May was such a cool month, this whole “touring and being able to ride whenever I want to” thing ended with a record amount of cycling for me, 1474 miles in total! But I have to admit the very last day of May was a tough one.
We planned to make it to Hawesville, KY, which was 94 miles away but at 3:30 in the afternoon, we realized that I had miscalculated the miles and it was a total of 112 miles to Hawesville. Noah insisted that he could do it, but we had done our first 90+ day of the tour the prior day and I could sense that his muscles needed a rest. I didn’t doubt that he could do the full 112 miles, but they were over hilly terrain and I was afraid that it might end up being a slow crawl that would overtax our bodies and leave us sore for days.
It was the hardest thing to hold Noah back and say that we needed to find a different place to stay for the night. I felt so bad about my poor planning skills that I began bawling my eyes out. Noah was quite concerned over my emotional meltdown, but I tried to reassure him that I was okay, I just felt a lot of responsibility and I was feeling like I let him down. He was expecting to conquer another high mileage day, but now that hope was crushed. By me. (Yeah, it seems like a silly thing to cry over now, but in that moment, crying was the only logical thing to do.)
To make matters worse, the only place we could find to stay was in a town only 5 miles away that had no campground. I wasn’t looking forward to spending an extra $60 to stay in a hotel room that night. We were both discouraged, but we rode to the town and went to a grocery store to buy food for the night.
And that is when a lady walked up to us while we were in the fruit section and asked us about our bike trip. She had seen us in town earlier, while we were looking over our maps. (Just a reminder to you all-we never get lost, when we are stopped and looking at maps we are doing it for entertainment purposes only.) We chatted for a bit and found out she and her family had moved from Watertown, NY (25 miles from where we live) nine months ago. A few moments after our conversation she came back and offered to host us in her backyard that night.
We were two sweaty, smelly strangers but Jay and Amy welcomed us into their home like we were treasured guests. It just got better: Jay and Amy have two wonderful children, Ian and Linnea. As Linnea explained to me, “I am an outdoor girl and I love animals.” We hit it off just fine. She enjoyed looking at all the animal pictures I had taken on the trip, and I told her I would take more pictures. So Linnea, these pictures are for you!
Noah and I were also delighted to be around dogs again; Sam and Morgan were great to hang out with. Jay, who has served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan, pulled out a box of MRE’s for us to take to help out with meals.
That night as I lay in my tent, watching the fireflies flash in the trees next to me and the stars light up the sky above, I started to cry once again. This time though, my tears were falling not out of frustration or embarrassment but out of awe. God had taken the mistake I had made and turned it into something great. I felt so thankful for Jay and Amy and their willingness to show kindness to a couple of random cyclists.
I can be pretty tough on myself sometimes, but maybe it is okay if I mess up. I may have let Noah down but God will be never let us down. He can transform my failures no matter how big or trivial they are and use them for good.
The next morning I woke up feeling renergized and when we were leaving Amy and Linnea prayed with us for safety on the road. In my whole life I have never felt so loved by a family that we had just met the night before. And tonight I am writing this post from First Baptist Church in Sebree, KY, a church that offers wonderful hospitality to passing cyclists. We ate a home cooked meal provided by Bob and Violet with other cyclists who are also riding across the country. (They are cooler than us though, because they are riding all the way to the west coast!)
God is good. And so are the people He has placed in our path.
Nice! Makes me want to hit the road again.
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There are so many cool people! The couple we ate with tonight showed us pictures of folks they have met from all over the world…it makes me want to be on my bike forever and keep meeting awesome people 😀
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I love it when grace happens. Too cool… But for the grace of God…
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Yup, you nailed it Jim. God’s grace changes everything!
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How many “likes” can I hit on this!!! I sometimes get upset at myself for being surprised at what God does. Why should we EVER be surprised!
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But maybe that is part of God’s plan to catch us by surprise…trusting Him when things seem to be all upside and backwards is the tough part though!
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Funny how all you hear is how dangerous it is tor ride a bike across the country. Then you find out that trail angels are everywhere!
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It blows my mind, Rootchopper!
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Remember what I said about alternating hard and easy days? Even when you’re feeling strong, dial it back every other day and the blues will go away
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I know man, but it is so hard to hold back…we are trying though, this is gonna be our third easier day in a row, which I think we really needed.
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Fabulous story, there are still some good people out there 😀
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Indeed there are!
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On my last cycling tour I realized it’s best to not hold so tight to any goal. Where ever I am, is right where I’m supposed to be. What’s that saying; Let go and let God.
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Wise advice! Now all we have to do is actually follow it, hehe!
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Where ever you are, that is where you will be. (And you met people that escaped the big city!!) Great Story… Keep em coming!!! I’m not sure where in Colorado you are heading, but by my map skills I put you at half way-ish!!!
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Haha!!
We are on the verge of being halfway done, which feels amazing! How is post tour life treating you?
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i could just out right lie to you and say that you will be glad to return to work and never think about your time on the bike at all.
Or just tell the truth… I really miss it. Now that you are doing it everyday, throwing your leg over the bike day after day is not that hard, and it really brings into focus how much crap we let slip into our lives.
I can’t wait for the chance to “do the whole ride” from coast to coast.
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Hmmm…that does sounds tough, maybe I should just not ever stop! That seems like the ideal situation. Maybe we will meet up on the road again someday 🙂
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Hey, do you know about Warm Showers? It’s a bicycle hospitality service. I’ve used it a bunch on my tours! wamshowers.org
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We aren’t signed up for it at this point, but it looks like an awesome way to meet cool people!
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You should sign up! It’s a great resource for places to stay. All you have to do is be able to host people in the future.
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Yeah, that is the only reason I am reluctant to sign up, I don’t know if I will ever be in a position where I feel comfortable to host people myself…
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What an amazing adventure you are on. God places good people in our paths all the time. We just need to be willing and ready to engage with HIM and with them.
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Amen Any! God has really been teaching me that this trip!
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Great post! Who is that cat? That is my new second favorite cat!
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She was a little sweetie we spotted sitting on a bench outside a little store. She loved getting a bit of attention! But that isn’t the best cat story we have, yesterday we had a really fun experience…I will try to post about it soon 🙂
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Way to go!!! U are doing so awesome!!!
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Thank you so much! 😀
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Love your pics and stories. God is good all the time. Bicycle Times posted this article June 1st. While it doesn’t apply to the situation you were in, it could have if you’d tried to keep going. http://bicycletimesmag.com/how-to-keep-your-cool/
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Thanks for the link, Bob, that is a really great article! Now I feel more prepared for the hot days ahead 🙂
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Sorry I am posting this so late. Linnea loved the pictures of the animals (esp. the cat!). She has pestered me over and over to check your blog for updates. 🙂 We sure enjoyed meeting you and continue to pray for you as you complete your cross country trip. You’re welcome back to KY anytime!
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Thanks for the prayers, Amy, they mean so much to us! We have great wifi tonight so I think I will post again and there will be more cat pictures 😉
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