Catch up for missing days

Monday, July 28
Rejoice with those who rejoice.
Mourn with those who mourn.
We started our day rejoicing. With the new cyclists who eagerly began their first ride of the tour, with the fact that we were out of the mountains, and with the cyclists, myself included, who could return to cycling after descending to a ‘breathable’ level.
Cyclists regularly leapfrog past each other when one group stops for one reason or another and another continues on – then vice versa. Each time Cynthia passed by she rejoiced with me.
It was a day of mourning. On I76 just before mile marker 59 misfortune struck. Cynthia hit a piece of rubbish and fell. It was a nasty fall; she had to be picked up by ambulance. But even in the midst of this tragedy we could see the power of your prayers and God’s providence at work.
1. Immediately, an EMT (on vacation from Massachusetts) stopped to help.
2. We were closer to our destination than departure so Cynthia was taken to Fort Morgan.
3. The hospital was right across the street from the school we were lodging at.
4. Erinn Swett (from Grand Rapids) was unable to get an earlier flight home and so was able to accompany Cynthia home.
5. 5. My asthma enforced me to ride with a bandanna and I had chosen a brand new one for Monday. One of the first things the EMT requested was a bandanna to help stop the swelling and bleeding on Cynthia’s face.
We were very distressed to hear that Cynthia not only suffered a concussion, numerous cuts and scrapes but also a broken pelvis. We will all miss her company and wit tremendously and share her disappointment in not being able to complete the tour. We pray that she will soon experience renewed health and a speedy recovery.

Tuesday, July 29th

A Wray of Hope

We were on sweep today so we had a late start but even so we were determined to visit Cynthia (to say our goodbyes) before we left. It was so hard to leave her there. It just didn’t seem right.
Highway 34 was quiet with wide shoulders so we had a nice ‘rolling’ ride. We met the first of the cyclists 20 miles out and since we were the first sweep we just counted them and continued on. We stopped for pizza in Akron and had a snack in Yuma. There are cacti growing by the side of the road – perhaps that explains my 2 flats – but the most annoying thing was the grasshoppers. They were everywhere! We had them flying into our body and we inadvertently crushed thousands of them. I also met my 2nd snake. Fortunately it was moving away from me but nonetheless I stepped very carefully back towards my bike. We crested our final hill at 4:30 and could see a ‘Wray’ of hope in the distance. At 5pm we arrived in camp, tired and hungry.

Wednesday, July 30th

McCook – known as the hotspot of Nebraska. No understatement. It is 105F (tomorrow was forecasted to be 10 degrees warmer yet). We rode the first 100km rather quickly then hit the roller coaster section. Climb, climb, climb, wheeeeeee. Oops, my error, it was actually climb, climb, climb, we. The downs were far too short to qualify as a ‘wheeeeeeee’. It was exhausting. The last 10km were under construction. It was hot, the road was broken up and shimmering and to our horror an ambulance comes blaring up ahead. We pedalled on, heat forgotten, praying that it wasn’t one of our fellow cyclists. It turned out to be a car accident. Then I felt bad that I felt so relieved and someone was still hurt. Tears burned my eyes as guilt and relief overwhelmed me.