I am memorizing the book of Philippians and Colossians in the New Testament because I am going to teach through both books this Fall. Memorizing them well and then going over and over the verses in my head all through the day really helps me understand the meaning God wants us to get from these two books. 4 verses that I memorized yesterday and have been going over since is Philippians 1:21-24
” For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.”
Paul says, “to die is gain” and “I have the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better!”
That is quite an amazing attitude to have. It would give a person a freedom from fear of dying, and a peace in the face of the worst problems life can bring on us.
I am pretty sure that by memorizing these two books and meditating on them, especially verses like those I did yesterday, that I will become like Paul. That will be something.
Well, the 2019 bicycle trip is over for me. Tom and I drove 492 miles in his motorhome and we got to my house at 4:30 pm, and I am sitting in my recliner writing this. The odometer on my bike says that I rode 1183 miles total for the trip. I actually pedaled my bicycle for 17 days which is an average 69.58 miles per day. My odometer which actually is a little computer which also is a gps and records elevation gains and loss and according to the record it kept I climbed a total 84,879 feet. My fastest speed recorded was 37 mph. I lost 12 lbs. My resting heart rate went from 62 beats a minute to 57 beats a minute. I wrote 22,876 words total in my IPad which included my blog, personal journal, and sermon ideas, notes, and outlines. I read for 31 hours. I prayed for many hours as I rode along on my bicycle observing the beautiful creation of God. I memorized Philippians chapter 1, which is 30 verses. I had a super, great time. I feel like I am 50 years old instead of 70. I grew in character. And I grew closer to Jesus.
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 elsewants 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.
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.
