Eight

Eight days 'til the launch, then I will be revvin'.

Granddaughter's graduation, then there will be seven.

What a blessed man I am to have such a fantastic family with my gorgeous wife, our three great kids and five perfect grandkids.  I can't believe we're old enough to have a granddaughter graduating from Mountain View Academy, but she is.  Isn't she beautiful!? Well, I'll get a picture up tomorrow.  So, today we are celebrating with family and friends.  Tomorrow I must be back to connecting, confirming, figuring (what to take and where to put it), and caring for the things that still need to be done here. They're still calling for rain this week.  That would be a bummer.  Some think it's a sign that this was not my brightest idea, but they don't know how much fun it is to ride in the rain.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Nine

Nine days 'til the launch, things are lookin' great!

Busy, busy weekend, tomorrow will be eight!

No time to even think about the trip this weekend.  Lots of family and company in for our granddaughter's graduation down at Mountain View Academy.  Things are very busy around here for the next couple of days.  Then comes crunch time next week to make final preparations and packing and, and, and......!  I promise to get pictures started next week as I get the bike all fitted out.  Am I getting excited?  A lot of people ask that and the real answer is that there are so many mixed emotions.  Yes, I am excited, but it is going to be hard to leave Ingrid here knowing she will have foot surgery two days after I leave.  Obviously I am way past the point of no return and so I'll just put it all in God's good hands and look forward to the journey and the results and the return.  Stay tuned!

TEN!

Ten days 'til the launch, feelin' mighty fine.
Next day is Sabbath, then there are nine!

OK, I'll stick to my day job! Pieces keep falling in place. I'm lining up a stop in Newark Ohio with Tom Hughes who is an SDA pastor there and chaplain to a national biker group. I've also lined up with Aldergrove, B.C., Olympia, WA, and Kelso/Longview, WA. I just have a handful of meetings to line up and confirm. I've got a service stop scheduled in Utah and will have another one later on the trip. I'll have to estimate my mileage and work that out on the way. Some funds have become available and that is helping to take off much of the pressure. Still need a few, but it's all coming along nicely. God is in this with me and we're soon to be on our way. Got to run for today. I'll try to get more out each day now. Getting the bike fitted out will have to wait until next week. I have a funeral to do on Tuesday and the weather report is calling for rain next week. I really have had a vision of starting out in warm sunshine all along. You don't suppose..............?

Final contacts and bike prep.

I've got several final contacts to make and hope to get that squared away tomorrow and then start looking at how everything is going to fit on and in the bike.  Our daughter and son-in-law are here for a long weekend and our granddaughter graduates from Mt. View Academy so there's lots of activity, plus church and a funeral next week.  You know, I've come to accept the fact that some of the details are going to have to work themselves out "on the fly" and that's OK.  I have so many great contacts lined up that I'm really getting excited about the outcome of it all already.  I am preparing myself mentally for a few significant "surprises" along the way.  Isn't that all part of the fun?  Please tell me it is.  I'll post some pics of the bike once I have things figured out.  Just 12 days to put the pieces together.

Two Short Weeks

In just two short weeks the journey will begin. I've got a really full schedule this week, so there's not going to be a lot of time for prep. I made several really great contacts last week. I've got a wedding today and a funeral later this week, plus our granddaughter graduates from high school this weekend. So, it looks like next week will be full of final contacts and then the relentless deciding of how to pack everything and how it's all going to ride. I'm sure there will be many adjustments to all that along the way. A friend of mine, Wayne Lipps, takes off tomorrow on a long bike ride. He said that he is anxious to get going. Planning is fun, but finally you're done with it and just wanting to get on the road. I can share some of that, but I still am not looking forward to all the time away from Ingrid, especially since she will be having foot surgery two days after I leave. Still, I have planned this trip for about eight months now and it will be a relief to get it underway and see how things go. I am looking forward to the ride itself, but I am really excited about the contacts I am going to make and the information I will gather. In the meantime, I've got work to do right here, so keep checking back.

Details!

Details, details, details!  But, wow is it ever coming together!  I'm going to be able to meet with Joe Kidder at Andrews after I leave Battle Creek.  I'm going to connect with Monte Sahlin in Ohio.  Near there I'm going to try to catch up with Tom Hughes, chaplain to a national bikers organization and SDA pastor.  I've been talking with the head elder of the church in Waco, TX and am looking forward to my time with him.  I've made arrangements for a tire change in Helper, Utah.  Good name for a place to get some help don't you think?  As we get closer to launching into the unknown it just seems that things are falling into place one piece at a time and that God is opening doors and showing me that He is in this with me.  The biggest unknowns are weather and fatigue and those are things I have little, if any, control over.  I know I will hit some bad weather and I know that certain portions of the body will feel the pain.  I could do this in our comfortable, air conditioned BMW, but what fun would that be?  I'm really hoping that I will be able to spend some of the time just talking to people along the way about their perception of church and what would draw them to attend.  Time is probably going to be my greatest enemy.  Some days are somewhat relaxed.  Others are going to be a grind.  We'll just take them one at a time and praise God.  Just 18 more days!

20 Days!

Piece by piece by piece it comes together.  I've been so busy it seems I can never find the time to sit down and work through making the individual contacts on the return trip.  I have quite a bit of it done, but there are still a number of pieces left to confirm.  As I have gotten further into the planning and talking with a large number of pastors I am also trying to leave some flexibility in the schedule to allow for dialogue with community members, Sunday churches, and serendipitous opportunities.  There are just so many unknowns.  I am also trying to figure out exactly where I am going to need service and, more importantly, tires.  I've already experience a blowout at 80 mph and am not particularly interested in going through that again.  I kept the bike upright the first time, but 2 for 2 is not necessarily a given.  Once again, if you are following this journey, please keep all aspects in prayer.  That includes not only safety, but planning, timing, outcome, and God's overall blessing on each participant.  Just thought I'd check in with you again.  I'm working ahead as fast as I can with my weekly letter to the church and sermons so that I can have at least a week where I can devote full attention to final preparations and contacts.  As always, thanks for looking in.  We're getting really close!

A Couple of Contacts

I have gained a lot of experience in dealing with a wide variety of cycle supply shops and found one store and one on-line connection worth sharing. Cycle Gear stores are all over the country and carry a good variety of quality accessories, clothing, tires, etc. They are also great to work with if you purchase something and it doesn't work out, fit, or rev your engine. They have taken back and traded several items for me and have worked with me to make sure I get items installed or set up correctly.

Another great source on-line is Motorcycle Superstore. They run a lot of specials and have a great selection of products. I purchased several items from them and have been more than pleased. If you watch their specials you can really save a lot of money for quality stuff. Here's a link to their website. Check it out.

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com

It's hot here this weekend. Over 100 both days. I rode this morning, but coming back from Napa at 10:30 it was already very warm. I have to go up to Sacramento for a hospital visit tomorrow so I think I'll start out early. Hmmmm, perhaps this is a simple sample of what lies ahead in just three weeks!?

Those three weeks are going to be very full and busy gathering materials, trial packing, finishing up contacts, and making sure that the local work gets done which would be enough to keep me more than busy by itself. I'm really not whining. I'm just feeling the pressure and the excitement as launch day gets closer.

Thanks again for looking in on me.

Always time to celebrate!

Yesterday was our 38th anniversary. Without Ingrid my life would look a whole lot different than it does now. What a blessed man I am that she is willing to support and encourage me even in this, the latest in a long line of crazy schemes. She has stayed up with me all night three times as I did 24 hour runs for fund raising in Hong Kong. She has followed me all over the country and the world in ministry. Now I'm just over three weeks away from taking off for seven weeks. The good news is that she is not looking forward to it. I would appreciate your prayers on her behalf as much as on mine.

Contacts continue to fall in place and this is looking better all the time. I'm definitely feeling pressure to have things ready and I know that I won't be totally ready, because I've never done anything like this before and so I don't know for sure what "ready" looks like. We'll have to wing it one day at a time to some extent.

It was exciting to see that I picked up two more followers since the last post. Thanks and Welcome. Let's do this together and see what God does. Remember, the fun and adventure of the ride is what it is, but that is the smaller part of what this is about. Let's find out what's happening in churches and in the hearts of the pastors. Do the people outside of the church even know, or care, that we exist? What are we doing to connect with them?

Stay tuned. It's gonna be a very busy three weeks. I just had a funeral dropped in the schedule for this week and another wedding for next week. Time is a precious commodity.

Faithful Followers

I just want to say "Thank you!" to the 15 followers at this point. I know we are not at the exciting point yet, but we're getting close. Just 26 days left! Just knowing that I have you in my corner and me in your prayers does mean a lot. As each piece and each contact comes together I see more and more potential for a meaningful outcome. My comfort is the last of my concerns. I know that I'll always find a way to keep moving on. Safety is a very minor concern as I feel pretty confident with the miles I've put on over the years. There is always the unknown regarding others on the road, but I'll be as careful as possible. What I think of more than those issues is being able to reach inside the heart of as many pastors as possible. I want to see what is working and what might work if they had the opportunity to put it into place. Do the pastors in churches that are not growing have the heart to hang in there or even to go outside the box and try something new even if the church leadership doesn't support it? It's pretty hard to maintain any level of creativity or enthusiasm if you have to do it all on your own. My goal is to learn and to encourage all along the way. If this only turns out to be a great ride and adventure it will be a failure. Your support, interest, encouragement, and prayers will be a great blessing to me.