Today I rode about 40 of the 80 miles we had a goal to do, and the bearings on my crank went out. The crank is the whole pedal assemble, and because that is where all the pressure is applied to make the bicycle go the bearings are pretty substantial. The slop in the pedals got to be so much that the chain would come off the sprocket. The nice thing about having a support vehicle along is I called Tom on his cell phone and asked if he would pick me up. He had already parked the motorhome and was off on a ride, but said he would go back to the RV and come pick me up. He took off riding when he got me, and I drove the motorhome to Swanson’s house, where we are staying tonight, just out of Coeur d’ Alene, and here I sit in a lawn chair in the shade writing this blog, waiting for them to get home.

Thinking about riding the TransAmerica bicycle route unsupported, and possibly by myself if no one else wants to do it with me. I would fly to the East coast to begin, and start at Yorktown, Virginia and finish at Newport, Oregon. I think that a bag with some spare bearings, extra spokes, tires, tubes, extra brake and shifter cables, and a variety of screws would weigh about 5 lbs and would be weight worth carrying. That trip would be about 4,000 miles and would take about 80 days to do. I think I would start April 10th and finish June 30th. A trip that long, and being unsupported would require a lot of planning, which is my favorite part of these trips. If I do it next year I only have 10 months to plan so I am thinking that it would be better to wait until the following year to do it.

Tom and I are heading home in the motorhome tomorrow morning, about 500 miles driving, and Cliff and Kathy are going to finish on their bikes. It will be good to get home, and get some things scratched off of my to do list before I head up to Alaska fishing, in 9 days.

I have been thinking a lot while riding about what I want to do in the next 10 years. When I think back 10 years ago about what I was doing I realize how short that time really is. In 10 more years I will be 80 years old, and I may or may not have energy, health, or even a sound mind. I have written out the beginnings of 10 new B-Hags, “big, hairy, audacious goals” in regards to ministry accomplishments, and I will work at filling them out in the next several months.

Today we took a break from riding our bicycles, slept in, and had a wonderful breakfast cooked for us by our host Beth McCain. After breakfast we drove in to Bonner’s Ferry and went to church together. It was a wonderful church, the people were super friendly, the preaching was excellent, and the worship was engaging. I just woke up from a nice nap on McCain’s front porch sitting in a comfortable chair. Our next destination is the Swanson’s house near Coeur d’ Alene. They have been at JBC for a number of years and Kevin, the husband and Dad, has been in one of my “Men’s Accountability” groups with me, and a good friend who has regularly hunted and fished with me. They have recently moved to Idaho so it will be great to stay at their place and see their new home. The distance to their place is 112 miles, but we have decided that we are going to load the bikes in the motor home in the morning, and drive through the construction in Bonner’s Ferry, and then bicycle the last 85 miles. 112 miles would move past “challenge” to self inflicted torture. The forecast is for comfortable temperatures with no rain, little wind, and very few big hills so it should be a great ride. One of my goals for this trip was to memorize the first chapter of Philippians, that is 30 verses. I am up to verse 20 and I don’t think I am going to make 30, we will see if I can pour it on this next couple of days. Memorizing Bible verses is the most powerful discipline that I do to bring about change in thinking, attitude, and behavior in myself. If you doubt the power of God’s Word hidden in our heart and mind through memorization and meditation read Psalms 119 everyday for a month and see what happens to your faith in this discipline. It is amazing the direct correlation to between how difficult it is to start and maintain a discipline to it’s effectiveness in producing life change in us. The easier it is the less change takes place in us, the harder it is the more change takes place. But so many people don’t do things because they are hard, and because of that choice to take the easy way they stay where they are, they don’t grow stronger, and they don’t do much with their life that really matters for all eternity. In the words of Jesus, “choose the narrow and hard way, not the broad and easy way”.

We had an easy day riding today, only 42 miles, and fairly flat. It was also another beautiful ride as we followed along the Kootenie River. We usually try to be on the road by 6:00 am every morning to beat the heat and if there is going to be a wind problem it is usually in the afternoon when it gets strong. So we are usually in camp by 2:00 or 3:00 pm, but because it was going to be a short day we slept in until 6:00 am and Tom fixed bacon and eggs for breakfast instead of our usual oatmeal, it was nice. Tonight we are at Jim and Beth McCain’s house in Moyie Springs, Idaho near Bonner’s Ferry. Jim and Beth live in Salem most of the time, attend JBC and are good friends, but recently bought this place in Idaho that they rent out to vacationers most of the year and come and stay periodically. so it worked out beautifully for us to be here with them instead of a campground. We will also be here all day tomorrow for our Sunday rest day, and go to church with them. My wife, Patty took some sockeye salmon to their house before they left to come up here, and they brought it with them, and we are going to eat it tonight😀😀. Last night, just for fun, I searched on the internet for people on bicycle trips that were Blogging about it, and found several. It was fun reading about their travels. Their blogs were much shorter than most of mine.

I had my first flat tire in almost 10,000 miles of bicycle trips today. It didn’t take to long to fix. I carry spare tubes in the bag on my bike along with all the tools that I need. Instead of a pump I use a little Co2 canister about the size of my thumb and an attachment that I screw on the canister that fits the valve stem on my mike. I push the button on the tool and the contents of the little canister fill my bicycle tube up to about 80 lbs, and off down the rode I go. The back tire on my bike is about worn out but I only have a few more days to go so I am reluctant to put the new one on yet, but I I am pretty sure the flat was caused by a little sharp rock that penetrated my tire. It won’t take long, I probably should to be safe.

I saw a big black bear dead along side of the road today, probably hit by a car. He hadn’t swollen up or started to smell yet so it probably last night some time when he was hit. I thought if I had a sharp knife on me, I would have skinned him out. That would have been a load to carry on my bike.

We rode from McGregor Lake to Libby, Montana today, 60 miles. It was a gorgeous trip in regards to scenery, Montana is a beautiful State. Most of the miles were flat and downhill with just a dozen or so miles that were uphill so it was a an easy day, I don’t think I ever broke a sweat in the 60 miles. The sun was out with no rain, no mosquitos, dogs, and just a few miles of rumble strips.

I have one more thing to add to my “Hate List”, those things that I really don’t like much on a bicycle trip. Rain, bugs of any kind but especially mosquitos, bees, and yellow jackets, dogs, rumble strips, chip seal with big gravel, a head wind, rude and grumpy campground hosts, and drivers who think people on bicycles are a menace to society so they get their jollies by seeing how close they can drive to you. Today I would like to add a ninth thing that I hate to the list, that is zippers on tents and sleeping bags. They don’t always hang up while unzipping, but when you are in a hurry to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night they always hang up. And then you are locked in your sleeping bag or tent or both forever or until Jesus comes. What usually happens is that it takes me forever to finally get out of my sleeping bag and then the tent zipper snags up and I am on the same trail with it. The words that I mutter in the middle of the night as I try to get free of my prison is, “you would think that if we can put a man on the moon and invent computers and stuff like that, you would think that someone could invent a zipper for tents and for sleeping bags that actually works.” By the time I am free of my zipper prison I usually have muttered that 3 or 4 times.

Check this picture out of rain and hail falling during a thunder storm. Inch’s and inch’s of rain fell in just 15 minutes. It was amazing how much water came out of the sky in a few minutes. We were fortunate to not be on our bikes or outside when it came.

This is the kind of sign I like. We are at McGregor Lake, Montana at a campground on the lake. I wish I had brought a fishing rod with me, we have stayed at a number of campsites where I could have done some fishing. There is a hiking trail all around the campsite so I may take a hike around it with my camera to see if I can see anything to take a picture of and add a little excitement to my life. Tom does most of the RV driving, but I volunteered to drive it today if he wanted to ride the whole day, instead of just part, and he jumped at the chance. I was going to get on the bicycle and ride back to meet the crew and then ride back to camp, but I was feeling kind of lazy today and decided to stay here and read and write and eat and sleep and eat and sleep some more, nice. Of the seven long distance bike trips that I have been on, one of them was a self-supported trip, that is, we had no support vehicle with us so we had to pack everything on the bikes with us. That was the trip that John Smith and I did across the northern part of the U.S. to Portland, Maine. When we got there we packed our bicycles in boxes and flew home. I think that was my favorite of the trips because it puts a kind of pressure on you that none of the others has. If you get tired you still have to get on the old bicycle, if you don’t get to your destination by dark, you have to ride in the dark or camp where you are. I have been thinking about doing another self-supported longer trip, but I may be getting past that point in my life. I used to get all excited thinking about it and reading about possible trips, but now I think, whooooeeeeeee, maybe I ought to go on a fishing trip instead.

Today we rode 75 miles and overall it was a fun ride, a beautiful ride, and a relatively easy ride. It was “easier” would probably be a better way of saying it, there are no easy days. We went uphill for 20 miles where we hit the continental divide, and then we went gradually down hill for 50 miles. The mountains, meadows, streams, and forests were all beautiful, and we saw a lot of buffalo, deer, elk, and a moose as well. We are in West Glacier, Montana tonight at a KOA campground. They have a swimming pool and a hot tub, so I spent a lot of time soaking my muscles and putting my knee if front of a blower and it feels so much better than it did this morning. A big German shepherd dog came out and chased Cliff and Kathy. They were a couple hundred yards in front of me so I watched as the dog ran after them for several minutes and finally gave up. When I came by him he looked at me and just laid there being to tired out to even bark. I am feeling much better tonight than I have any night on the trip. I think I am finally getting in shape.

Today was a great day of bicycle riding. The scenery was awesome, the temperature was perfect, sunny but not to hot, and the traffic was light. There was a lot of climbing, in fact the total feet climbed was the most of any day on the trip, but we are all getting in pretty good shape and no one cried to much. My knee was a bit tender but felt good after the ride so I don’t think anything to serious happened to it. We rode 73 miles today, and we will ride the same tomorrow. We are camping at “Sleeping Wolf Campground” in Browning, Montana, and it is a very nice campground and reasonable prices as well. I am so tired that I am having a hard time thinking of anything to write.

This is a picture of my office these days on our bicycle trip. This is the inside of the Motorhome that belongs to Tom Zilverberg who is driving this with us as a support vehicle. He usually drives the Motor Home to where we are going to camp in the morning, and then rides his bicycle back towards us and then back to camp again. I woke up with a very sore and swollen knee this morning so I am driving the motorhome today and he is riding. I am parked along side the road about 20 miles from our camping spot waiting until Cliff, Kathy, and Tom make it here in case they are run out of gas and want to ride the rest of the way to camp. It is 82 miles today with some tough uphill climbing. If they are good to go to camp I will take off and get checked in and set up camp. I have a bunch of snacks to munch on and a coffee maker so I am using my time with my IPad and little key board to get lots of studying and writing done. I am taking Ibupofen every 4 hours and expect that the knee will be ready for a good day of riding tomorrow. I brought an elastic knee brace that I will wear tomorrow to help my knee not get any more strained. Tonight we will be in the town of Browning, Montana, right outside Glacier National Park, and tomorrow we will ride through it. So far I have lost 10 pounds and hope to lose an another 10 before I get home. It would be easy if it weren’t for all these snacks that I eat. One of my goals is to get Philippians and Colossians memorized this next year as I plan on teaching through both books in our Wednesday evening at 7 pm and Sunday morning at 8 am classes this next year. I have started working on them on this trip and so far I have 11 verses memorized well. I should get a couple more done today. Memorizing Bible verses and meditating on them during the day is by far the most powerful thing that I do spiritually, that is, this discipline causes more growth in my character and life, and in my intimacy with the Lord than anything else I do. It is interesting to me that the discipline that is most effective is also the hardest one to practice faithfully.

I took this picture in our camp in Lincoln, Montana. We walked to church this morning down the Main Street in town and saw 6 deer. This is my kind of town. The pastor in his sermon was talking about people in the church being like parts of a physical body, and then he said that the most important part of his own body was his shooting finger, my kind of pastor. The church we attended this morning had about 25 people attending, with great worship and teaching from the Bible, and we were greatly edified as we spent time with God with a church family a long way from home. I spent several hours today planning or replanning our trip. The route I had planned on through Glacier National Park is not open yet because of snow so we are going an alternate route that is open, and once you change one thing you have to change almost everything else. I have 6 different Apps on my IPad for planning routes for bicycles. They pick routes that are bicycle friendly based on input from many different bicyclists who have given feedback on the various routes, plus I go over the route with google earth checking it visually. I especially check out the bicycle trails because many of them are gravel, the Apps don’t tell you that, and my skinny bicycle tires don’t do well on gravel. Tomorrow we are headed North to Chateau, Montana. a ride of 82 miles.

An important character trait in life is flexibility. Flexibility is not being wishy washy, or indecisive, it is acknowledging that at any given time there is a lot of information missing that is needed to make a good decision about most things, but decisions usually have to be made before the information is available. So wise people are flexible, they make decisions, make plans, set goals, and figure out strategies knowing that they may change, and they make those mid-course adjustments with the same decisiveness that they made the original plan as new information comes in. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” In the book of Proverbs these kind of statements aren’t 2 opposite statements, but parallel statements, like railroad tracks running parallel side by side. One statement is man’s part, man’s responsibility and the other is God’s. “The mind of man plans his way, and at the same time God is directing his steps”. God expects that we will be responsible and plan, organize, and make goals, but He also expects that we will trust Him, recognizing that He doesn’t give us everything we need to know up front.