The pastor of the church in Girard, Laurie Anderson–with her daughter Bonnie–took us out to breakfast at Eastside Cafe. We enjoyed wonderful conversation and good food before leaving town at about 9:00. The bike shop in Pittsburgh didn’t open until 10 anyway so we knew we could take our time. It was a 14 mile ride but it was so easy that we pulled up to the bike shop at 10 AM about 30 secs before the guy came to unlock the door. Once inside the shop we checked on our order. He said his UPS shipments didn’t usually come in until 12 PM so I gave him my number and asked him to call me when they arrive. Meanwhile we headed over to Root, a local coffee shop 1/2 mile away. I got an iced coffee and the boys got fraps. They didn’t mind us hanging out to enjoy the wifi so the boys got online and I went outside to sit at a table and study our map through Missouri. I really wanted to get on the road since the weather was nice, but we just had to wait this one out.
Tailwind Cyclists called at about 12:30 and said my parts had arrived. We rushed down there, unloaded our panniers, and they got started on them right away. Roger owned the place and Ryan was his assistant. Roger was working on my bike and Ryan was working on Forrest’s. The boys were on the wifi but I stood by and watched the repairs. I was probably prejudiced due to a review I’d read about this place the other day but they didn’t seem to have it all together. They were distracted in their work and I don’t think they were comfortable with me watching. Forrest and I both were getting new chains and I noticed right away that their method of sizing them (little-little) was the exact opposite of Mike’s preferred method (big-big) in Wichita. Mike said the little-little method tends to make the chain too tight; so this made me uneasy right away. But since Roger was an accomplished cyclist with many years of riding with the pros I thought maybe it would be alright. What do I know!? I went from sitting behind a desk to riding a bike across the country. Roger said he gave me a break on the labor but it was still $280 before I left–and that was on top of the $190 it cost me in Wichita. ––I was pleasantly and gratefully surprised to receive a $500 gift recently. The costs of this trip (both ours and the girls’) have really added up… Now I know why the Lord gifted me that $500 😉 Thank you Lord; and many thanks to those who gave.
We didn’t leave the bike shop in Pittsburgh until 2 PM. It was too late to go to Ash Grove as I was hoping (68 further miles) so we’d probably have to opt for Golden City. I figured that might happen so while we were in Girard on Wednesday I’d called First Christian Church in Golden City to see if we could get lodging for Thursday night. Pastor Terry Longan assured me we could and told me to call when we got into town.
We rode hard out of Pittsburgh we were so eager to be on the road again. Maybe we could make it farther than Golden City? Then again, maybe not. The humidity was worse than we’d seen in a while. The sweat dripped down our arms, faces, and sides. It stung as it dripped into our eyes. As much as I was hoping to cover more ground, I figured we’d better call it quits in Golden City.
We pulled into town by 5:00 (a 33 mile ride from Pittsburgh). I had no idea where the church was but we stopped at the library and went inside for a little AC and water. I spoke with Carol, the lady at the desk, and explained that we were cyclists staying at one of the local churches tonight. “Do you know the pastor’s name?” “Yes, it’s Terry.” “Oh, Terry Longan. That’s my church, it’s right over there.” She pointed to a church less than a hundred yards away on the same block. Sweet providence indeed. I asked her if there were showers there by chance. “No. But you can shower at the city park.” Nice! I stepped outside to call Terry and ended up leaving a message.
After my shower at the city park I connected with Terry. The church had an air-conditioned second floor above its “Family Life Center” (gymnasium, kitchen, classrooms, etc.) and we could pick whichever room we wanted to bed down in. The kitchen was ours to use but there was a senior citizens group playing cards in the dining area. All in all, we were to make ourselves at home. While at the park a lady walking her dog came over to speak with us. Apparently she lives next to the park and keeps an eye on all the cyclists coming through, all of whom sleep in the park. If the weather is poor she usually takes them in for the night. “So I see you found the shower.” “Yes we did.” “And are you staying in the park, then?” “No. I’ve contacted Pastor Terry in town and we’re staying at First Christian Church.” “Oh, great! That’s my church. I’m glad you’ll have someplace dry to sleep tonight, especially with the hurricane coming.” Did she say hurricane? “You mentioned a hurricane. Should we be worried?” “No. It’s south of us; we’re only getting the rain.” “Oh. Okay.”
We left the park and headed straight for Cooky’s Cafe in town. We heard the pie was good so I figured we’d eat dinner there as well. The service was very nice but I honestly wasn’t impressed with the food. The steak was pretty tough for medium rare, the curly fries were so-so, and the spinach was sort of bitter. Forrest really liked his fried chicken though. We opted for pie anyway and weren’t disappointed–especially since my good friend Linda Teakell said she’d reimburse me if I ordered it 🙂 I got warm pecan pie with ice cream, Forrest got the coconut cream, and Rocky got the butterschotch cream. They were all really good.
We headed to the church after dinner. We entered via the gymnasium door and the boys immediately started shooting hoop while I went into the kitchen looking for someone who was looking for me. There were about a dozen seniors playing cards and one lady (Sue) looked at me and said, “Are you one of the cyclists?” “Yes I am. I’m James.” “Great! Welcome. Let me show you to the upstairs.” Sue showed me around, introduced me to all the seniors–some of whom had a few questions about riding a bicycle across America for fun–and offered me and the boys some of the snacks they’d brought with them to their “card social.” Thank you Sue, for your warm smile and hospitality.
I picked the couch room for us. There were several lazy-boy chairs and 4 couches spread around the room. It’d be better than sleeping on the floor and we wouldn’t have to get our air mats out. I took my stuff upstairs right away so I could pick out my couch. Since the boys were playing ball I figured I got first dibs. Later on when we were winding down for the night an older man walked into the room. I figured it had to be Pastor Terry and it was. He introduced himself and we took the opportunity to express our thanks for the use of the place for a night. He took a picture of us and said he’d post it on the screen on Sunday so they could pray for us. He also said he’d continue praying for us over the next month until we got home. Wow! It’s crazy how many people are actually and regularly praying for us. I remember thinking–after our first day on the bikes, when we were camped in Nehalem Bay State Park in Nehalem, OR–I remember thinking how awesome it was that we had a whole congregation praying us home. It blows my mind now to think how many more prayer warriors have been added to that number over the last 2 months. We’ve met so many wonderful Christians along the way and I know that many of them are indeed praying us home. What peace! What joy! Thank you all so much!
Aug 11
We got up at 6:30 and headed back to Cooky’s Cafe for breakfast. I ordered biscuits and gravy with sausage and eggs. It needed more seasoning but it wasn’t bad. Either way, we needed a good meal in our stomachs for the 66 mile ride to Fair Grove. After breakfast we headed back to the church to get on our way. The sky was dark and heavy but at least it wasn’t raining. I got all ready to go and looked outside. It was pouring–hard. Ugh. Guess the effects of the hurricane about which the lady had spoken. Now what? We weren’t afraid of rain, but this was a lot of rain. We were going to get wet, very wet very quickly. I looked at the forecast, it was supposed to rain until noon. To stay or to go, that was the question. I texted Pastor Terry. He said we could hang out as long as we wanted. Maybe we’d set out after lunch. Forrest wanted to shoot a few hoops and I was feeling a bit tired. So I figured I’d get a power nap.. As it turned out, Forrest had the music in the gym so loud that I couldn’t sleep. At least I rested my eyes. After 20 mins I headed downstairs. I checked the forecast again. Now it wasn’t supposed to let up in the area until 3 PM. And every city which we’d reach today, tomorrow, and the next day were all forecasting a ton of rain for the next several days. if we try to wait out the storm we’ll be here for a week, I thought. Might as well get on the bikes. Either we get wet today or tomorrow. What’s the difference? I figured we probably wouldn’t make it past Ash Grove, but some progress is better than no progress. So we got ready and headed outside. Terry asked for a picture of us with our bikes so we stood in front of the church door under the overhang. All of a sudden a man rode up in his truck. He got out and walked over to where we stood. It was one of the seniors I’d met. He asked if we’d had breakfast. I told him we did and that we were heading to Ash Grove. –I wonder if he was coming to take us to breakfast?? I asked him to take our picture and we left there at 9:30.
Before long the rain was falling much heavier than before and we were soaked–inside and outside of our raingear. At one point Forrest rode up beside me and said, “This is bad, really bad.” “I was just thinking that. It reminds me of the storm in OR.” He slowed back into position behind Rocky. Nothing to do but keep on pedaling. After about an hour the rain slowed and soon let up. We stopped to take off our jackets and figured on drying our shirts by riding into the wind with them. It worked well and by 2PM we arrived in Ash Grove.
I don’t think we’re officially in the Ozarks yet, but we’ve definitely hit the Missouri hills. They’re plentiful and steep. You head down the hill convinced that you’ll get up enough speed to make it over the next… but instead you slow to a crawl downshifting in an effort to at least keep moving. And we did alright until our chains started giving us trouble. Forrest’s chain came off twice and he had trouble getting onto his smallest crankset in front. My chain kept skipping and clunking into gear on the back cassette. We let out a few complaints and I wondered if our chains were too short. Now what? Forrest’s chain came off again. I adjusted the front derailleur. Mine kept misbehaving. We pulled over and, with frustration in his voice, Forrest said “This is not good! I can’t get to my granny gear and it makes it really hard on these steep hills.” “You’re right son; it’s not good. We’re both having chain problems. But what are we going to do about it now? We need to bring our hearts to our condition and pedal on.” And we need to pray about it, I thought. Ask God to put His hand on these bikes and help us on our way. So I committed it to the Lord and we pedaled on. We didn’t have any more problems on the way to Ash Grove.
Typical of Kansas and Missouri, cyclists are allowed to camp in the City Park. But we’d heard from 3 other cyclists that there was now a bike hostel set up in Ash Grove next to the park. So once we got into town we headed for City Hall to get the key. A very nice lady welcomed us. We signed the cycling log and she gave us the house key and took us outside to take our picture. We headed to the house, got cleaned up, and then walked to the library to use the wifi. Now, once I finish this up, we’ll head to the Mexican Restaurant for dinner and a cold one.
Stopping here today has thrown a monkey wrench in my plans of getting us across Missouri by next Wednesday. Now I’m not sure where we’ll make it tomorrow. We need to find a place with good lodging and a place to go to church. I hope those two can be the same place again.
PS… for all you prayer warriors, I don’t have an update on Karolina. We passed her in central Kansas when she broke a spoke (for the second time) and had to order a wheel from Pittsburgh. The last I heard she was down for a week–which means she should’ve been back on the bike on Wed or Thusday (yesterday). I’ve texted her several times but haven’t heard a thing. I’m wondering if her phone’s off the hook… Keep praying and I’ll update you as soon as I hear something.
Thanks for praying and thanks for following.
Until next time… 🙂
