Tuesday, August 12

I woke up at 5:15 this morning and, with maps in hand, we were ready to "hit the road" at 6:20. Claire E. joined us today. She is also an early bird and likes to get in to the next camp early. With us she knows that that will likely happen as we are generally one of the first groups out. With one more person added to the group we numbered eight, making it a little bit too large, especially when significant traffic is present. That became evident quite quickly as there were no shoulders for the first ten miles. Our line of eight (single file) made it quite difficult for motorists to pass safely against the oncoming traffic. I get a little more tense, especially when a motorist, tired of waiting for a opportune time to navigate around us, decides they WILL pass even though someone is coming from the opposite direction.

Fortunately, ten miles into the trip we were able to take leave of the road and follow the Prairie Trail/Fox River Trail, a bicycle path for the next almost forty miles. What a relief! Much of the trail followed the river. Large trees, with their limbs forming an archway over us at many points along the way, made for a very enjoyable, not to mention scenic trip. Wild flowers of every type, most notably the Black Eyed Susan lined the pathway much of the way, adding to the beauty. At several points, we crossed the river on wooden bridges. The rickety sound of our bike tires pounding across the boards was a symphony of sound all its own.

The area that we traveled through was quite populated and so at several points the trail would literally open up to the downtown areas of several beautiful hamlets revealing a wide array of shops. Had there been time, I'm sure we would have had little trouble filling in an hour or two just browsing through the various shops, many of them geared for tourists.

At about mile thirty or so, the bike path took us literally through the back yard of an elderly gentleman who, as a hobby, collects railway signs and other such like memorabilia. He had a little railway station and a walkway lined with all sorts of various railway crossing signs, each one different from the other. He happened to be out working at it and so we stopped to talk for a while. It was interesting listening to how he had become involved in his hobby and where he had gotten some of his signs from.

It was while we were talking with this gentleman that two other young men came walking down the trail with their bikes. One of them had a flat and unfortunately were without a spare tube and so they were walking all the way back home a few miles away. Having spare tubes in hand ourselves, John (who is our official fixer upper guy- we will not let him join any other group for that reason) quickly had them "up and running" again. It always feels kind of nice inside when you can help someone out like that. They kind of returned us a bit of a favour a couple miles further when we crossed another span of the river over one of those wooden bridges and had them take pictures of all of us.

A half hour later saw us in the city of St. Charles. We were close to that magic 60 km. (40 mile) mark which unofficially signals the need for a coffee stop. Yes there was a Starbucks (the U.S. version of Tim Hortons back in Canada and so we HAD to stop. John prefers his MacDonalds coffee stop (coffee is cheaper there) but he graciously let us go to Starbucks (actually it was a unanimous decision). What was really gracious was that Gerald treated us to a coffee and donut. Way to go Jerry. You can also stay in our group for that.

We started talking to some of the patrons there (as we always do) sharing with them who we were and what we were doing and handing out cards, etc. It was then that I experienced what I like to call a real "GOD MOMENT." You'll know what I mean as I explain what happened.

A couple of tables away from us, were two ladies who were talking together. As we were talking to some of the patrons in the shop, I felt drawn to go over and begin a conversation with them (just kinda butt in, politely of course). The one lady was Karen and the other one Randi. Anyway, I gave them a card and began explaining about the tour to them and they were really excited for us and started asking all sorts of questions. They couldn't believe that we had actually traveled all the way from Seattle and were going all the way to Jersey City. (I like it when they think we're some kind of super hero - which we aren't at all).

They had picked up from my "accent" that I was Canadian (we had a good laugh about that) and so I introduced them to Barb a fellow American from Iowa who doesn't have an accent and we continued talking. Somehow the conversation swung around that all of us belonged to the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church of America and that I was a pastor. Quite out of the blue (no, I believe it was meant to be), Karen asked if we could pray for her and her family and more particularly their 14 year old son Russell who has reoccurring leukemia. It is a grave situation. Doctors have given them as a family four different treatment options but they just don't know which way to turn or go, they feel so overwhelmed by it all. As she is saying this tears are streaming down her face.

We assured her that of course we will pray for her and her family and son Russell. In fact, Barb added, "there will be 170 people all praying for you tonight at our peleton meeting. We will make sure that they know about your need." "Thank you so much" is all Karen could muster at this point.

Tears are streaming down Randi's cheeks also. "Could you please pray for me and our family too. Two months ago we lost our two year old son to leukemia and we're having such a hard, hard time trying to deal with it." By this time tears are in our eyes too. There was/is so much hurt and pain that these ladies are feeling and trying to deal with. I can't begin to imagine what they must be facing. They had been in the same hospital room with their sons and that is how they came to know each other and be a support for each other. That is why they were in the coffee shop at that moment.

We assured both of them that we would certainly be keeping both of them in our personal prayers in the coming days and that all of us on the tour would be doing the same. At that point I asked Karen and Randi if we could pray for and with them right then. They both noded "Yes" and so the four of us held hands together in the restaurant while I led in prayer. We gave both of them a big hug and told them how to find us on the (this) blog. They assured us they would look us up.

I still shake my head in amazement at what transpired there in that restaurant. I can only say that this GOD MOMENT was meant to be and I feel so privileged to have been a part of it. Now I ask any of you who may be reading this posting to please keep Karen and Randi and their families in your prayers also. May God give discernment to Karen and her family as they chose a course of treatment for Russell and also bring a sense of His peace to Randi and her family as they try to come to terms with their tremendous loss.

After leaving St. Charles we continued on the bicycle path and shortly the trail divided and guess what. We took the left while we should have taken the right. And it wasn't John's fault either. Usually a wrong turn means another 5 or 6 miles added to the length of our trip, as if it isn't already long enough. HOWEVER, this time is actually worked in our favour. Remember the two guys whose tire we had fixed earlier in the morning. Well, one of them had looked at our map and indicated that there was actually another route on this bike path that would allow us to miss the busy city of Aurora, and with a couple of turns here and there we could link up with the route that had been mapped out for us, only save a few miles in the process. Well we quickly realized that that must be the path we were on (or at least we hoped it was) and so we kept going. Sure enough, while the trail was not paved the whole way and we did have to ask the locals a few times if we were still headed the right way, we actually ended up saving a few miles and were pretty much at the front of the whole group when we rejoined the route again. God is good isn't he.

The last 30 or so miles of our journey to Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights was spent skirting our way around the west side of Chicago, meandering in and out of residential areas and also spending a significant amount of time on some very busy roads with lots of stop lights. It certainly impeded our progress, not to mention increased the danger level with all the traffic and clipping in and out of our pedals at all the stoplights. (It's amazing how many red lights you can hit in a row). I was feeling quite tired, more mentally from the traffic congestion, than physically. However, we arrived at Trinity at about 2:30 pm which isn't too bad, especially when you consider that several of the cyclists got lost on the same bicycle path we did but ended up doing well over 100 miles in total instead of the 83 we were supposed to be doing and didn't get in until 5:00ish or even later. A few didn't get in until 7:15 tonight. So I certainly have nothing to complain about. It was a very good day.

In closing, I would just like to add that Trinity is a beautiful college with about 1100 students. They put on a fantastic supper for us (pizza and salad along with make your own icecream sundaes always goes over well). I met a really nice family over supper, Joyce (who works at Trinity) her husband (I can't recall his name) and their two lovely children Paul and Kelsey who were waiting to pick up cyclist billets for the evening. About 70 spots were available for the cyclists. I chose not to be billeted so that I could spend my evening posting this blog so that you might have a little peek into my day. Hope you could have somewhat of a sense of what I'm experiencing. It's really so difficult to put into words. Until next time, take care!