Blue Skies

And they shall know we are Christians by our love…

I’m continuing my reading of “Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper, a book that I started reading in Madison on tour. A great quote was brought up by the author, which I thought I’d share with you.

Emperor Julian wrote about Christianity, calling Christians “atheists” for not believing in the Roman gods. About Christianity he complained, (editors notes are Piper’s)

“Atheism [i.e., Christian faith] has been specifically advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.”

That’s a pretty powerful comment right there as to the importance that Christianity should place on helping the weak and the poor, and how it stands out from the rest of the world.

Home in the Hammer

So I’m back in Hamilton, as of this past Sunday. It’s starting to feel more normal now, but the first couple days after tour were really weird. I was shopping at the nearby grocery store and saw a figure in my peripheral vision. “Theo? What’s he doing here?”, I thought to myself. Turning to look, I of course saw that it was someone else. It just goes to illustrate how conditioned I’ve become to seeing only a certain set of people around me.

I do plan on relating more about the last two weeks of tour, and throwing more photos on flickr, but that sort of activity will come as time allows… and lunch break is over now.

Catching up again

Ok, ok Jim, you’re right… I haven’t posted in a bit.

It seems like there’s been less free time ever since we hit Madison. It could be that there is actually less free time, but its more likely the realization at that point that there is only a short time left before the trip is over, leading me to try to do more things while I can.

The past week has been a time of adjusting to a new type of tour - I no longer no everyone’s name in camp. Sixty new cyclists have joined, and although I’ve got about 10 new names down its not going to be possible to really get to know everyone before the tour is done. Especially since we’re almost down to one week left now. New people has been good for us, however, since they come at the tour with fresh eyes and new energy and excitement.

I’ve had some decently long days recently, even though the distances through this part of the country are shorter than those we dealt with coming out of the plains. The day out of Grand Rapids I didn’t end up getting in to camp until 6:30 PM, since it was our turn to sweep and a cyclist had a few technical issues in the morning that slowed him down.

The crossing into Canada on Wednesday was pretty stellar. We took a ferry from Marine City, Michigan to Sombra, Ontario. We first assembled in a small park on the American side, a half block away from the ferry. At about 9:45 AM, once all cyclists and staff had checked in as present, the cyclists moved en mass to the docks where they proceeded to fill the next two and a half ferry trips.

I was driving the van again, and we managed to squeeze on the third ferry crossing over. On the Canadian side, everyone was rapidly being processed (we had been pre-approved to enter). Driving a vehicle, I got to skip past a whole bunch of cyclists. There was a welcoming crowd at the dock exit, and a small field there was covered with people, pavilions, white and red balloons, and lots of food and Tim Hortens coffee. Chathem treated us very well, and the following day cyclists got what is likely the flatest ride of the tour.

Today I’m sitting at home in Hamilton. I took the day of from being support and got a ride home with my sisters who had driven out to London to visit. Marika had actually told me earlier that they were coming, but I had completely forgotten, so it was a pleasant surprise. Tomorrow is a easy, and beautiful ride to St. Catherines.

It’s unlikely that I’ll manage to get back to daily posts, but I’ll try not let it be a whole week before I post again. =P

Day 40: New Hampton to Fennimore

The third century day was actually just short, if my sources are correct, at 99.9 miles. I trust that most cyclists managed to pick up an extra tenth of a mile somewhere. Many cyclists were good and tired from the previous two long days, and this time it was Betsy’s and my turn to be the sweep SAG again.

The days route took us through a number of small towns, and then on a fairly busy road that eventually took us down a fun descent toward a bridge over the river that marked the border between Iowa and Wisconsin. Fortunately it wasn’t a toll bridge this time, although this time we didn’t end up crossing it more than once. That was followed by a climb to regain the altitude that was lost, and a few more miles into Wisconsin to get to Fennimore.

Continue reading Day 40: New Hampton to Fennimore…

Day 39: Algona to New Hampton

The second long day of the week was just under 113 miles. Betsy and I headed out in the morning to mark the second half of the route, which took us a large chunk of the morning due to the distances involved. Once we were done, we headed back to a town we had passed called Rockford, which proudly boasts that it is the home of Devonian fossils. I’ll leave it to you to read more about those.

We stopped at a great park in town, which had a smal river running along one side, and waited there for the inevitable phone calls. I had time to do some stretches for my legs, and I started on a short walk, but then we got a phone call, so that was cut short.

Continue reading Day 39: Algona to New Hampton…

Day 38: Sioux Center to Algona

It was raining outside when I headed out from the Dordt dormitory. I had taken in my gear bag, since we needed to use our own sleeping bags and pillows overnight. Fortunately they already had a tarp to protect the gear bags from the rain until they could be loaded onto the gear truck later in the day. From what I understand, there may have been local volunteers to help load the gear truck to allow the sweep team an earlier start on a long day. The distance for the day was 113 miles or 181 kilometers.

A few cyclists had some minor health issues and requested to be dropped further along the route in order to make the day shorter. We loaded up their bikes, and with Jonathan along for more pictures, we headed out. The first order of business was to go to the Dutch shop for coffee and pastries. From there we headed almost due east.

Continue reading Day 38: Sioux Center to Algona…

Day 37: Sergeant Bluff to Sioux Center / Dordt College

My sleeping area in the gym ended up being under one of the big lights they left on overnight, which was somewhat unfortunate. I ended up not getting much quality sleep. Since Barb had gone home for the night with Eritia, she had a fun little Suburu that needed to be driven back to Sioux Center. Even thought it was a short day, we loaded up some water jugs into the back and I took it as an extra support vehicle. Ultimately there wasn’t much point, I only had one person stop to fill his water bottle.

My stop was right by a water tower, and a second water tower was under construction there. I talked to the foreman to get permission to set up my water stop there, and he told me about the project. If he had the proper number of workmen, the tower would take 80 work days to put up. Huge sections of shaped steel were on the ground, waiting to be lifted into position. A welder was at work on the scaffolding, securing the latest section. The current water tower was just for a few farms and for the ethanol plant down the road. These went through the full capacity of the current tower 6 times in a day, and the ethanol plant alone used 2 volumes worth of water.

Continue reading Day 37: Sergeant Bluff to Sioux Center / Dordt College…

Day 36: Fremont to Sioux City / Sergeant Bluff, Iowa

Monday wasn’t the greatest day ever. It started out alright; I woke up relatively refreshed from sleeping in the Lutheran church overnight. People’s alarms had started going off some time after 5 AM, which I promptly ignored until mine went off some time later. On stepping outside I found that the temperature had cooled off a little, although it was still quite humid.

We missed one of the turns along the way, which worked out fine since we were planning to go to Decatur where there was a bridge across the river to Iowa and the wrong turn took us along faster roads. Later on a number of cyclists also didn’t turn where they were supposed to, but they don’t get quite the same advantage. A ways down the route we got a call from the first SAG stop since there was a cyclist who was having trouble. We headed back and picked up the cyclist and brought them across the bridge into Iowa and a ways further into the route.

Continue reading Day 36: Fremont to Sioux City / Sergeant Bluff, Iowa…

Catching up…

So in a week we had the satellite system that provides our internet fail, my sister got into an accident with a vehicle (she’s ok), and my family came to visit on the weekend. That means its about time to catch up, so here we go…

Day 35: Sunday at Fremont

On waking, I found that the temperature situation had not solved itself overnight. Even at 7:30 in the morning, the humidity was oppressive, and it was warm enough to discourage much movement. Prearranged volunteers were giving the morning off to the majority of the kitchen staff, and one of the cyclist’s parents had donated Dutch cheese and raisin bread for breakfast. Great stuff!

Celebration services were being held in two different churches in two different towns, both of which were 45 minutes to an hour by bus. The one was more of a traditional church, and the other was a newer plant that had a number of ex-prisoners that had come to Christ, if I recall correctly. They baptized two adults during the service there, which is really cool. I didn’t actually go to either, since they had asked for volunteers to stay and act as security at camp.

Continue reading Day 35: Sunday at Fremont…