Day 4: 4th century

[Photos: not in time order

- a shot of the group riding down the road after entering FL this afternoon (taken low from handlebar level.

- one of the logger trucks that we shared the road with today (they create quite a breeze when they pass closely, but mostly they were polite)

- one of the churches we passed today, there were three people waiting on the porch for us to pass by. So we stopped and visited and had a time of prayer together. Pastor Charles sent us off with sweet and wonderful prayer!

- the send off this morning at 7 as we left our hosts in Patterson, GA. Lynne interviewed Doug and took a picture of us for the local news paper.

- a picture of my stuff this morning: suit case, electronic plug ins, SAG bag, sun screen, ...etc.

- one of our sag stops today showing the van and trailer and some of the bikes. The table with food is not shown. (Don't want you all to be jealous....)

- a picture of us this morning before starting today's ride.]

Today started closer to on time (aiming for 7 and leaving at 7:20). It was cool, actually a little cold, so I and others were wearing undershirts to help stay warm. With the cooler temps, we rode the first 23 miles at a good clip and enjoyed our first stop. We had many logging trucks come flying past us on the highway (one lane in each direction with a very small shoulder). At one point an oncoming truck used it's air horn when it was right across from us - it was like a train horn! Very very loud - painfully loud! A few seconds later a truck came from behind us. Some of the drafts that the oncoming trucks generated would actually make us swerve on our bikes. And this was from trucks going the other direction as they passed. Those miles were a little intense, but thankfully there were flats or problems on this 'hairy' part of the trip.

About 30 miles down the road we came across a church that had some people on the porch and we waved and greeted --- then about 20 feet down the road started thinking "Hey we need t o stop and go back..." -Slow thinkers. So we went back and had a nice visit with Pastor Charles and two church members. One of them said she was older than everyone of us, and we have a couple guys in the 'experienced' ages, but sure enough she was older and we all laughed as she gives credit to God and is doing Great! We visited briefly and then prayed together. It was more fruit from the efforts of those who went before us through prayer and 'hands on' delivering the information about us being there. If you look closely at the picture you can see the sign on the door that was part of the information left the weekend before we got there.

I've been surprised by the amount of work that is required each day. It's not just riding, but the unloading, loading, cleaning up, washing of clothes, ....etc. The days are really full. I still have to wash my bike shorts for tomorrow, put out my bedding, blog, make sure the phone and bike stuff is ready for tomorrow and I'm sure there are a few other things too.

Tonight we are at Crossroads Family Worship Center in Callahan, FL. Pastor Herb took us all out for Mexican food after we cleaned up. It's been neat to have such hospitality and to be just welcomed in - a common occurrence these last few days! I think he's running to the store to pickup some food for our breakfast tomorrow - very kind.

Today's riding was up a little bit from a pace perspective - in part to the cooler weather, partly it was mostly flat, and we had a 'ferret' run today. That is what three of us have been labeled since we like to go faster at times. So today we had a 22 mile run from one sag to another and rode it at a hard pace. We averaged just under 22 mph. It was quite intense as we were traveling in a tight pace line (often our tires within inches of each other and traveling at speeds over 30 mph). It requires a focus that can be draining, and then you have the 30-90 second rotations up front where you are pulling (breaking wind) while those behind recover. It was fun and challenging: I was very glad when we backed off after almost an hour - I was worn out and ready for that next sag stop - which was provided by First Baptist in St George. We had sandwiches and it was GREAT!

We haven't had our meeting yet, so I'm not sure what details lie ahead for tomorrow. It is supposed to be another 100 mile day.

We're praying for more meetings with people like we had today. It was a sweet day in that regard! God has his people everywhere - even when we think we are the only ones, we're not. That was encouraging to experience.

It's almost 10 - so I'm signing off for today. It was a great day in every regard!!

(Sorry - to late to proof read this...)