Sarnia to London 65 miles

It felt good being in a real bed last night.  Tonight I am in another at Dan and Ida Tigchelaar's.  Love visiting with old friends whom I have not seen in a while. Really far too long. Great connecting and hearing what they are doing. 

This morning John drove me back to camp where I managed to get myself organized and ready to ride by 7 AM.  John guarded my bike he says and also took lots of pictures which I will post.

I am stretching my legs before I ride to avoid having problems with my Achilles tendon. Today it gave me not trouble. Thank you Lord.

Barb, Jan, Jane, and I getting ready to leave camp.

people having breakfast

I had talked to Jan, Jane and Barb about going straight along London Road rather than stay on the planned route for the first 15 miles.  Most people followed this as well. Even though this was a busier road, it was an excellent smooth road with a wide shoulder. This shaved off about 3.5 miles off the planned route.  My motto is to try to make a direct path to the next camp on the safest and most enjoyable roads. I do not like it when our miles are extended to go back roads that are rough and have lots more hills.
So I left camp with Jan Quist, Jane Brouwer, and Barb Mellema.  We decided to rotate the lead as we had a bit of a head wind. So every 1 mile we would change. This enabled none of us to get too worn out leading the pace line and fighting the winds.  Eventually Dave Geerlings, Russ Johnson, and Doug Mcleod came alongside us and we no longer had to lead the pace line. At a SAG stop we saw Rich and Carol Rienstra who had on Calvin jerseys just like Jane and I so I took a pic.

 At one point we had 9 people on the line which is really too long. It makes it hard to keep track of everyone and I think we lost Barb and Jane toward the end as when we came to the welcome station of Sea to Sea on the Springbank bike trail, Barb and Jane were not there. 
We were greeted along the bike trail by Londoners one whom I knew Elly Devries

Once a got into camp I was greeted by former Sea to Sea people John VanderSteen came up to greet me and was looking for Barb.

Nick Benjamins and Bert Steenburgen were also in camp. So good to see everyone. Last night I also saw Cynthia Scholten who did the 2005 tour with me.
I was relieved that my Achilles tendon did not gave me problems today and I was able to ride the whole distance with out difficult.
Tonight I am staying with Dan and Ida Tigchelaar who are old friends from college. Thanks for bed, great supper, glass of wine and ice cream. 

Also visited other friends who have been challenged this past year due to Rick being very sick necrotizing pancreatitis since early December 2012 and was able to go home from the hospital just this past Tuesday. What a miracle and blessing to seeing both he and Ruth. Rick's eyes were bright with a sparkle and gave me a view into his soul that said he was so happy to be home.  What a testimony Rich and Ruth have been in trusting the Lord each day no matter what happens and knowing they are in God's hands each minute of every day and need to trust God in all things and through all things.

Tomorrow we biked to Kitchener where I lived for 25 years and will be staying at Woodland Christian High where my kids Jonathan, Scott and Sarah all graduated from. I hope to bike with an old friend who biked with me in 2005 across Canada, Maggie Williamson.