Monday, June 9, 2008

Where do I begin? Chris Stephens and Scott Dovey joined us on Sunday after noon arriving in Denver via Dulles airport in Washington DC. As I understand it, they missed their connection into Washington due to weather and ended up sleeping on the baggage carousel and then nearly missed their 6am flight because they were both flagged as suspect flyers that demanded further scrutiny. With 2 minutes to spare they made their flight into Denver, rented a car and drove to Laramie, Wy where preacher Dave from the Nazarene church in Rawlings and I picked them up.

I was concerned about the long drive to Laramie but the 100 mile drive didn't seem to bother Dave in light of the closest Walmart being a 100 miles away, not a big deal, finally Chris & Scott join our biking family in Rawlings.

Sunday (prior to picking up the guys) Marvin, Michael and I went to church, and once again I was reminded me how good I have it at New Day CC. Pastor Dave taught the Bible School class, made announcements, lead the song service, preached (good message) did communion devotion, and closed with final prayer, and then headed to a VBS meeting of about 4 people...I really admire him and Lori (his wife) they are really into seeing folks become more like Christ.

Sunday night we took the new guys along with the preacher and his wife out to eat to the Flying J Truck stop, I love those kind of places...big buffet with plenty of sweet ice tea, the fellowship and laughter was contagious. Sunday night the wind started blowing and continued into Monday for our ride. From Lamont (north of Rawlings) the prevailing winds were about 20-30 mph behind us out of the SW unfortunately most of our ride turned west and for the next 40 miles it was 5+ mph into the wind. Every time I say I haven't seen anything like this, or that yesterday was the toughest day, then something else comes along. The distances are so great in this area, the Mothership can park literally 5-6 miles down the road, and you think you're almost there and you peddle and peddle seemingly never making any progress especially with the wind in your face.

Fortunately the temp hovered in between 50-65 degrees...off came the outer jackets. Even going down these mammoth hills we had to peddle to maintain speed, wind gust between 45-50 mph- and don't forget the trucks...But there's more...

The RV has been having generator problems, allowing exhaust to come up into the cabin (that's not good-choke-hack-cough) so I told Marvin to go into Landers with the vehicle and work on fixing the problem. In the mean time Michael (never say die-I got a picture of that) Stephens started to run a fever so he wisely trailered his bike and went called it a day, laying down to get a rest. Chris and I continued to labor against the wind, only after a few miles we spotted the mothership sitting on the top of the mountain, when we arrived at the RV, Marvin and Scott D were standing outside the vehicle looking at the drive shaft laying off to the side of the pavement choking the wheels so it wouldn't roll down the hill. That's right the entire drive shaft decided to drop out on us...

Marv called the towing company and after about an hour or two waiting by the road, the wrecker got there hooked up and took us back to Lander, AND because only one person could ride in the cab the rest of us stayed in the RV and road back to Lander via the wrecker.

Riding in the RV pointing up to the sky on the back of the wrecker and going through the mountains might be an idea for a new Disney ride --- quite a rush being pulled with that much give and take in your vehicle and having no control what so ever.

Finally made it to Jim's auto repair and in the meantime called Pastor Dan at the New Hope Christian Church of Lander who came to our rescue...he arrived within 15 min of pulling into the repair shop...he offered their small church to house us for our lay over, plus he was able to take Michael to ER at the hospital, seemed he had developed some kind of bug that needed medical attention, the hospital gave him fluids dealt with the problem gave him some stuff to sleep and today Scott D is going to run him to Riverton, Wy to get his prescription filled (25 miles away).

Pastor Dan also gave us his Toyota Pickup to do our running since our RV was out of commission, (what a blessing) with that we went out to get a bite to eat and then found out about an RV park that actually had showers, we went over there and found a wonderful Christian couple that invited us in and allowed us to shower (warm water-YEA!). Since the little truck will only handle two people, Marvin and I scrunched behind the seats...we also found out Chris really doesn't know much about driving a stick shift in the floor...anyone need to GRIND a pound of meat? lol

As it is we're sitting in a repair lot with junk cars all around us this morning waiting on the mechanic to open up. I wouldn't have wished any of our circumstances on anybody, but in every instance God has provided through difficult situations...even here at the repair shop, it looks like we will be able to get our generators fixed, push back the rear bumper that we pulled out in a minor mishap back in Pueblo, plus the mechanic is going to put back a stronger drive shaft than the present unit, AND Michael during this down time can recoup and get feeling better.

What's really neat about this whole experience is...most of yesterday had to do with relying on others (as most of our lives do) and asking. It just so happened that our Oswald Chamber's Devotional (MUFHH) for the day (June 9th) was based on Lk 11:10 "For everyone that asks receives" We totally have been seeing this throughout the Big Ride...Pray for us as we make adjustments and hope to be back on the road either today or tomorrow...and on our way to Dubois and then on to the Grand Tetons. Sorry for being so wordy, but I thought you might be interested.
God's best as you ask and go forward by faith.

Scott...aka The Rust Rider.