Day 38

Wednesday, August 6th

What a day!
The weather forecast called for 12% chance of precipitation. Upon walking out of Dordt College at about 6:00 this morning, we noticed the wet sidewalks, parking lot and grass. Shortly thereafter, it started to rain and did it come down. The lunch shelters were not set up due to the weather forecast and it is difficult to make an egg salad sandwich in a downpour. They did not improve in their appeal at all throughout the day.
Our gear bags were set nicely around the gear truck like every morning, but when it started to rain, tarps needed to be found so the bags could all be covered. This required that we move them all to a central location all the while trying to keep the tarp from blowing away.
We dug up our raincoats out of the gear truck and headed to breakfast across the campus, the rain not letting up. We finished breakfast and prepared to get on the road and, you guessed it, the rain was still coming down.
The ride was pleasant, although a little cool due to the rain soaking you to the skin. The rain lasted through our first scheduled stop in Hospers, where we were treated to wonderful filled donuts and bottled water. It also lasted through our second stop, Primghar, where we received power bars, hot and cold beverages and were greeted by enthusiastic supporters. One supporter was John Vanderhague (sorry John if I spell this wrong, or worse, get it totally wrong). He is familiar with a Chatham family. He works with Jeff Vanlingen. Small world.
Today was a 183km (114 miles) day. They added a little due to a change in the route (we had a discussion tonight at peleton on how to pronounce route; most agree, it is rhymes with out).
Both Teresa and I completed this ride, mostly due to the cooler temperatures and an awesome tailwind.
Today proved to be one of the best rides of the tour so far. Not to many opportunities to spread the news about poverty, but tomorrow will be better.
We cycled with Claire E and Joan D. We had just completed out last s.a.g. stop and we about a mile from the turn toward Whittemore. It had a sign advertising sausages and other things that must have peaked all our interests. Claire was looking at the sign as was I, when she went off the road, tried to get back on, and took a spill. I almost hit her leg, and then her front tire as she went down. I quickly hopped off my bike and thought she had been knocked out, she was lying there so quietly. When I leaned in close and called out her name, she said she was OK. I think she was just taking moment to do a self assessment before getting up. She scratched her right knee quite well, and just scuffed her chin. It could have been much worse.
Thank you, Lord, for an awesome day.

On another note, we will try to stay in contact. We have some photos we would like to post and we are currently using a neighbourhood wireless we found by accident. Our satellite system is broken and will be fixed on the weekend, we hope.