We are all packed up, in the RV and headed home, having terminated the trip because of the excessive, record-setting heat. I am now in the planning stage for next year’s trip. I have decided that I am going to do the Adventure Cycling’s Trans-America route. It is a coast to coast route going from Oregon to Virginia, and is approximately 4,000 miles long. At this point my brother Cliff will go on the trip with me along with his wife Kathy, and several others are thinking about it.

There are a number of decisions that have to be made about the trip. The first is whether we are going to do it with or without a support vehicle. A vehicle makes it a lot easier because we won’t have to pack 70 lbs of gear, clothes, and food on our bikes. It also adds a lot of security in case of breakdowns or other issues that can come up. Obviously the fact that I will be 73 and Cliff 72 is a major consideration. The main reason not to is because it quadruples the cost of the trip.

A second decision is whether we will start on the West Coast or the East. The prevailing winds generally go from West to East so the probability for tailwinds instead of headwinds, which is a big deal, is higher starting on this side of the U.S. A big problem going from West to East is that the purchased airplane ticket for returning home departure date hangs as a deadline over your head in case of any delays in the trip because of break down, weather, or health.

Another decision if we decide to use a support vehicle is whether we will buy one just for the trip and sell it at the end or whether we use someine’s personal vehicle that is going on the ride. If we use someone’s personal vehicle there is the added time and miles of driving across the country at the beginning or end depending on the starting point.

Another decision is when we we would do the ride. The personal schedules and responsibilities of those going and the best weather are the key factors in deciding.

There are many more decisions that need to be made in the planning of this trip, but the most important has been made, I am going to do it. Actually, the planning and all the research that goes into a journey of this magnitude is my favorite part.

Decision making and planning are a key part of every area of life. God planned all that has happened, and has planned the future in detail. He has given us the power and the freedom to make plans for our own lives and the lives of others and for organizations that we may lead.

Some people make good plans and succeed, and others make poor plans and fail. There are three keys to successful planning. The first is to make God the leader in the planning process, even if it is as non-spiritual as a bicycle trip. The second is to get counsel and advice from others who have experience. And the third is to do lots of research.

Well, we decided when we got into camp today that we are going to abort our trip, it is just too hot to ride a bicycle as strenuously as we do. I checked the forecast for each area for each day, and it is supposed to be over 100 degrees every day. Today was only 42 miles but I started getting light-headed the last hour we rode when the temperature went to 102 degrees.

We will get up in the morning like a bicycle ride day and head home, it will be about a ten-hour drive. It is always sad not to be able to finish a goal, but like the old Kenny Roger’s song goes, “you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them, ” or something like that.

The fact is, almost all of my big goals have some revision in them because of unknown events or circumstances that came up. One of the character traits that we all need to be strong in is the quality of being determined, having endurance, and being tough, along with being balanced with being flexible and wise. We don’t want to be so flexible that we quickly quit our goals when things get hard, and we don’t want to be so rigid that we experience or cause someone else to experience some form of harm.

We now have bicycle trip number eight in the books. This is the shortest of all trips, both in days and miles. This is our eighth day and we have ridden almost exactly 400 miles

We are talking about doing the Trans-America next year. It is a route that many thousands of people over the years have ridden. It starts at Newport, Oregon and ends in Yorktown, Virginia, is about 4,000 miles long, and will take approximately two months to ride. If you would like to go let me know or if you would like to drive the support vehicle.

I do not think I have ever been hotter than I was today riding my bicycle. I didn’t think we were ever going to get to camp. Cliff and I stopped along a ditch and dipped our shirts in the water to cool us off. We kept an eye out for traffic because we were sure that if anybody saw us with our shirts off they would run off the road. The forecast for tomorrow where we are headed is 104 degrees, but two good things, there is a swimming pool at the campground, and we only have to ride 42 miles tomorrow.

Today we left from Baker City and biked to Oxbow on the Snake River. This campground is one of the nicest, best run, most beautiful campgrounds I have ever been in. We rode 70 miles and climbed about 3500 feet, and the last hill of over 2000 feet and 7 % grade was at the end, around 2:00 pm, at the hottest part of the day.

I got stung on the forehead by a yellow jacket while I was riding today. I am glad it wasn’t on one of our 40 mph down hill rides. We did have a good down hill run but I only got up to 38 mph.

In the campground last night there was a train track right next to where we were camped, and there were also some chickens in a pen close to our campground. Because we are in a different campground every night I sometimes wake up confused as to where I am. At 3:00 am a train went by and blew his whistle and then after it was gone a rooster started crowing. At home we have a train track behind our house and there is usually a train that goes by and blows his whistle at 3:00 am. We also have chickens and we used to have a rooster that would crow at 3:00 am, but I killed him. So I am thinking that I am home, but I can’t figure out how that rooster was alive, roosters don’t rise from the dead!

Speaking of rising from the dead I was thinking about eternity today as I rode, and what came to mind in the heat was the contrast between the state or description of the eternity between those who love Jesus and are following Him, and those who don’t. The place that those who do not know Jesus personally will spend forever in is described as “intense heat, ” “Lake of Fire, ” “torment, ” and “agony.”

I know many people who have planned their retirement well, but give no thought to their eternal future. They just ignore it, and hope for the best.

Today was a tough day. We climbed three passes, all of which were over 5,000 feet; we rode 70 miles, and the last 12 miles, we pedaled against a monster headwind that was a least ten mph. We saw lots of deer today as we rode through some beautiful country. We pulled into camp at Baker City about 3:00 pm, set up our tents, blew up air mattresses, put out our sleeping bags, took a nice long shower, sat in the hot tub, took another cold shower, ate some trail mix, and now I am getting ready to go to bed. It is only 8:30 pm, but we are getting up at 4:30 am. This is the most tired I have been so far on the trip, but I expect that 7 hours of sleep will cure everything wrong with me!

Cliff likes to talk big, but at the top of this pass, he is the one sucking air! The fact is, he is usually ahead of me, but he is 14 months younger than I am, but I am quite a bit skinnier! I have lost 2 lbs, but I probably would have lost more if I didn’t eat so much. This biking up hills and going 70 miles a day makes me really hungry. Last night I ate one of the dinners that I brought that Patty fixed for me, and then I walked down to the local cafe and had another full dinner with Marionberry pie with ice cream for dessert!

The best thing I do now at this stage in my life is exercise. It is tough riding my stationary bike an hour every day and then going on these summer trips, I would rather not. But it keeps my energy up, my enthusiasm and passion for life and ministry hot, it keeps my Parkinson’s at bay, I am sure I think clearer because of it, and my general health is good.

One of the basic principles of life is that the more important something is to our life, the harder it is to do consistently. Jesus stated the principle numerous times, and none clearer than when He said, “choose the narrow hard way instead of the broad, easy way, few choose the hard way, but it is the way to life.”

The number of people who say they are followers of Jesus but don’t attend church faithfully, read their Bibles sporatically, give God left over and convenient time in prayer, give of their money when they have plenty, and don’t do much in the way of serving in their church is the majority. Why? Because it is hard.

Every day choose to do something new that you would rather not, or choose to do something that you know is good for you, but you have neglected because of laziness. Choose to learn a second language, to learn to play the piano, to paint a picture, to climb Mt Adams with me, to go on a bicycle trip, a long one, to take a math class at Linn Benton, or to go sky diving. You could make a goal to read the JBC Bible reading plan, to pray with your spouse 3 times a week, to give 15% of your income, to go to the gym 3 times a week, to cut out television, to cut out sugar from your diet, to fast a day a week, you get the idea, train yourself to choose the hard way instead of the easy way.

Watching the news it would be easy to believe that the United States is pretty much just full of bad people, but really there are many more good people than bad. We have bumped into them constantly on this trip. People who are quick to offer help, give direction, and to make personal sacrifices for others.

Here Cliff and I are taking a break from biking in the shade drinking a cold diet Pepsi on the porch of the house of the pastor whose’s church we are staying at today. After we got settled in our accommodations for the night another bicycle dude showed up and moved in with us. He is a super nice young man who is riding from coast to coast, and we had a great time talking about our bicycle exploits.

Even though I am an introvert by nature one of the enjoyable parts of these bicycle trips is all the new people we get to meet. The conversation usually begins with our trip, where we are going, how hard it must be, and then it usually moves to the weather and then to personal stories.

In the New Testament, there are hundreds of commandments given to us from God on how to live life. Most of them are relational, how to treat other people. Commands such as love one another, be kind to one another, forgive one another, serve one another, honor one another, greet one another, and many, many more.

Eternity is going to be mostly about relationships, hanging out, telling stories about when we were growing up on earth, laughing about what we did and how we thought. The cool thing is we will have a glorified body that won’t have a sin nature so we won’t get grumpy, irritated, we won’t get our feelings hurt, and we won’t be competing for attention.

I am sure glad that because of my faith in Jesus Christ I am headed to heaven.

I am not sure if there are going to be bicycles in eternity, I am planning on flying like superman.

Today we rode from Mitchell to Dayville, Oregon, only 40 miles. We stopped here because another church hosted bicycle riders as a ministry, and it was too good to pass up; besides, I didn’t mind only riding 40 miles. Tomorrow is our rest day, and it is much needed to rest muscles and heal aching body parts, though I was feeling much better today, and as a result, enjoying the ride more. We had a long gradual downhill ride today after a very, very steep 10-mile uphill climb. I like the gradual dowhhills where we go about 10 to 15 mph without pedaling most of the time. It is very relaxing and easy to look around at the scenery and wildlife.

One of the things that happens to me on these rides is that on about day 4, I start hallucinating. Not bad hallucinating, more like optical illusions. I can’t tell whether the road is going up or down. Today I was riding along a river, and I was positive it was running uphill. But I know rivers don’t run uphill, so I had to ignore what my eyes and brain were telling me. Later I was going along at 15 mph without pedaling, and it looked to my messed-up brain that I was going uphill, but I know that is impossible without a powerful tailwind.

So, my new accurate gauge for whether I am going uphill or downhill is no longer my eyes; they deceive me; it is my legs; am I pedaling, how hard am I pedaling, and how fast am I pedaling?

That is very much like life, we are constantly being deceived. Our own heart often deceives us.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

The devil is called “the deceiver,” and he is constantly trying to get us to believe things to be true that are false.

The world, the media, politicians, teachers, even Pastors are constantly trying to control us through deception.

Those who read, study, and memorize the Bible every day will know the truth. Be sure that with busy schedules and summer activity you don’t compromise on the basic disciplines of the Christian life, otherwise you will think up is down and wrong is right.

Today we rode from Bend to Mitchell, Oregon. It was 78 miles with about 4,000 feet of climbing as we went over Ochacho Pass. We had a great down hill ride going down the other side of Ochacho Pass because they were doing road construction near the top of the pass, and they would hold all the cars and trucks until the pilot car came. So there would be a slug of vehicles, and we would pull over until they passed, and then we would have 20 minutes without a car so we would ride out in the smooth part of the road. I got up to 42 miles an hour twice. It was overcast today with even a shower or two so the temperature was pleasant. We had no flat tires, no dogs chased us, no mosquitoes bit us, rumble strips were only a minor problem, most of the day there was a two foot shoulder, and once we got past Prineville traffic was mild. Sore muscles, tender butt, and other physical issues were much better today.

We had planned on staying at the public park in Mitchell, but someone told me about this place we are staying in tonight. It is a church that decided to have a ministry to bicycle riders. They have 6 bunk beds, a couple of teepees, tent space, and room for our RV. They have showers and provide breakfast as well. Tonight there are about six other bicycle riders besides us who are staying here and we have had a good time comparing stories of our various rides and trips.

Tomorrow we are headed to John Day.

Today we rode our bikes from Idanah to Bend, Oregon, about 75 miles with 5,000 feet of elevation gain. We had a lot of climbing as we went up Santiam Pass, but we managed it alright. The hard part of the day came after we went through Sisters, and the heat went up to about 98 degrees. Fortunately, that was only about two hours of riding. The traffic was heavy, but there was a pretty good-sized shoulder most of the way. Tomorrow we are headed to Mitchell through Prineville and we will be camping in the City Park.

Yesterday’s ride was great in that I felt good, but today’s ride was full of pain, beginning to the end, I took lots of ibuprofen. I imagine tomorrow will be worse because it is kind of a cumulative effect. My butt hurt, my neck, my shoulders and my hands. The good news is we have a rest planned for day five, so things should get in shape by then and the day off will allow muscles and various body parts to heal up.

Mentally managing pain, fatigue, and discomfort is a key part of successfully completing a major bicycle trip like we go on every year. It would be so easy to quit a trip like this when the pain starts, because the fun level has dropped substantially.

Endurance is a character trait needed to successfully accomplish anything of significance in life, and we are admonished a number of times in the Bible to run with endurance the race God sets before us. Many more people quit than finish at a variety of things in life, especially in our present culture.

With the way my recent fishing trips went, with every thing going wrong that possibly could go wrong I was a bit nervous about our bicycle trip that we started today, but everything went super well. No flats, no dogs, no break downs, no mosquitos, no head wind, rumble strips were not a problem, my butt didn’t hurt to bad, my neck didn’t hurt, my legs were in decent shape, and though there was a ton of trafic, no one yelled at us, honked at us, or ran us over! Man, bicycle trips don’t get much better than that!

Much of the shoulder on the road was non-existant so we rode on the white line. Cars and trucks passed us one after the other as people were headed to Detroit Lake but they gave us plenty of room. All the traffic buzzing around you could make you nervous if you let it. A lot of people today are nervous, scared, and anxious about every little thing under the sun, and rarely ever attempt to do anything with a shred of risk involved in it. The phrase, “be safe” has gone to seed with it’s overuse. My brothers and I spent many hours working on the farm with “antique”, near worn out farm machinery but no one ever had a serious accident as Dad was always nagging us about safety. He was also a super nag on gun safety as we hunted and shot at targets. But he let us float down the raging White Salmon River on a tractor inner tube, and thought nothing of it, though I doubt many would attempt it today.