August 1 - Minden to York 154km

A perfect ending to a demanding day! Riding into the campus of York college in Nevada felt like entering an oasis of comfort. Huge shady trees, soft green lawns to pitch our tents on and the use of free fast Wifi and a big screen TV in an airconditioned rec room mean total comfort! It is interesting how small comforts get to be so appreciated when living outdoors for 24 hours a day...even the divine privilege of basking under a hot shower after being on the road for 8 hours, and the royal delight of sitting down on a soft couch and not like very recently on that hot "bed of nails" of a bike saddle! Here Gayle Harrison saved all our behinds.....literally! She got a pharmaceutical company to donate a whole box full of sample packets of pink ointment that heals while we sleep, as well as soothes the chafing during the day.

The camp and trucks are so nicely set between attractively styled buildings. We had a scrumptuous pasta dinner again....how we appreciate our cook team and La Vonne Koedam, their very efficient and able leader and such a dear, kind and affectionate person....loved by all!
The atmosphere around camp is happy and optimistic, despite the hurts and chafes of many miles and some that bit the dust recently. Today we passed the halfway mark....3123km....which we celebrated last night with a real treat of plenty of strawberries and ice cream. Luv'd it!!! So far we had 106 people that fell off their bikes and 500 flat tires. Only 3 very serious injuries, but lots of roasties and sprains. Manley Baarda fell right on his face and had to get 14 stitches in his lip and nose. he is enduring the immense discomfort bravely and kept riding despite his pain. His dad, Dan, a delightful friend of mine, rode with me on the 2005 tour and will do the last week with us again.

After the immense heat of yesterday, I fell into an exhausted sleep after calling my husband Kobie on Skype while the mozzies were devouring me alive. About 12pm we all got jolted awake by the ear splitting whistle of the night train which felt as it was moving right through the tents with the ground shaking. This happened again at 4:30am so I was thankful to have such a tremendous wake up call which enabled me to be off bright and early out on the road! Not before I discovered that I had forgotten my sunglasses inside my tent which was now tightly squished under a pile of luggage waiting to be loaded on the gear truck! No choice but to tediously dig it out.....patience 101!

Having had a nice tailwind yesterday, we paid for that today by being relentlessly battered by the strongest headwind we had on this tour yet....all day except the last 30km! This caused extensive struggling for especially the slower riders and the loners. Today was a prime day for strategizing around a team approach. The examples of stronger ones helping out were numerous, for example the 67 yo Ralph Fledderus that dedicatedly pulled a group of slower riders for 60 miles! Some great Dutch born cyclists were not put off by the strong wind at all, since that was how they grew up in Holland during the second world war. Precious experiences were shared with me by Gerry Loonstra of Red Deer, Alberta, a fascinating, very well read man with an astonishing general knowledge and amazing memory, but quiet and non assuming. He shared of riding heavy bikes with no gears as a boy, just standing on the pedals bulldozing one's way into the Dutch winds. That is how he developed his strength, resillience and staying power, keeping a constant and unwavering moderate pace throughout the day. He told about how he rode bikes without inflatable tires during the war, using strips of old car tires around the rims. That, he said with a twinkle in his eye, is real heavy pedalling for you! Today he was one of the heroic gentlemen that helped out others that suffered a hard struggle with the wind. Other strong guys like the unanimously beloved Johnny Pierce, our town cryer, did their best to fight the good fight on our behalf, generously and patiently pulling us the hard way for miles and miles! Johnny's signature chant-cry "Let's do something beautiful!", as quoted from our theme song, has become an inspirational call to action for the whole camp, a far carrying drawn out call that stirs instinctive energy from deep down, and ignites our passion for our cause....and gets our hearts to move our bodies out of camp on the double bright and early! No day is complete without Johnny's vocal inspiration!

I arrived in camp around 3pm, after deciding that it is of no use to fight the wind to gain any speed. I opted to ride a reasonable slower pace and had the nicest discussions with great friends about church issues and life philosophies. This made the tedious miles roll away in a most pleasant way.

We are moving through the corn belt for sure! I have never seen so much corn in my life! Fields as far as the eye can see, 8 foot tall lush green genetically engineered corn plants. Saw Ethanol production factories and all corn related industries, from breakfast cereals to corn oil. Some questions crossed my mind about the pros and cons of green fuel, and the shortages of staple grains caused by this on the world markets....affecting the most vulnerable poor populations with famines on a scale we may yet be able to imagine. On the other hand, it helps the farmers with much needed cash flow.... complicated issues for sure.

Tonight again, the cicadas are singing their best metallic hits from the trees. Amazingly, these little guys take turns from different trees to sing their love invitations to females. It has a stereo effect...first the one tree's choir, then a tree from the opposite side, and maybe another tree as well after. They live for up to 7 years under ground, and then come above ground into a tree for a month to morph and find a mate before they pass on to insect heaven! It is a mild 20 C outside, and the camp is resting deep, evident by the sawing sounds emerging from some tents.... No one minds as we are all too tired to be bothered by it in comparison to that steam whistle last night! Life in camp can be wonderfully simplistic...evidenced by the fact that I never needed to comb my very short hair for 5 weeks now. I just run my fingers through it upon waking up, and the wind styles it through the slits in my helmet during the day in the most creative ways ...! My scalp even gets sunburnt through those helmet openings!

We are establishing great friendships. as we are struggling and laughing and crying together with each others' triumphs and hurts. Instinctive cameraderie is developing... a feeling that these are all a bunch of just great people! Affectionate high fives after great rides happen all the time, with big smiles and a great sense of buddy-hood!
In many ways we are becoming playmates of the wind and the sun and the motion.....and an intensified experience of being children of our awesome Creator, Whose omnipotent presence we sense in every impression, discussion and breath inhaled along this incredible journey! Biking alone at times provides an amazing time to chat with Jesus.....