Two days to go!!

We arrived in Denver on Thursday, a very hot windy day. There were dark storm clouds all around us. Now I know why they call it "big sky country". Pretty awesome when you can see for miles all around. There was quite a strong wind which blew sand and dirt all over. If we had to cycle in this kind of weather we would have to be pulled off the road I'm sure. It was such a powerful wind. The storm seemed to move on to the east of us so we didn't get any rain. We spent the night at a State park which has miles of groomed bike trails. On Friday morning Margaret, Joe and I cycled 40 kms. on these trails just to get our legs limbered up before Monday since we haven't been on the bike for a week. Peter got to stay back and organize the truck since there were only three bikes. Margaret and I were glad to have Joe around because the trails were'nt marked and we discovered we're two of a kind when it comes to directions. Hope we cycle with a good map reader on the trip!! The weather was hot but not humid. We saw the mountains in the distance - beautiful scenery. Today, Saturday we arrived at the highschool in good time to see the first cyclist which was who was on a recumbant bike. It was great to watch the London and area group come in as well as the people we cycled with in New Zealand. I met Betty, one of the cooks who is originally from Athens. Hadn't seen her in probably 40 yrs. Also saw Jake K. come in and he filled us in on his two mishaps on the road. So my luggage has been transferred to two laundry baskets, propped full of stuff (probably way too much). Reality is starting to set in. Stay tuned.... Don't worry family, I haven't opened the album yet. I promise as hard as it is not to look, to wait until after I get done my first day.

Denver here we come!!

Well the day has finally arrived. We left this morning and will be driving down with Margaret & Joe and camping along the way. We are in Illinois at a campsite. Beautiful weather. A nice dry warm air. They had a huge wind storm here yesterday, 94 per mile an hr. winds. Lots of trees and branches down.
Well I finished my training on Saturday for a 131 kms. ride to Port Burwell and back. It was hot and humid. Margaret, Joe and Peter and I headed out around 8:00 in the morning. Had a nice ride down but got dumped on with torrential type rains about 30 kms. from home. Peter remembered to take his rain jacket, so at first we took shelter under a tree during a thunderstorm) and Peter protected the four of us under one raincoat. We figured if we could be in these close quarters huddled together under one raincoat we would be able to spend a week together travelling to Denver. We took shelter in an old shed for about 1/2 hr. and started out again when it started raining heavy again and once again we found shelter in an old deserted barn. Peter biked home to get the van to pick us up but we had decided in the meantime to start biking again since it had stopped raining. My dear husband decided to take a quicker way back to pick us up and of course missed us. We arrived home before he did. It was a good training experience for Margaret and I. I now have 7100 kms. on my bike.

A day of celebration with family

Today was such a perfect summer day! A foretaste of the eternal sabbath maybe? Everything is so lush and green and today we celebrated with family the baptism of our little grandson Ryan. We had a wonderful church service which focused on the day of rest and what that means for us today. The songs were beautiful songs, some not so familiar but with beautiful words, led by some of our younger members. We spent the entire day outside, enjoying fellowship and food with family. God is good and family times are so precious!! After everyone left I read the blogs of some of the cyclists and enjoyed the pictures. It makes me anxious to get going. Two more weeks from this Tuesday we leave... Until then, train, train and more training.