Fremont, Nebraska

NOTE: The blog below, up to today's stats, would have been posted yesterday except that our satellite system was down again, so my Sunday post continues following yesterday's stats.....

So we decided that Diane should have the camera today to take a few pictures around camp and feature some prominent support crew members. I am writing this from the air conditioned lobby of the YMCA center in Fremont, Nebraska, from where I can see the Olympic size ice rink in the building. There is a free skate tonight and skates are available, all this while it’s almost 100 degrees F outside!

The pictures Diane took…first there’s Erna Maarhuis from Chilliwack in the mobile kitchen:

Next is Betty Terpstra from Chilliwack peeling onions and trying to hold back her tears. All those onions, along with the variety of beans we are served almost every meal, ensure that there is a nightly opera once everyone is in their tents, and beware of the person riding in front of you if you see him or her lift their butt slightly!

This picture features Lavonne, who is the head of the kitchen support crew, and the only American on this team of 7. Standing with her are Matt Rekman (left, a student) and Johnny Pierce (right, a corrections officer).

This next picture simply shows the water barrels where we fill up every morning prior to the day’s ride. All the SAG wagons have water barrels throughout the day as well, and of course most of us buy ice cold Gatorade and other drinks along the way.

Next is a picture of Jonathan, our media guy who takes pictures and video and runs the satellite system, getting our usual Saturday morning breakfast of pancakes (only 2 each) and bacon (2 strips and no more, Bert!). That’s followed by Corinne and Bryan making sandwiches for lunch at the lunch table.

Below is a picture of Betsy Fox, one of our 2 nurses (she’s responsible for looking after any injuries on the road during the day), together with a sleepy headed Kyle Meyerink who obviously should have stayed in bed a little longer. They are doing their breakfast dishes, which consists of cleaning the dishes in not one but three separate tubs. The first is a rinse, the second is scrub and clean, and the third is a sterilized rinse again.

If you wonder where we store all the food we need, the kitchen truck has a huge fridge/freezer, and then there’s the pantry trailer below where all the dry goods and anything that doesn’t need to be refrigerated goes.

Finally, there’s a picture of the gear truck just prior to being loaded. Once you pack up your stuff, you just dump it by the rear or side doors of the gear truck, and the sweep team for the day is responsible for loading it up.

Diane’s last picture of the day is of her beloved hubby taking a break from the brutal headwind on highway 92 heading east.

Out of the 155 kms we traveled today, 101 kms were into a southeast wind that had 2 effects: slowing you down and threatening to push you into the middle of the road. Yesterday I got very angry at the wind, but I’ve come to realize that the wind pays no attention to my moods so I should probably change my mood, which is what I did today. I actually had a really good ride today in spite of it all, but boy was I glad to arrive in Fremont. This has been our longest week so far; we traveled (officially) 890 kms in 6 days. Next week will be almost equally long, and then the days get shorter again for the last 3 weeks.

I took a couple of pictures today as well. The first one below is of kitchen crew members Geri, Renata, Diane, and Rose with a young fellow who celebrated his 21st birthday yesterday. To help him celebrate, they bought 200 ears of corn from his roadside stand (located in the town of Wahoo) for supper tonight.

Speaking of strange town names, this last picture is another sample of that. I would not want to live in a village with this name (in fact, only 128 people do), and I can only imagine what people who live here might be called. OK, I’m being bad – enough of that! Time to quit while I’m ahead.

All in all, in spite of the wind and long mileage, it was a good day. The best part was the Windmill Lounge as you entered Fremont, and the ice cold beer shared with fellow cyclists at the end of a tough ride….

Today’s stats:

Distance: 155.05 kms
Average speed: 22.7 kph
Maximum speed: 46.4 kph
Time in saddle: 6.49.42
# of flat tires on tour: 6

Sunday morning in Fremont, Nebraska

I am currently sitting in a Staples store while Diane is busy at a laundromat next door. It is unbelievably hot here, but in the midst of the heat we had hockey night in Fremont last night. Because we're camped by a YMCA arena, sticks and skates were complimentary for us, and below is a shot of what all red blooded Canadian boys (and 1 girl) love to do most on a Saturday night!

Did I mention it was very hot here? So hot we could hardly sleep last night in our tent. It was 2 a.m. before I fell asleep, and the sheets were soaked with sweat in the morning. Gross, eh? That's why they're being washed right now. The problem is solved for tonight, however, as a Lutheran church next door is offering us refreshments this afternoon and allowing us to put our mattresses in their lovely new airconditioned facility so we can actually get some sleep.

This morning Diane and I hopped on a bus and took a 1 hour ride to Lincoln, Nebraska, to attend Northern Lighthouse Church, a CRC church plant, while others attended a CRC church in Omaha, and yet others attended a local Lutheran church next door. The church in Lincoln (pastored by a former classmate of mine, Sam Keizer) has a special ministry to prisoners in a local correctional facility; in fact, the worship band consisted almost primarily of ex-cons. They were awesome. It was a very moving service as 2 young men were baptized, by immersion. Below is a picture of their "baptistry" and any self-respecting farmer will recognize what you're looking at. That's how easy it would be to have baptisms by immersions (with adults, of course) in our own church. Something to think about...

I also participated in a shirt exchange. One of the church's members, George (I believe) so badly wanted one of our yellow shirts that I offered to trade shirts with him following the service. So here we are, each with a new shirt (though his was in considerably worse shape than mine!)

All in all, it's been a good day of rest. But the heat! In Lincoln at noon it was 106 F and in Fremont, where we are right now, it's 100 F. Not a rain drop in sight. But at least a cool place to spend the coming night before the beginning of another long week mileage wise, mostly through Iowa - more corn to see.

Hope you all are are well. Thanks for reading, and for your comments. We love hearing from you!