Day 12 and 13 Rehoboth to Shiprock

 Day 12 and 13  Rehoboth to Shiprock

It is Sunday morning, I am sitting In the back yard of John Greydanus the pastor at Bethel Christian Reformed church. He has chickens and an amazing garden with a variety of vegetables.  It is a quiet morning as there is yet no hustle and bustle as everyone is sleeping.  A great change in routine.  Every morning when we ride there is this sense of urgency to hurry hurry to get out early to get out on the road and to get to the next camp site.  I miss the quietness of early mornings at home where I have time to do my devotions and mediate before Hank gets up.  Thank you Lord for a day of rest, we will rejoice and be glad in it today.

Yesterday  I did not ride as I wanted to give my legs and my hand a couple of days of rest to see if I cannot get to a point I no longer have problems with pushing myself up the hills without difficulty.  I am hoping a couple of days off will make a difference.

Yesterday was our first really long day.  Over 27 cyclists had never ridden this far, so for them it was a real accomplishment to say they had ridden a century ride.  The day started out with an announcement that the ride for the day would have to be cancelled due to a bridged wash out on the only highway straight to Shiprock from Gallup.  God threw us a curve and we faced another challenge.  Number three. What to do now??  We had to make decisions quickly as cyclists were starting to get out on the road. We told cyclists not to live till we had more clarity on the severity of the wash out as the DOT stated road closed to all vehicular traffic.  We could stay at Rehoboth for another day but that our mean we would ride on Sunday than another 6 days in a row to stay on schedule.  Again not an option for cyclists. Ken Zylstra the development Director at Rehoboth immediately got on the phone to State Police as he had some contacts to see if we could at least the cyclists to get across the detour area.  The alternative was a 150 mile ride versus 97 miles.  Not an option.  Fortunately, within 15 minutes we are told by state police the cyclists could get through but the support vehicles would have to go around.  (Thanks Ken for your help in getting us on the road.)

Now what? We needed to provide a support to the cyclists to all the way to the detour and then pick it up on the other side.  It was decided that one of then SAGs would immediately head out to get to the other side of the detour to be there when cyclists crossed the bridge. Fortunately, there were also a number of Christian Reformed Churches along the route and they were already planning to provide some refreshments along the route.  So cyclists could get water and some food.  Two SAGs were sent to be along the route before the detour and I would provide the Sweep to the cyclists to ensure all cyclists got beyond the detour. 

Shery Mulder and I worked together to provide Sweep.  I would be showing Shery how to do this as she could no longer do all the work in the kitchen due to an inflammation in her arm and the possibility of reoccurrence of her lymphoma that she had 15 years earlier.  A tough thing for Shery to deal with and she was having mixed emotions, but she was making the best of the day and seeing where God now wanted to use her.   

Shery and I started out together along with Rich and Carol Rienstra as Carol had a flat in camp and seemed to have problems with a tire.  She decided to throw her extra tire into the van in case she might need it.  I told Rich and Carol I could drive them up to one of the SAG stops up head so they would not be too late getting into camp.  I dropped them off about 30 miles into the ride. It was a blessing as she did not need the tire as another cyclist did who had a cut in the side wall of his tire.  As we were riding past cyclists I was counting to see how many we past and who they were so I could keep track of who might need to be swept in.  At one point I thought I had accounted for all the cyclists only to be told by two cyclists who I thought were the last, that there were still two cyclists behind them.  I immediately turned around to find out where they were and how far back they were.  I found them several miles behind and checked to see what was wrong.  They had had a flat tire.  Fortunately they (Mark and Dave) were both young strong riders and would be able to catch up which they did. When they got to the SAG stop we check Mark’s tire and noticed that the new tube he had put in was already starting to bulge out. Carols spare tire in the van ended up being a gift to Mark at that moment.  Thanks Lord!  We were able to help 3 cyclists who had flats and needed tubes and a tire. 

 
Mark with a member of Bethleham CRC a church he grew up in

 
                                                                         some off road driving

                                                                      these really are bus roads

Chad and Eric Verluis changing a flat tire

 

                                   Church members selling food to cyclists and others along the roadside

Along the route we visited 2 CRC churches and 2 other CRC churches had stops along the highway providing food and drink. These are all Navajo churches that do not have lots of resources, but the people were kind and caring.  One man, Donavan, and his family followed the tour all the way to Shiprock and were at every SAG stop.  He thought he might now a short cut around the detour but was not 100 % certain he knew the way.  Another local ended up directing us.  We ended up off roading in my van, Cary one of the SAGs in a DRS van, Mark and His wife for 8 miles on dirt roads that I would never have identified as roads but was told this is part of the bus route for school.  Unbelievable but what a blessing we did not have to do the 130 mile detour.

I should mention that we had a cyclist on this section named Mark Heberts I believe who had grown up in the area and cycled a few days.  Mark’s story is Incredible as he was told last fall that he had a huge tumor in his leg and was told it might need to be cut off.  Fortunately, that did not happen and he was able to have the tumor removed with some limitations and he was able to ride 100 miles with SAG support by his wife Deb.  A beautiful couple with lots of joy in spite of the challenges they face. 

All the riders managed to get in by 415 which is really fantastic considering the 97 mile day. All the riders were pretty determined to bike the whole way today. 

We had expected to stay at Shiprock High School, but when  Phil got there he determined this was not a good place to stay as there was no water or power hook up for our vehicles.  John Greydanus graciously offered us his church property to tent.  What a blessing John is to the tour.  He is a God send to us and to many others.  He told me he has 3 more bike groups coming through in the next two weeks.

I do not know if I will get another chance to blog today as it is Sunday and I am on Sweep team duty this afternoon , meaning I have to help clean  out the gear truck which we have to do every week and help serve supper.  Everyone serves on a sweep team every nine days and my turn is today.  Tomorrow morning I will have to get up earlier to assist the cooks in setting out breakfast and lunch food and then help clean up the site and maybe help load the trailer.  This is can be a topic for another blog. 

I need to sign off now and hopefully upload to the Internet without difficulty.  Thanks for all the words of encouragement and prayers.  We know we have a strong and meaningful support community that is praying for our safety and that we may be a blessing to people we meet on this tour.

 

Blessing on this our Lord's Day we are rejoicing and thankful for the Lord's protection and blessings this week and the weeks ahead.