I am sitting in the motorhome at the table typing this blog, and it is 7:54 am. Ray, Paul, Cliff, and Kathy just took off on today’s ride of 62 miles to Lillwaup, Washington, on Hood Canal on Hwy 101. The name of the campsite is Rest-A-While RV Park, and it looks like from the website that it will be a nice one. I am driving the motorhome today instead of Ray because of my broken bike. I will ride my bicycle tomorrow because it is a short day of 42 miles, and I should be able to manage my floppy pedal. The bicycle shop in Portland that I called yesterday to try and find a new crank for my bike was super helpful and spent a lot of time finding the part and working today to get it mailed for me so it comes in time to my daughter Hanna’s place in a couple of days. They have my business from here on out.

I can’t check into the next campsite until noon, so I will sit here in our present site until check-out time which is 11:00 am, and read and write; a lovely day it will be.

This is the tenth long-distance bicycle trip that I have done, and they all have one thing in common, everything that can go wrong does. I plan them out in great detail and think of everything that needs done before we go, but it makes no difference. A fun part of these kinds of trips is dealing with and solving the various problems that come up. We have every bicycle shop on the route identified with phone numbers because malfunctioning bicycles are the number one problem that we face. Because the course we are riding is sanctioned by the “Adventure Cycling Association,” there are a lot of bicycles and, thus, a lot of bike shops along the way.

The book of Proverbs says, “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Jesus Christ is Lord of my life, and every morning I present myself to Him and commit myself to obeying Him and following His leading as I see it. So whatever happens I know that the Lord is holding my hand and guiding me into His perfect will, broken bicycles and all.