A long, short ride ...

In my past blog I forgot to mention Carol, who I almost met early in our ride, when I gave her a FCBA business card at a stop light. I had just got to her car when the light changed, and I had to pedal away. She drove straight and we turned. The neat thing about this very brief encounter is that when I got to our stop and looked at my email, she had already been to my blog and left a message. (My blog address is on the back of the FCBA cards I had printed.) I have handed out many cards, but I never know if anyone actually goes to my blog or to the FCBA site and looks at what we are doing. So this response was kinda special, and I invited her to our build site in Craig, CO. Turns out she is an author, and I look forward to reading one of her newest books when this adventure is over.

Today turned out to be a long, short ride -- a comment made by two or three other riders. We had some head winds, lots of rolling hills, and gravel road for a few miles at the start. In addition, we had highway maintenance (or rather lack of) with unintentional speed bumps (one hole repair across the road was at least 4 inches high for no reason). Add to that another day with a sore bottom, and it made for what seemed like a long day, when it should have been a short refreshing day of only 47 miles. Very difficult to get into the ride when you are in pain just sitting on the saddle. I hope that I am not complaining about the bottom for the next 5 weeks. Maybe special parts of me will heal with the upcoming time off fishing in Alaska!

Saw two birds of prey today, but they are a little bashful here in Oklahoma, as they flew off when I stopped to get my camera out. I’ve seen a few others over the last 4 weeks, but mostly I’ve seen vultures soaring overhead as we bike. Seems like a mixture of black and turkey vultures, but I’m not really sure. I know the last week or so they’ve been turkey vultures.

We’re at a new covenant partner stop here in Elk City. We arrived about noon (most riders way before that), and the local president didn’t expect us that early. He was planning to provide dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow for us, but when we arrived he went across the street and got the makings for lunch for us. It was a nice gesture on his part to get us lunch as well...we meet the nicest folks! 

We are doing a presentation for him tonight after dinner; our presentations give us a chance to tell complete strangers about our lives and how we got involved with the Fuller Center, and what it means to us as individuals. It’s always a neat experience, and as we progress on our journey, more and more riders are stepping up to talk.

Seems I’m needing more naps on this trip than ever before. The ‘kids’ always seem to nap and still sleep all night, which has been working for me as well. Enjoyed an hour’s nap this afternoon, but I made sure to set my alarm so I wouldn’t miss dinner (the ‘kids’ had to wake me the other day before dinner!).

Peace ...