Day 31: York, NE to Sioux City, IO

Actual Kms: 152 kms

Overkill: 8-Matt and I missed our first left turn by 4 kms. Opps.

Road Things: Lots of beautiful butterflies (especially monarchs...wait they are called Viceroy butterflies), a lot of dead racoons, and some other squished somethings.

Money Spent: $5 For a delicious meal with mashed potatoes, corn, homemade noodles, chicken and gravy and a coffee and $1.50 for the pool (I.O Matt Z). Oh, and, I confess $4.50 for a delicious sundae at DQ.

Quote: "Well, we're in Iowa." -Matt. "Yup. We're here." -Me. Burst out laughing at unexcitement.

Interesting Person Pick: Len our Chaplain. Today in Peleton he had to remind our group about watching our behaviour in public, especially when it comes to our witness in public establishments. He did it very tactfully and respectfully and firmly. It is difficult to say something tough and do it that well. I admire him.

Favourite Part of the Day: Dinner was really good today. Spaghetti, Ceasar Salad, Garlic Toast and Peach Cobbler with Ice Cream. Love it.

Worst Part of the Day: Matt and I left this morning and we had some good conversation, but after about 30 kms I got antsy and went hard by myself for about 60 kms. During this time, I thought a lot about Tim and I missed him. I kept having to remind myself "16 more days until I see him". I don't think I've ever biked so fast, especially in a head wind. It's hard to enjoy the ride when your thinking about the future. But something I read in "The Shack" (which I decided I didn't really like) is true. You can't live in the present when you are constantly thinking about the future. So I think the next few days will be about praciticing peace in the present in the midst of a strong desire to see him.

And sorry people, the pictures would not upload for some reason.

Day 30: York, NE to Fremont, NE (Saturday)

Actual Kms: 150 some. I was losing count because once again my speedometer wasn’t working and I was on sweep, so I tried not to pay attention to how slow we were going.

Overkill Kms: 0. I got in at 7:15 pm. I wasn’t going anywhere.

Road Stuff: Small birds, snake, and we had lots of corn and wind.

Money Spent: $5 Chicken Corn Chowder and coffee, $0 for an ice cream…a lady bought me some because she thought what we were doing was great.

Wipeouts: 0

Quote: “What you doing over there, open heart surgery?” –Reuben in response to my effort to fix my flat inner tube today.

Interesting Person Pick: Lynn, Matt’s fiance. She drove 24 hours to see Matt today and waited for 3 hours to see him. She looked so incredibly happy when he rode in, all sweaty and cranky after a long days ride. I smiled.

Favourite Part of the Day: Eating at the “Café on the Square” where they had some great décor and we had good conversation. Also, riding in the last 10 kms hard and fast at the end of the day.
Worst Part of the Day: Getting to the ice cream store in Wahoo 35 kms from camp and it being 5 pm. It wasn’t “wahoo!” in any sense of the word. People were hot, cranky and just wanted to get to camp by that time. We had a nice road after that though.

Today I was on sweep, so I woke up late, did some blogging in the AC living room at York University, ate my pancakes and bacon slowly and drank my coffee with relish. Then I packed up stuff and helped clean up breakfast. We very slowly loaded the gear truck with everyone’s bag and then we very slowly headed out.

The sweep team taking our time. Jason's amazing invention: taping his ipod and speakers to his bike.

We looked for a coffee shop close to town but didn’t find one, so we biked to the next town, around 30 kms away. There was a headwind and we went slowly, but when we got there we were rewarded with a cute café called “Café on the Square”.

The awesome decor...an old tandem bike!

The desserts...I wanted to eat them all. However, I controlled myself and had none. A rare feat!

Later on we stopped at Julie's SAG wagon. She is so awesome that she let me and Brian clean our sunglasses on her cotton shirt. When your shirt is all sweaty, all you can think of is finding cotton.

This is Gayle. Who reminded us with a smily face balloon to "be happy" when we were on sweep. Some people didn't get it today because (as you can see), we were sweaty and hot.

Here I am, taking off to do a fast 20 kms to Wahoo by myself to find some ice cream and wait for the rest of team sweep.

The ice cream place was great. A lady bought me and Brian an ice cream because she thought what we were doing was so amazing. The place was decorated in 1950's decor, and this is an engine I am lifting. :)

When Matt Zantingh, Reuben and I finally got into camp (7:00), who should be there but Lynn, Matt's finace! Matt was hot, sweaty and dazed with excitement. Lynn had been waiting for about 3 minutes. She looks like she is about to play peek-a-boo, but she's really just blocking the hot sun. It was good to see them together at the end of a long day.

After supper, a bunch of people went to a bar across the street and we played "I want to ride my bicycle".

On Sunday, we had a great rally in Omaha with a CRC there and a fantastic potluck with pizza. It was a really hot day so everyone was glad we weren't riding. When we got back to camp, I took a nap, read a book in the hockey arena (very chilly but refreshing) and then watched Batman. It was a good rest day. (Money spent: $1 coffee...the coffee pot wasn't working on account of a breaker...not too uncommon. $30 new breaks that John VanderSteen bought me and helped me install, $7 movie, $4 frappaccino from Starbucks. Ahh).