York, Nebraska

It's hard to believe that today is the first day of August. A whole month has gone by on the road. Today we passed the halfway point mileage wise and have now traveled a total of 2019 miles. The day started off well, and again there was a beautiful sunrise, as you can see below.

The roads today, however, were very rough and in places you simply could not ride on the shoulder. It's happened almost every day that some drivers complain to the state police and we are asked to make sure that we don't ride two or more abreast and that we stay on the shoulder. By and large the complainers are truckers, we are guessing, some of whom seem to think that bicycles have no place anywhere on the road at all. The fact is that there are many shoulders that are in such poor condition that you cannot ride on them safely. The other difficulty today was a strong headwind. In particular the 48 km stretch between the towns of Hastings and Sutton was almost impossible. The wind was not our friend today. At least when we got to Sutton we were warmly welcomed. The townsfolk had seen the news the night before - which featured an interview with yours truly, though yours truly did not get to see it - and knew we were coming. They welcomed us with the sign below.

Diane had an easier day than I did but just as busy as this was a shopping day for her and the kitchen crew. She again set up our tent, and takes it down in the morning, which gives me a real break. I don't ask her, by the way, she does it willingly. How's that for a good wife, eh? Which reminds me...August 1 is also an important day in the life of our family in that Joel (our oldest child) and Marsha (our daughter-in-law) celebrate their 10th anniversary today. Ten years and 3 lovely grandchildren later, we thank God for his faithfulness to the next generation!

At the moment I am sitting in an airconditioned student lounge at York College, a small Christian liberal arts college. The temperatures continue to be hot, but the wind cools things down. At least while we are at rest we do appreciate the strong breeze. Tomorrow is the last cycling day of the week, and the end of the longest week mileage wise on tour. We will be ready for a break, although where we stay this weekend - Fremont - there are no area CRC churches. We'll be attending 2 separate churches in Lincoln and Omaha respectively. But I'll tell you more about that on Sunday. Till later...

Today's stats:

Distance: 153.86 kms
Average speed: 22.0 kph
Maximum speed: 45.5 kph
Time in saddle: 6.38.37
# of flat tires on tour: 6