Battle Creek,MI to Goshen,IN

June 17

Miles traveled: 71

Home again, Home again, lickity split. No, we are not in Harrisonburg,VA yet but Elkhart County, Indiana feels an awful lot like home. I've spent 14 1/2 of my forty years here in this county(split between Elkhart,Goshen, & Middlebury). We can almost add the two years spent at Amigo Centre during voluntary service just an hour north of here to this time as well. We made it to my parents home on the south side of Goshen right around 3pm. Jan and I were thrilled to see our 3 beautiful girls running to meet us on the bike path behind my parent's home.

We are feeling pretty good about having completed over 400 miles in the last seven days. One of the first things I did upon arriving (after all of the hugs and kisses) was to weigh the trailer I had been pulling for the last week. (39.5 pounds) I'm looking forward to dropping the trailer for the 90 mile ride to Archibold,OH on Thursday. I think it's going to be amazing but I am trying to keep perspective on the distance. It's still 90 miles on the bike. Jan and the girls will drive out and meet me there.

Jan and I were reflecting today about the different roads that we have ridden on. We found ourselves on a very quiet country road. Maybe 2 or 3 cars in the 6 plus miles we rode on it. We rode double most of the road. It was awesome to be able to chat back and forth for a while. One of the things we talked about was the contrast between the different road surfaces and how it effected our ride.

The road we were on, though quiet, was quite rough. Not just the tarred seams that jarred your arms and rear end but the surface itself really drug us down. Even apart from grade or wind, it took much more effort to travel on this surface than on some of the other smooth surfaces we traveled on. I think specifically of the road between Mancelona,MI and Kalkaska,MI. That road was like glass. It took such little effort to pedal on that road and you could glide for long stretches effortlessly. On the rougher roads, even the downhills were reduced by the rolling resistance the surface provided.

I'm writing this on Wednesday. We just got back from a tour of Michiana (Michigan/Indiana) and the 6 homes that I have lived in over the years in this area. Two of those homes were while we were in voluntary service at Amigo Centre. We just had to stop in to see John and Evelyn Blucker after taking the picture of the home we lived in on the edge of camp property. The Bluckers were our neighbors and I worked with John at Amigo for two years. Being with John and Evelyn and their daughter and her husband Caz and Sheila Moore has always been like traveling on one of those really smooth roads. It was so interesting to get our daughter's impressions of this family after getting back in the van to travel to Shipshewana,IN for our next stop. Our girls have never really had a chance to get to know them even though Emily was born when we lived next door to John and Evelyn. Our girls were instantly drawn to them and expressed how they liked being in their home. Evelyn has really slowed down with some significant health problems but was still very gracious and warm. John was his gruff, comical and warm self. And Caz was just as warm and comical as his father-in-law. So easy to be with. We didn't get drug down with any agenda or the need to put on airs. I hope I'm that kind of person.

I told my girls that I always knew when we were at Amigo that if anything ever happened, our car broke down or we needed something, John or Caz would "give us the shirt off their backs any time of day" without hesitation. What a gift! I hope I'm that kind of person.

I had remembered one of the many lines that John would fire at me from time to time "Try so hard to be perfect, next thing you know you'll think you're God!" But then he reminded me of the line one of his preachers along the way had always led off with. "Brother Man! Sister Woman!" He asked me if I had remembered to use that one in any of my sermons. He said he would like to hear me preach some time. I told him I'd try and use it in one of my next sermons (It'll be awhile).

Well back to our final day of riding together. The first 10 miles were mentally challenging. I could picture in my head the ride along the bike path in Goshen and our girls coming out to meet us. I was just ready to be there. The challenge was the 70 miles between us and that moment. It took me some time to work through this and get down to the work at hand. Eventually the miles began to slip by. We had several opportunities to ride side by side and talk and that helped.

We had our first flat tire of the week in Mendon, MI. Jan had been uncharacteristically trailing behind for almost a mile. We came to a stop sign in Mendon and I waited for her. When she came up she said "I've got a flat tire! I couldn't figure out why I just couldn't go anymore and then I realized my tire was flat." So we walked our bikes over to a pavilion at the local park and I fixed the tire.

We continued on and stopped for lunch in White Pigeon,MI. Jan said as we were leaving White Pigeon; "You know, up to this point I have felt like a visitor in this state (Michigan) but being here now (between Amigo Centre and Goshen) I feel like I'm at home. I know where we are and where we want to go. This is familiar territory." I could agree. Lots of good memories in this neck of the woods for me and for us.

Today then (Wednesday) was my layover day. We(the whole family) piled into the van and took the "3 hour tour". We ate 7-Eleven Slurpies(High Fructuse Corn Syrup and all), Steak & Shake Steakburgers, BBQ potato chips, and Oreo cookies(These are a few of my favorite things....as a child) on a merry-go-round in a little town park. Anya told me on the walk back to the van "That's the most fun lunch I've ever had!" That made my day.

Tomorrow I head out for Archbold,OH. It's a 90 miles trek. I'll drop the 40 pounds of the trailer but my rear end will still be connected to the seat for a full day of riding. I think I can, I think I can.... my dad will meet me about 20 miles out and ride the final miles with me.

I'll have about 150 miles over the next two days to get to Kidron,OH. Hopefully I can split that out fairly evenly. Jan and the girls will travel on ahead to her parents after being with me in Archbold. I ride solo until Jan along with her dad and sister join me for the final miles into Kidron.

A friend emailed me today and commented about how lucky we were to have had the opportunity to take this trip together. We couldn't agree more. What a great experience it has been over the past week. Challenging? Yes. Rewarding? Yes. Awesome memories have been made that will be with us for many, many years to come. I've got a good one. She stuck with me through the challenges, the rough roads, the hills(both killer and gradual), the detours, the "yippy dog" encounters, and I can honestly say I love her more today than I did when we left Manistique,MI on that cold and cloudy day 8 days ago.

I've asked her if she would like my mom to drive the kids out to Archbold,OH so she could ride with me tomorrow. She's graciously declined. I'm on my own for these last three days. We'll have to see how it goes. I won't have any one behind me telling me I'm doing good when I start to lag. I won't have anyone out in front of me to break the wind if the wind should happen to change its mind and blow out of the east. I won't have a companion at rest breaks and lunch. I'll have to be careful not to push too hard out of the gate and run myself down too early. It'll be different. But I also think it will be good for me.

Jan and I have made the decision to bring my bicycle trip to a close at Kidron,OH. It's been awesome so far. But I've felt for the last several weeks a bit of guilt/uncertainty for taking such a significant portion of our family resources to complete this trip when I don't know what or where I will be employed in the near future. When there are projects that we are needing to work on at our place in Harrisonburg that will benefit the whole family, and when I want to be spending time with my girls. I have no regrets about the time and resources we have spent up to this point. But, I am also at peace with letting go of the final leg of the journey to be with my girls and do something special with them. And yes, my rear end is at peace with this decision as well.