Pedal Day 14 - Church.

"Getting there isn't half the fun, it's all the fun."    

-Robert Townsend

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."  

-Helen Keller

"If you want to keep your memories, you first have to live them."  

-Bob Dylan

"If you think about it... every experience is worth having."  

-Henry Ford

"He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.  

-Proverb

All of the quotes today are from Sarah Milliner.

76.96 miles today and the wind was with us all the way. We had one climb out of Fort Benton and another along the way. Other than that, the day was fairly flat as we pedaled to Havre where we are now. We are once again on Adventure Cycling Northern Tier (route 2) and have 280 miles of Montana remaining until we cross into North Dakota. Hopefully, we'll be in North Dakota sometime Thursday. It's going to depend on the winds. Right now the forecast calls for winds out of the west tomorrow. Let's hope the weather guessers are right this time. That sure would be a good thing for us because we're planning on 85 miles tomorrow.

The mountains are very distant now. Except for a few smaller mountains to the south we are out of them until we get to New York and some Adirondack and Appalachian climbs. For a few weeks we will see wheat fields and grain elevators. We know we're coming to a town when we see a grain elevator. I think those things move though! We'll see one that looks like it's right down the road and then we'll pedal and pedal and pedal miles and miles and more miles until we finally get to it. Sometimes I think they're moving mirages.

As I ride I usually have some song going in my head which helps me pedal at a consistent cadence. Today's Top Two were, "I Know the Master of the Wind" and "The Joy of the Lord is My Strength." I did not do the clap-claps on "The Joy of the Lord" however. I've even had Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" in my head once or twice. That's scary, isn't it? Sometimes I just count but whether I count or sing to myself it sure helps as I move along. Of course, when the wind is at my back my songs are a lot quicker!

This morning as we rode past an abandoned church or school (we couldn't tell what it used to be) I thought about what was going on in church at home. I also thought that years ago people were probably praising the Lord in that little building out in that field in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere along the line, folks quit attending, joined another church, or just died off. Now it's simply an empty building waiting to collapse. What once was a very special place is now empty, forgotten, and abandoned.

Today is Sunday. We had planned to ride on Sundays because of traffic: it's usually lighter than normal on Sundays so we planned accordingly. Well, out here it seems to be light all the time. Because of that we're making more changes to our schedule by making Sunday our Rest Day instead of Saturday. That way we can sleep in on Sundays, get all cleaned up, and find a local church for the worship service. We've missed four Sundays now and I am really missing the fellowship with believers. I am also excited about and looking forward to next Sunday when we can go and hang out with believers, probably somewhere in North Dakota. We can find a church wherever we stay and I'm sure God knows where North Dakota is! He'll be there too.

"Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the faith we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near" (Hebrews 10:24-25).