Author: Pam

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

1 Corinthians 12:27

66.8 miles – 2,618 ft climb

Bruce didn’t start riding today until around 1:00 because we went to church this morning. It made for the hottest day yet, around 86 degrees and sunny. He had to stop for lots of water refills. I originally thought that I would leave after Bruce and then pass him once and give him water and then be on my merry way, but that has not been the case. I kind of like to hover a little closer to him in case something comes up. Like when he flatted today.

We went to a wonderful church today. I love how God works. Yesterday Bruce randomly stopped at a campaign picnic, we met Amy & Blake, Amy has a friend who goes to the Still Waters Cowboy Church in Carthage, so she recommended it to us, we go and get our pants blessed off! I guess getting your pants removed doesn’t sound very Christian, but you get the point. We could feel the Holy Spirit moving when we first walked in the door. Almost everyone was dressed in jeans and boots and even quite a few hats. They were all very friendly. The cowboy band played songs we knew and the message was fantastic! I’ll summarize it for you: you are not the main character in your story. God is. Wowza!

After church the lady sitting behind us came up to meet us and then prayed for us. When we were getting in the RV a really nice couple drove up and donated money and then chatted for a while and then they got out and prayed for us too. I am SO thankful for all of the prayers. Theirs and yours! Bruce takes it all in stride, but I have to work at not worrying about him. When he biked at home it was pretty easy to choose not to think about where he was riding and the potential dangers. But when I am literally driving the exact roads he will be riding, it’s impossible not to think about it. God continually has to remind me that we are in HIS hands.

We are staying at Tyler Oaks RV Resort tonight. I have begun to realize that if it says “Resort” in the name, it’s usually big and has good amenities.

Bruce has biked 985 miles! Tomorrow he passes the 1,000 mile mark! Whoo hoo!

May your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

Psalm 143:10

60.4 miles – 2,274 ft climb

We can tell that we are back in the midwest. Checked the forecasts in Tyler and Terrell. Both showed mid 80s in the afternoon, so Bruce was planning to leave a little earlier. We were awoken (awakened? woken up? I really need to work on my English) in the middle of the night by a major but short lived thunderstorm. Pretty sure I didn’t see that on the forecast. No biggie. But here it is 1:30 and it’s only 73 degrees. It turned out to be a beautiful day. Started out a little windy, but not too bad now. After Bruce had been gone about 30 minutes I checked his location on Find Friends and saw that he had only gone 3 miles. Wow, that wind must have been stronger than I thought! I called him and sure enough, he had flatted. I closed up camp and came to meet him because he decided to go ahead and change his tire. As opposed to just putting in a new inner tube, which is the normal fix for a flat.

While we were sitting there we got a call from his high school friend, Anne and her husband John. They had been in Dallas and were heading home to Louisiana. I sent them our route and we were able to meet up. Since it was almost lunch time, I made Bruce a pb&j (his lunch of choice when riding) to eat while we visited. I offered one to Anne and John but for some reason they opted to eat elsewhere. A hamburger does sound really good right about now.

You may not have noticed it in the small print, but along with raising money and awareness for MS & Parkinson’s, we are also Ambassadors bringing BuzzWTR to the West Coast. I need to get the details of my pitch from my daughter, Caroline – but basically it is flavored water with a little spike. A buzz with only 46 calories & 0 carbs. Soon people everywhere will be enjoying these beverages. That is Caroline’s job. I’m not sure her title, but she is promoting BuzzWTR. Anyway, we gave out our first samples today. I feel so official!

Just a little side note about my family. During the month before we left, my son-in-law, Jeremy; my son, Josh; and my youngest daughter, Caroline all got new jobs. I am so excited for them all and proud of them! Josh and Caroline both got jobs in Kansas City and are moving while we are gone. It feels weird for this mama to not be involved in their moves or even seen either of their new apartments, which they will be all moved into by the time we get back. Caroline started her job with BuzzWTR a few weeks ago and Josh starts his engineering job at Honeywell today! I’m not sure of his title either, but I think he will be doing the kind of work that he could tell me about, but then he’d have to kill me. Jeremy began his job as Wichita President of United Missouri Bank in August. (I may have messed up that title – sorry Jeremy) Speaking of Jeremy of course reminds me of Kinsley. I miss her!

So I just called to reserve a spot at the Bluebonnet Ridge RV park in Terrell for tonight. I was told that Harvey is TOO OLD to stay there. The lady at the park allowed me to send pictures of Harvey (one of each side required) and I am waiting to hear back. Oh my goodness! I feel like I’m trying out for cheerleader or something. Will I lose points for all the bug splats on the front? Should I have washed him before I took the pictures? Does this lighting show all my (I mean HIS) wrinkles?

We’re in! We passed! The lady who called me back said that her boss liked our causes. I think she may have been implying that we may not have gotten in otherwise. I don’t know. But we’ll take it! When Bruce first talked about getting the banners for Harvey, I thought it was kinda maybe a little bit hokey. But it was necessary for people to be able to see our website in case they were inspired to donate. But boy, I’m telling you, I am so glad we have those banners! Not only have many people stopped us to ask about our causes and even to donate, but the best part is that when I’m stopped waiting for Bruce along the side of the road or in a random parking lot, I am viewed less like a woman creeper sitting in an RV. I am important. I am with the band. I am part of the people biking across the country. Supporting MS & Parkinson’s research.

The roads we were on today were mostly back roads again. I love them. But they are very bouncy! I’m so glad that Bruce got heavy duty shocks put on Harvey before we left. I think I am actually getting to be a pretty good Harvey driver. Although yesterday when I was driving slowly (only about 35 mph) through a small town, I went over some railroad tracks and I’m pretty sure I went airborne. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

Today it seemed like every turn took us down a notch in the road maintenance department. Finally we were on one mostly gravel road that was like a washboard. I was ahead of Bruce so I stopped and called him to see if he wanted to change to his gravel bike. See? I’m getting the hang of this whole biking across the country thing. While Bruce was changing to his gravel bike, I flagged down a pickup to ask if it was this bad the whole way. Little did I know it would be Bradley Cooper. Bradley suggested that I turn on a different road and go to the interstate. I thanked him and ignored his advise and continued on the dirt road. It actually wasn’t too bad if you drove less than 10 mph.

We saw a LOT of dogs today. Some were safely barking at us from their fenced in yards. Some were not. I guess technically none of them were barking at “us” because who wants to bark at a big house on wheels? A guy on a bike however, needs to know who is boss around these parts. As I was following Bruce I saw a dog bound up to him. Bruce turned and said something to the dog and it stopped and walked away. He told me later that he said, “Go home!” Wow! Obedient dog. I didn’t know I was married to the Dog Whisperer. He also told me later that another pit bull chased him but thankfully he outran this one.

As we went through the cute little town of Canton, we saw lots of traffic going the opposite direction. We found out that there had been a bad wreck on I-20 and these cars were trying to go around it.

The RV Park is very nice. One section of it is actually tiny houses. They are so cute. Like little dollhouses. I met a lady named Marla who invited me to come look inside her house. I was surprised how homey and roomy it looked. Maybe that’s because I’ve been living in an RV.

Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

Proverbs 4:27

no stats because Bruce is at Jay’s

Today was pretty uneventful. Bruce left around 10 AM on his gravel bike in anticipation of more rough roads. But today was completely different than yesterday. We were mostly on city roads today. Which I hate. For 2 reasons. One: because I worry about Bruce dodging cars and trucks as he navigates these roads. I forget that he has been biking for over 20 years and has navigated situations like this before. Besides his angels are still on the job. Two: because it feels like these roads are too narrow and uneven for Harvey. But I keep reminding myself that it’s just an illusion. If semi trucks can drive these streets, Harvey certainly can. I have to keep my eyes straight ahead. So needless to say, I have no idea what amazing sights I drove by today. Bruce was way ahead of me most of the day. We connected in Rockwell for lunch.

I’m not sure if there was discord in the street planning department or just too many good names to decide on just one, but Fort Worth was full of multi-named streets, making it a little tricky for an out-of-towner to know for sure she was going the right way.

Bruce was able to take several bike paths on his way to Irving to stay with his old high school buddy, Jay. I continued on to Keller to stay with my dear friend, Carmilla and her family. Bruce will join us tomorrow.

Some of you have asked what Harvey looks like on the inside. There are officially beds for 8, but I’m telling you, it would be way to crowded! There is a bed at the back where we sleep, a loft bed over the cab, the couch pulls out to be a bed and you can fold down the table to make a bed with the bench seats. The people that owned Harvey before we did, gave him a major facelift. They painted the wood white, reupholstered the couches, fixed up the bathroom and hung pictures on the walls. We did nothing. But take off the bathroom door and hang a curtain there, so we would have more room. We have a gas stove, gas burners, microwave, fridge and freezer. But sadly, no disposal or dishwasher. I wish I had a picture of the fridge and freezer the day we left because they were so beautifully packed. Marie Kondo would have been proud! So here’s the big reveal (photo creds Mary):

And here’s the rest of the story, when you are traveling with someone riding his bike across the country…

You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working.

Exodus 23:12

25.44 miles – 1,130.3 total miles – 774 ft climb

Even though Bruce still had to ride 25 miles from Jay’s house to Carmilla’s house, this was officially a day off. While we were in the Dallas area, we also connected with some other friends from Wichita, Celinda and David Heinrich. This morning Carmilla took Celinda and I to Bear Creek Park to walk. It was such a well thought out park. Near one of the kids’ play areas they put outdoor exercise bikes and some other exercise equipment! Brilliant! They also had these fun sculptures that looked like nothing unless you looked at them at a certain angle, through these hoops and then a cool sculpture popped out. And forget doing a 5K, Carmilla made us walk 4 miles!

We got Whataburger to take home for lunch. Yum! This afternoon Bruce did some work on his bike while I got caught up with laundry and made a Walmart run. They had Coconut Creamer. Hurray!

We decided to go out to eat in a little area Bruce had seen this morning on his ride over because it was closer for our sweet friend, Gwennie to come meet us. We chose a place called Tommy Tomale, but when we got there, it wasn’t on the cute street after all, so we decided to go elsewhere. It was only a LITTLE awkward that David, Celinda and Gwen had already gone in and sat down. We found the cute street and sadly it didn’t actually have any restaurants. So we ended up at Hard Eight BBQ. Not exactly a “cute little place” but it was great to catch up with everyone.

When we got home from dinner we looked up our route for tomorrow. Then some how we got side tracked on Google Earth and ended up looking up Carmilla’s parent’s home in Kenya. It was fun to walk down memory lane with her.

Carmilla’s dog Olivander, or Vander to his close friends, is the best behaved puppy ever. He has been trained not to cross this green line to go into the kitchen and he obeys. He will also wait to eat until they say, “Go ahead.” Wow! I thought it was a big deal that my dogs could shake hands.

101.6 miles – 1,231.9 total miles – 4,211 ft climb

Happy Birthday to our favorite son-in-law, Jeremy! We love you!!!

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. 

Proverbs 19:21

I know people that are following our schedule are thinking, “Where the heck is Windhorst? That’s not on the schedule.” Well, no it actually is not on my well planned, well laid out schedule. When we got to Jacksboro, where we were supposed to spend the night, it was only around 1:00 and Bruce was feeling good. The weather was beautiful today and he had a light wind at his back. We looked at the map and saw the town of Antelope 20 miles down the road. Bruce thought he had 20 miles in him still and I thought Antelope sounded like a cute name for a place to stay, so we decided to carry on. When I got to Antelope, there was nothing there. I continued on down the highway and still didn’t see anything 10 miles down the road. I called Bruce to see if he wanted me to turn around and try to find some place to stay. He wanted to keep going. And so here we are in the church parking lot of St Mary’s Catholic church in Windhorst, TX. 34 miles past Jacksboro! This means we only have 25 miles to go tomorrow to get to Wichita Falls.

Bruce’s allergies were really bothering him today. According to him, his nose was “running like a sieve.” TMI? What do you do if your nose is running like that and you’re out biking? Well, as Bruce was cruising along, he happened to come upon the local sheriff, in his car ready to protect and serve. Bruce rolled up to him and said, “Excuse me. My allergies are really bad today. Do you happen to have an allergy pill on you?” I bet that had never been part of his job description before. But in the interest of protecting and serving, and since he happened to be near his house, he had his wife bring a Claritin out for Bruce. Bruce took it and continued on his merry way.

A little further down the road he came upon another biker, Jeff, who was on his way to Alaska. Jeff, unfortunately did not have a handy RV to follow/lead him on his journey. He was loaded down with every possible thing he might need. Except for padded biking shorts. Or biking shoes with clip-on pedals. Or a jersey. But this was not Jeff’s first rodeo. He had ridden across the northern part of the country and several other long bike trips.

When we got to Jacksboro Bruce had a hankering for icecream. We almost stopped at a place called the Dairy Inn, but all they served for lunch was BBQ and we had our fill of that for now. We asked a guy at the gas station and he said that the drugstore a few blocks down, AKA City Drugstore, made great shakes and served burgers. When we got there we found out that they had already closed their grill so we couldn’t get burgers. We decided to just get shakes and eat lunch in the RV. I got a really delicious Cherry Vanilla shake and Bruce got a Texas Praline shake. He was wishing he had stuck to his old favorite, a chocolate malt. This drugstore soda fountain has been in business since 1911.

We kept seeing these really tall, sturdy fences along the road. It always makes me wonder if there is something top secret in there and they are trying to keep people out or if there is some kind of wild animal in there that they are trying to keep in. After I took this pic and was putting it on the blog, I got my answer. Cows. How disappointing!

You were called to be free. But don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Rather use it as an opportunity to serve others with love.

Galatians 5:13

25 miles and that’s all I know because Bruce is out with Ron & Brent

Today was a very short day. So short in fact that Bruce beat me to our RV Resort. Again. Here’s my excuse: He left around 8:30 and I went out to see him off and pray for him like I do every morning. Once he road off, I walked around the parking lot and took a few pictures. As I was heading back, 2 guys called out to me. They were caretakers of the church property and had noticed our RV and wanted to donate because one of them had a relative who suffers from MS. We chatted a bit and they told me all about the church and the Grotto and suggested that I go up close to look at it. Which I did. It was fairly interesting and I guess I enjoyed it longer than I intended and that’s how Bruce beat me to Jelly Stone Park.

Today was another reminder that I worry about things way more than Bruce. Coming in to Wichita Falls our highway was joined by another highway from the right and then we soon had to turn on a different highway that split off to the right. The whole thing was a mass of lines and cars and merging and confusion. All while cars were going 75! Thankfully Bruce was in front of me, so I knew that he had already made it through. When I caught up with him at the RV Park I said, “Wow! That was crazy! Did that make you nervous?” He looked at me blankly and said, “what?” Um, the massive amounts of cars and lanes and merging that you had to navigate ON A BIKE!

So back to the speed limits. Harvey’s sweet spot is around 57. Up to 65 isn’t horrible, but I refuse to go 75 on these roads. As the unfortunate amount of speeding tickets I’ve accumulated will attest, I am not typically a slow driver. But I have to say, tooling along at 57 just because I want to is kind of freeing. I AM that RV that you hate to get behind. Hopefully this will make me more patient next time I’m the one behind it. I’m not a totally horrible person though. Every now and then I pull over and let the line of cars following me pass. To my knowledge I have not gotten the finger yet.

Two of Bruce’s friends from Wichita, Brent Miller and Ron Neugent, drove down to meet up with us and hang out for awhile. We gave them the tour of the RV and then Bruce broke out the Crowler he had been saving from the Brewery on the way to Pensacola. Conversations shifted between swimming stories and our trip.

As we were telling one story from last night, Brent and Ron insisted that for transparency’s sake, it should be included in the blog. So in full disclosure, here it is. At some point you were bound to find out that Bruce does indeed have a seldom seen dark side. In most places when we park Harvey for the night, we have to make adjustments so that we will be level. We have these sturdy plastic squares that kinda look like giant legos. We determine which end needs to be higher and drive up onto the squares to make us level. I will include a picture. When we buy new squares. When I had called to ask if we could stay in the church parking lot, I was told to park in the front lot. It was on a hill that sloped 2 directions. I had tried to drive up on the blocks to make us level with no luck. So when Bruce arrived, he was ready to show me how it was done. But every time Bruce tried to drive up on the squares they would just shoot forward. After many attempts at multiple spots around the parking lot, Bruce slammed it in reverse, causing various items in the RV (including everything sitting on the couches and all the clothes in my closet) to fly onto the floor. He turned and glared at me with smoke coming out of his ears and said, “Don’t say A WORD!” So I didn’t. Then he stormed off (as much as you can while driving an RV) and parked in a fairly level, gravel parking lot on the other side of the church. And forgot to pick up the yellow plastic squares. That he will be stopping by WalMart to replace later tonight.

I feel like I need to print a disclaimer in case there are any English teachers reading this. I am very aware that I keep vacillating from one tense to another. I keep planning to be more careful and then the next thing I know, I’ve done it again! Hope that doesn’t make it too painful to read.

We are staying at a really nice RV park called Jellystone Park at Canyon Ranch Resort. Remember what I told you about when it has “resort” in the name? There is a fishing pond, tons of RV sites and cottages, several lodges that you can rent out, ponies and chickens, mini golf, an obstacle course and 4 pools! They are all decked out for Halloween including a haunted grave yard. I can hear creepy music and kids screaming as I type. It has a really neat kids area including the regular plastic climbing equipment, blow up slides, a place to sift out rocks and a GagaBall pit.

While we were all sitting in the living room aka “the couch”, a pickup truck pulled up and a man in an official looking orange & yellow vest got out and sauntered up to our door. “Excuse me,” he said, pointing at our cycle. “Is this your scooter sitting out here?” Uh oh! Did we miss the No Scooter mandate? “Yes, sir. It is” we politely responded, waiting for the hammer to drop. “Well, you were reported driving it around behind the pools earlier this afternoon.” And your point is? “That’s NOT allowed. We want to keep our kids safe here. It’s clearly marked that you are NOT allowed to drive back there.” Busted! Bruce had driven up to swim earlier in the afternoon and apparently did not see the sign and may possibly have put children in danger as he drove 5 mph near the pools. We apologized and promised that it would never happen again. No tickets were issued.

After visiting awhile in the RV, Bruce went with Ron and Brent to have dinner at a Brewery in town in Wichita Falls. As much as I like guy humor and beer, I declined. No offense Ron and Brent. I did enjoy YOUR humor this afternoon.

A man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

101 miles – 2,090 ft climb

One thing really struck me this morning as I was praying for Bruce and thinking about what the roads might be like today. Even though we have no idea whether the roads will have a great shoulder, lousy shoulder or no shoulder, God knows. Every morning when we are striking out into the uncertainty of the day, God already knows the paths we’ll take, the people we’ll meet and the problems that will arise. To me, that is a very comforting thought!

Snooze Alert! Every day can’t be interesting, right?

Today was pretty uneventful. Since Bruce left a little before 8:00 this morning and I didn’t leave until around 10:00, he rode on the back roads and I went straight down Hwy 287. Bruce was on a variety of roads again today. Everything from flat out red dirt, to the shoulder of a 75 mph 4 lane divided highway. Cruising at 62 in a 75 is not nearly as annoying to everyone when all the other cars can simply switch lanes and fly on by . I actually got Harvey up to 72 today because the roads were smooth. Then the speed limit dropped to 70 and I found myself speeding! How ironic. Luckily the multitude of motorcycle cops did not clock me during the 3 minutes between the speed limit dropping and me taking action. Can it actually be called “taking action” when you are allowing your RV to coast?

Bruce filled his time today by talking on his cool new head phones with his mom, his biking friend, Jerry and his old swim coach, Bill. No wonder he never answers the phone when I call him.

Our RV park tonight is out in the middle of no where. About 10 miles from Quanah and 20 miles from Childress. Nothing much out here but a bunch of grasshoppers.

Ok, one little story I just thought of. This is near the bottom of the barrel. As I was leaving Wichita Falls this morning I looked over and this kid at the side of the road was giving me the “honk your horn” signal like you do for semi’s. Excuse me, Harvey is NOT a semi! I didn’t have the heart to shatter his enthusiasm by actually honking my horn and letting him hear Harvey’s little toot, so I just waved.

How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

Psalm 104:24

84.6 miles – 2,785 ft climb- 459.3 miles this week

We found out today that we were actually in Goodlett, TX overnight. It’s a suburb of Quanah. It was actually kinda chilly this morning so Bruce waited to leave until around 9:15. Harvey & I rolled out around 10:45.

Since Bruce was having a good morning, I decided to do my 5K in Childress because it looked like it had a cute little historic downtown. Sadly as I walked along I noticed that probably half of the buildings were boarded up or empty inside. Thankfully as I drove out of town I could see that the town actually was thriving a little more than I had thought. Pizza Hut, McDonald’s and of course a Dollar General.

The first 50 miles Bruce was cruising along with the wind at his back, listening to his music, going almost 20 mph. Totally in the groove. When he realized that he had missed his turn and ridden 3 miles past the turn off onto Hwy 86. Then he had to ride 3 more back to it. We were talking to Harriett later and she said that she was following him on Find Friends and on her map and wondering why he was going off route.

The surface of Hwy 86 was chip and seal which was not fun to ride on. Bruce called the calvary to bring his gravel bike. Much better. “Like butter” according to Bruce. He again got in the groove and was kinda excited when Map my GPS routed him onto a side dirt road. He enjoyed it for several miles until it disappeared and he found himself basically riding through a field. Bruce loves gravel grinding (that’s gravel bike speak for riding on gravel roads). But this was not that. Luckily he found another dirt road that took him back to Hwy 86 and on to Quitaque (pronouned Kitty-Ka according to the lady at AllSup’s). Thankfully I had decided to stay on the highway and forgo the back roads today because the highway was back roads enough for me. I can only imagine how things would have played out if Harvey and I tried cruising the fields. Even though he does have great shocks.

I waited for Bruce in Quitaque. The first RV Park I called was no longer in business. The next one was full. I usually wait until the day of to call the RV Parks because Bruce doesn’t always adhere to my well planned schedule. We drove out to Caprock Canyons State Park hoping for an RV site, but willing to just settle for the view. I had already tried calling them and booking online but neither worked. When we got there the ranger did not seem hopeful. Bruce asked her if she wanted to hear a sob story and she said that she had heard them all. He told her anyway. Now she has one more to add to her collection. But luckily she also had one more site. Perfect! Thanks God!

We got set up, Bruce washed his bike and then we cruised around on the cycle. It is beautiful here! There is a herd of bison and a pack (?) of prairie dogs that live here. We had to cut our cruise a little short because the road took a steep dive and we were afraid our little cycle couldn’t make it back up. The guy that had our cycle before us changed something out to make it faster, but it also made it struggle more on hills with 2 people. We still need a name for our cycle. Any suggestions?

We cruised around a bend and there, smack in the middle of the road were a big group of bison milling about. Boy do you feel vulnerable that close to bison on a little cycle! Right before that, I had seen one loan bison at the side of the road and as we cruised by he snorted and kinda stamped his feet. I thought for sure he was going to charge us! So when we came upon the bison in the road we turned around and drove away quickly. And then of course had to stop for a pic.

When I came out of the shower building the bison had moved and were grazing right on the path between the shower and Harvey. Yikes! Since I’m pretty sure I wasn’t invited to the party, I took the long way home. Which was annoying because I had forgotten my flipflops and so had my feet kinda half stuck in my Hoka’s kinda tiptoeing along the whole way back. But I did get to walk by the prairie dog village. They are so cute! I don’t think I’ve ever heard them make a sound before. These were kinda chirping. A lady on her way to the bath house told me that they were warning other prairie dogs that danger was a-brewing with all of these people walking so close to their little village.

As I am writing this I can hear coyotes howling away. It almost sounds fake they are so enthusiastic. We are in the wild west. I’m partially expecting to wake up to a bison out in the front yard. There are actually people tent camping here. Did they not see the sign that there are bison here? And they are wild. And big.

“I went to the pain cave today.”

Bruce Van Bebber

81.3 miles – 2,028 ft climb – wind: in face

Day 22. Half way through. More than half way by mileage. It’s like in the summer when you get to 4th of July. It always makes me think of all the things I meant to do. Obviously Bruce IS doing what he meant to do. But I thought I would get a lot more done. I brought my new Swahili text book because I’d have so much time to work on it. I brought several tea towels to embroider during the times I’m waiting for Bruce. I’ve only touched them once. Well, I’ve touched them many times, but it was only to move them to the seat next to me or to the couch close to me or back to the bed by me. Not much embroidery getting done. I also brought several books and books on my laptop because I would have SO MUCH time to read. I have no idea where my day goes. But it goes.

Today was a hard day for Bruce. He left around 8:20 and enjoyed the first part because even though it was a big climb, there were some great views and it was only 55 degrees. He sent me these pics and posted on facebook, “Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.”

The roads were pretty good today with a decent shoulder. These roads are part of what was originally the Texas Plains Trail. The day got steadily hotter with the wind in Bruce’s face all day. I thought the road today was completely flat but Bruce said it was continuous climbing. I guess it’s a little different when you don’t have Harvey to do all the work. At about 60 miles Bruce was really hurting. He called his friend Steve Richards for a pep talk. They reminisced about other hard rides they had ridden and survived. It got him through the next few miles. At about 70 miles God felt sorry for him and sent an angel disguised as an elderly farmer driving a combine. This guy turned onto the highway right in front of Bruce and chugged on along at 25 mph. Remember when I taught you about pacing? This was it again. Seven miles of drafting relief. When the farmer turned off after 7 miles, Bruce waved to thank him and then realized that the farmer had no idea he was even there.

When he finally “staggered” in to our little RV Park at 4:30, he said “I went to the pain cave today. It was a real Sufferfest.” That’s biker speak for today was hard and I’m glad it’s over. Bring on the chocolate milk. And then a beer.

I caught up with Bruce at about 30 miles, near Tulia. There was no place to pull over, so I pulled across a driveway. Because there wasn’t that much traffic and what are the chances that someone would be needing to actually use this driveway. Bruce came in for a break. You know, the basics: take off his shoes & rest his feet, refill his water bottle and Blendrich bottle, eat a pb&J and some Stacy’s, watch an SNL clip. He was outside getting everything set on his bike when up roared a big, red truck pulling a big, red trailer filled with several horses saddled and ready. A guy got out and sauntered casually over to get his mail from his mailbox. When Bruce apologized for blocking his driveway & told him what we are doing, Brent said it was no big deal and to take our time. I went ahead and backed up a little, planning to back up completely past his driveway. But as I checked the mirrors to finish backing I was aware of a red blur in front of me. Brent had clearly pulled that trailer a time or two before. He went from parked across the street to zipping down his driveway in the amount of time it took me to check my mirror.

After our rendezvous there was really no place to stop in Nazareth because it was mostly just pretty houses on big farms, so I went all the way to Dimmit and “checked in” to our RV park. It’s a bit sketchy but it does have full hookups. It took me a while to find someone in charge. After knocking on a few RV doors, I finally got the number for the manager. When I called her on the phone she said to pick any spot I wanted. But check the electricity because some worked and some didn’t. So here we are. And I will not be walking here tomorrow.

This morning at Caprock Canyons however, I had a great walk through God’s creation. I wish I could have captured it on camera, but it just can’t be done. It never looks as amazing in pictures as it does in real life. It was beautiful. As I was walking I saw these sparkling things along the road. I looked closer and I think they were kinda like fossilized wood with crystals on it. Very cool!

On my way back I noticed a large water trough out in the rough. This struck me as funny because there were signs all around talking about keeping nature natural etc. So I decided to take a picture of it. After I took the picture I looked a little closer and there was a lone bison standing about 15 feet behind the water tank. He was standing completely still staring at me. For some reason this totally freaked me out. I walked as fast as I could past him and tried not to look at him because that’s what you do with wild animals, right? Avoid eye contact? He was around 50 feet away from me but he watched me steadily as I tried to decide what I would do if he decided to charge at me. The trees were way to small to climb but I decided I could try to hide behind one at least. Seeing that one bison made me feel so vulnerable. I looked over to the other side of the road and sure enough there were 4 more bison moseying through the woods about 60 -70 feet away. I thought about all those bison we had seen last night blocking the road and started worrying about what I would do if I came around a bend to a huge group of Bison headed my way. I had no where to go. I was thinking what a dumb idea it was to go for a walk by myself and started to get pretty scared. As I quoted scripture to myself, God reminded me that these bison see people all the time. Other people go on walks or ride bikes. Or camp in tents. Before I knew it I was back near the RV park. Civilization! It started me thinking about the difference between my walk down the road and my walk back. For all I know there were bison looming in the trees all along the road on the way out that I never saw. I suppose it’s better to be aware of dangers out there, but it was definitely more enjoyable when I was completely oblivious to them.

On the way out of the park I had to drive through a huge herd of bison very close to the road. They weren’t quite as scary from inside Harvey. I actually drove within 6 feet of a baby bison nursing his mom. So cool! Unfortunately I couldn’t take a picture because I was on the phone at the time. And I was focusing on sauntering through the herd unobtrusively.