of water around. Interesting though, I still have yet to see a single mosquito since we crossed in MN. So I'm thankful for that, and the road today. We were on a bike path for about 35 miles of our 75 miles. It was an amazing ride. Really great to get away from traffic. Be able to ride anywhere on the pavement. It was smooth. Just great. Thank you Minnesota.
I don't know how many of you have been to my fundraising page lately (http://www.firstgiving.com/michaelscott), but I am really glad to announce that donnations have continued to come in to support the work of YFC towards military teens in Europe. To date, just over $10,300 has been raised! It is so amazing to see God bring in money for to reach those kids! Between the financial support of friends and family around the world as well as some of the folks that I have met in the past few weeks, I have been really encouraged to see how much people see the need in this mission field.

I also want to again thank everyone who has offered words of encouragement as we've been traveling. I have really appreciated it!
Also, as a side note, just in case you were unaware.... Alexandria, MN is the birthplace of America. I'm not exactly sure how that works, but the shield on the viking statue proclaims it proudly. Evidently there was a runestone found in the area that supposedly dates back to the 14th Century. Indicating that Vikings were here in the 13oos, well before Columbus discovered the Americas. There is some debate about it, but who am I to say....

4 States down

This morning we left North Dakota and are now moving through the lake land known as Minnesota. Interestingly though, everyone always talks about how bad the mosquitos are here... I don't think i've seen a single one all day long. That's been a nice change.

We finished our 50 miles today by abour 12:30 and spent the afternoon relaxing in the park near the church in town. The town is a great place. Really laid back and quiet, with plenty to do.

I guess I really don't have much to say today... Tomorrow, we're headed to Alexandria, MN. About 75 miles. I'm glad we're doing more than 50 or so, though. If we are going to average 83 for the trip and we've only been doing 60s and 50s the last couple days, we're going to have to make those miles up later on....

Thanks for your prayers!

Acts 18:9-10

Dear friends, I was reading this morning in Acts. Really just skimming several passages in the book as as a reminder of how God has grown his church and just the marvelous way that he works. I came across 18:9-10 and wanted to share it with you: “The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, 10 because I am with you and no one will assault you to harm you because I have many people in this city.’”

For me personally it is an encouragement and reminder that I can and should be speaking boldly about the faithfulness of Christ and his redeeming work. I know many times I've had opportunities to share the gospel slip by because I was afraid. Not even for my life or safety, as Paul might have been, but simply for my appearance and reputation. As the Lord says to Paul, though, there is no reason to be fearful!

What damage could possibly happen to my reputation that would negate the Holy Spirit saving someone because I was willing to share with them? And beyond that what does my earthly reputation matter when compared to my faithfulness to my Lord? As I'm sure many of you have heard Jim Elliot's quote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

I guess I write this, as a challenge to myself and to anyone who might read this. Christ did not allow the fears he had of the cross to keep him from doing the things that he knew would please the Father. Pray for the opportunity this week to share your faith with a friend or even a random person that you meet in the grocery store checkout line and when the Lord provides that opportunity don't keep your mouth shut in fear but open it in praise of your Father in Heaven.

To Fargo and start weekend 4

It seems like just yesterday I was writing the post for last weekend. Time has just been flying by this week! Today wasn't anything too special, I suppose. The wind was coming out of the West again, which was really nice for our SW trip. The first 14 miles or so were spent cruising along up over 20 mph with harly any pedaling. Though there was a bit more work involved when we turned south and had the cross wind.

We got into Fargo around noon and just relaxed in Lindenwood park (picture) until about 6:00 when we had dinner. Bryan's family surprised him in Fargo. That made up for the prank that was pulled on him yesterday... I took some time to play frisbee with Bryan's two sons (11 and 9, I think) and Jonny and Fioina. And just layed on the grass for about an hour relaxing and listening to music. It was a great afternoon.

This evening, I'm staying with a young couple from the Dakotas. The husband has a great testimony. He was an addict from the age of 9 to 19 when Christ got ahold of him and turned his life around. Since then he's been working (more or less) in ministry to teens. I spent a little while talking to them this evening, then came in here to go to bed and started writing blogs instead... Now it really is time for bed.

11 July - To Page, ND

I've got a couple stories for today, but first take a look at this picture. Do you see any river?!? The 'river' is not even 5 feet across. How is that a river?

Anyways, story of the day. Right around the time that I stopped to take this picture, Bryan (our team leader) and I rolled up towards the support van to see a Sheriff parked behind with Emma, the driver standing at the back end of it with her hands up against the car. Generally not a good sign. As we pulled up, Arek and Becky told Bryan that he needed to go talk to the officer.

As Bryan walked over, the officer asked if he knew her. He said, "yes, this is Emma Duncan." "Does she have a valid license?" "I think so..... Emma, do you?" "Yeah."

The cop turns back to Bryan and says, "Well, her license isn't showing up as valid in our system. I'm going to have to take her into jail in Fargo. Bond will be posted at $600."
At that point, Emma had to say stop because she couldn't hold back the laughter any longer!! The Sheriff had pulled up behind the van to see what we were doing. We ended up having a great conversation with him.

This was the message on the board outside the church that is sponsoring us. Very short and to the point reminder of why we're here, I think. Though, as Stuart basically put it, life can't be focused on what we can do for God. He doesn't need us. We should simply focus on pleasing him. Though, having said that, it is a hard thing to understand the difference. That's where we need the wisdom that he provides.
I'm staying with a family who runs a crop dusting business in the area. They've got two hangars worth of airplanes, plus a P-51D (WWII fighter) that the dad rebuilt and is housed at a museum in Fargo. How cool is that. Instead of driving on family vacations, they take the family plane. But the mom said the kids still ask, "Are we there, yet?" I guess some things never change.
The family had this sign outside in their garden. I thought it was pretty good.

I think that's it for today. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement everybody!

A 'short' 70 miles

Today was a short 70 miles. Unfortunately, all 70 of those were head into a 15+ mph wind. It was honestly pretty brutal. In many ways harder than any of our climbs. In fact, my average speed of just the time that I spent on my bike today was less than average speed of the entire amount of time that I spent between departure and arrival on our 120 mile day! (I hope that makes sense)

But we arrived and shortly after, we went out for an ice cream. We have been told that a chocolate shake is one of the best ways to recover after a long ride. Between the milk and all the great stuff that is in it and the chocolate to provide a bit of energy. Good excuse for some ice cream, I think.

Cooperstown, where we are staying tonight, has taken good care of us. The Pastor and his wife arranged for us to eat burgers and hot dogs at the pre-dinner to the county fair. (i'm not sure what else to call it). There were about 300 people there from the community, we got to talk to a few of them. It was pretty obvious that we were 'the bikers.'

This evening a few of us are just hanging out with the Pastor his wife and their 11 month old son.

Tomorrow is a really easy day. Only 39 miles to Page, ND. And it looks like the wind will be shifting back to the west!

Thanks for your prayers! By the way, my Achilles tendons are feeling great.

To Tokio

Greetings from Tokyo. Wait, I mean Tokio, ND. We had a good day of almost 100 miles by the time we got to where we are staying. The ride was pretty nice, though. We got rained on for the first time since we started riding over three weeks ago. We could see the cloud coming for about 30 minutes before it got there and it finally caught up to us around 2:30. It was so nice to bike in the rain. Strong winds at our back, nice cool rain. It was really great. Until it started to throwing lightning bolts. at that point we decided to call it quits.

Thankfully, God provided a great place for us to duck into cover at the Spirit Lake recreation center, on the Sioux Indian reservation. The guy running the facility was just fantastic to let us store our bikes for 20 minutes or so.

Tonight, we're staying at a retreat center that functions as a place for mission teams coming to the reservation to stay. Mike and Libby, the missionaries are taking good care of us.

Sorry, no pictures of the storm.... I didn't think it would get along with the water.

Psalm 19

This morning, the pastor at the Lutheran chuch we stayed at last night did a devotional for us in Psalm 19, talking about the glory of God evident in creation. It was interesting though, as he was talking and everyone focusing on his words, I looked out the window and noticed an absolutely beautiful sight. This picture, I took on the road about 45 min later, but it will help you imagine the beauty. I really was tempted to interrupt the pastor and just tell him to open the windows to make his point. Here are a couple more pictures of what I saw of God's creation today.

Today's ride brought us a total of 120 miles. It was a long ride. We ended up having lunch after 70 miles, which is further than some of our days have been in total! I wanted to talk to my parents in Germany, and they asked me to call around 3 my time. So I really pushed it today... I'm going to be sore tomorrow. I'm already a bit sore...
The ride took us to Rugby, ND (I know the last couple day's have been different than the original plan for where we'd be staying. we should be back on track in a couple days.) We found out when we got into town that Rugby is the geographical center of Norht America. Kind of neat to be able to say that I've been here.

We don't have host families again, tonight. My understanding is that a YFC organization in the area sponsored a night in a hotel for us. But tomorrow we should have hosts again.

Another wonderful day (day 21)

We have now completed 3 full weeks worth of our ride. I understand that we have about 135o total miles biked, over 50,000 feet climbed and (though this isn't data for me) almost 89000 calories burned! Needless to say we've been eating a lot of food to keep us going.

Here's a pic of where we stopped for lunch today. It was a great spot during a great day. The wind was, again, blowing at our backs and we were just cruising. My average was over 19 mph and we gained almost over 300 feet of elevation today with a total of 2400 feet climbed. It really was great. Took some time to play soccer, rest and we still made it in by 1:30.

I'm going to upload some more pictures to my slide show in a minute, if you've been keeping up with those and then I'm going to go spend some time visiting with the members of the church that are going to be here to have dinner with us. No host families tonight; we're sleeping on air mattresses scattered throughout the building.

Weekend #3

Roger and Esther, my host family from Williston, ND were really great. Really the whole church there at First Lutheran was! They made sure we were well fed (Stuart and I each had the biggest omlets for lunch on Sunday that I think I have ever seen!). We stayed up pretty late (11:00) on Saturday night just talking about the differences between America and Europe, between the generations and how today's youth think. Just about everything. It was really wonderful to just have a good conversation.
They also took us out to Fort Union (a fur trading post, main building pictured left), Fort Buford, the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. While we were at the confluence center (there's a small museum there) , we mentioned the the lady, Kerry, on staff that Stuart and I were biking across the US to raise support and awareness for YFC and it's ministries in Europe. At that she went to grab whatever cash she had in her purse as a donation for us. She gave each of us $5. There have been a few other instances where people have just generously donated as we meet them. It is amazing to see how God provides through people like that and how much people care about mission work overseas!

A great day - Saturday, 5 July

We had the wind at our backs the whole way on Saturday (and today). It really brought the morale of the group up after several days of hard biking into the wind. Instead of struggling to bike at 15 mph, we were cruising up hills at 20. One of the construction workers who was filling in the cracks on the road knew exactly how we felt. :)
I grabbed a quick shot of half of our support crew (the SAG wagon) as they were going by. Becky and Emma have been great at keeping us supplied with water, food and encouragement throught the day. We've really appreciated them!
This was one of the most welcome sights of the trip so far. At least it was for me, but i think it was for most of the rest of the team as well. It's great to be moving on to our 4th state!

A funny bike story

On Saturday, just after passing into North Dakota, Dan's chain broke. Not generally a helpful thing when you're trying to go somewhere. But, with the tools he had on hand he was able to remove the broken link and get it put back together in pretty short order. But in the process of fixing the chain, he forgot to run it back through the rear derailleur (the two little gears that sit below the main gears in back and allow you to shift), hence all of the slack in the picture.

So, Paul and Dan then decided the easiest course of action would be to just remove the second of the little gear, push the chain back into place and then put the gear back. Well, it didn't work. After about 30 minutes of fiddling with the system, removing the entire derailleur, and breaking and rebuilding the chain again, it was finally fixed. The 5 or so of us watching had a good laugh.

out of Poplar, in North Dakota!

I'm over at a host family's house fixing her wireless network. I got it! Anyways, I just wanted to post a quick update while I have the internet for a few minutes. We did make it through Poplar without any problems!! God is good.

We also had a beautiful day on Saturday. about 80 miles with the wind blowing at our backs the whole time! You know that when you can climb a hill at 20 miles an hour with out a whole lot of effort, it is a good day!

Thank you all for your prayers.

An interesting Independence day

Yesterday was Dave's birthday and today was Paul B.'s. We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate, but it was fun to have to at least give cards to them. Thanks, Dave for being here and supporting us, and Paul, it's great to have you here on the trip with us!


Yesterday I saw Dandelions for the first time since day one of our trip in Washington. It's odd to get excited about things like that....
I think these are wild sunflowers. They were all over the side of the road this afternoon.


I also saw this random church as we were coming into Poplar. From a distance it looks abandoned, but there were flags outside... So who knows.

About the ride today.... it can be summed up pretty easily. It was Hot! We ate lunch under some trees at a park in Wolf Point. Nice place, and I am reallly glad that the trees were there. I ended up taking a nice nap.

This evening, after arriving in Poplar we went to an Indian Pow Wow a few miles further up the road. It was definitely an interesting experience. I'm really not sure how else to describe it. Though, we didn't spend a lot of time there. It lasts all weekend. They had some traditional dancing and wear. It was definitely a good experience.

Now, were're trying to figure out how to fit 10 people into a small house. Our host has been absolutely wonderful trying to make sure we all have a comfortable place to sleep. We're spread out all over the house!


Anyways, I need to get some sleep. Thank you for your prayers, especially for tonight and the security of our stuff. I think it will be ok. Everything is locked in the garage of the house we're staying at tonight.