July 27 – Sabbath in Denver

We had a great service today. We went to a football field that was filled with different tents that had information not only about CRWRC, CRWM, and Partners Worldwide – but all kinds, a lot of local organizations within Denver came to display how they are fighting poverty here in Denver and around the world. I bought a necklace made by women in Uganada – the beads are made of newspaper and other pieces of paper being thrown away.
The service was great too, we biked around the track – you can probably see that on utube or the sea to sea website, it was neat.
Theresa and I did some laundry today after the service (yes op zondag, please forgive us.) Next door there was a little Mexican restaurant so we headed inside. We ordered two MGDs and got complimentary nachos and salsa – so I ordered guacamole and let me tell you something – nothing hits the spot on a 40 degree Celsius day than those two beers…. Soooooo goet zo!
We had to say goodbye to 15 people this week, that was also really hard. We did that the night we were in Winter Park, it was pretty emotional, we’re getting really really close. We also had to say good bye to another cyclist unexpectedly. Yesterday while Tyler was biking he had a really bad fall and ended up breaking us collar bone in a few different places. Please pray for Tyler, I cannot imagine how devastating it would be to have to leave early.
I thank you all so much for your prayers thus far. Physically, Spiritually and Emotionally I’m doing awesome, and its because of all of your support! Thank you so very very much!
Hey momma guess what, ITS ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE!!!!
PS – I’ll add the pictures later to these last two blogs, it is taking too long!

Day 27/ July 26 – Winter Park to Denver – 129km

Just so you know, GPS was a bit wrong, it was more like 150km....... extra 20 km no big deal...... haha
Alright so, today was our last big climb, hallelujah!!! We climbed all the way up to 11,000 feet. The sad thing was there was no elevation sign! So we didn’t even have proof – well besides snow. So, we decided to make our own sign!
Then we went down, and down and down, and then we went up again (that was a super poopy climb, 1000 feet, steep incline and I just ate lunch, not so goet zo) Then we went up and down and around this canyon, which was beautiful but a bit scary because of traffic – don’t be sad momma, I was careful!
Finally we got into Denver and the people here welcomed us so warmly it was awesome! They baked cookies, gave us goody bags, let us keep our bike in the gym overnight and they let us use this great computer lab – hence the reason I’ve been able to blog my brains out!

Day 26/ July 25 – Kremmling to Winter Park - 55km

Well today felt like a walk in the park – all these long days and then bam, short day. I felt like we just started, and then we were half way done. It was nice to take it slow, there were lots of cities along the way so we felt like we were really “touring.” We went out for breakfast, stopped at a candy store, that also sold jewelry so haha, my favy baby! Then we stopped in another town for coffee, it was a good day.
Last night at peloton we were challenged to stay in one gear as if we were stuck in poverty. It was an interesting challange, and a good day to do it. I was able to do it (some people did it in a really hard gear – not I said the duck, I did it right smack in the middle.) It is so important for us to continue to remember the purpose of the tour. I’d say that we all are, but sometimes because we’re having such an awesome time we almost feel guilty. So, I would just ask that you would all pray that all of us will continue to be blessed on this tour, but that the purpose of the tour will continue to be lived out – both in our own hearts and in the overall community.

July 24/day 25 - Craig to Kremmling - 154km

We passed through so many sweet towns today - especially steamboat springs. They're all like 1930s, with saloons and such, so cute, so filled with character.We had another 3000 foot climb (good golly) but when we got to the top there were all kinds of meadows and beautiful flowers...... so guess what it reminded me of? The sound of music of course!! It was cool.After we coasted down the other side of the mountain (I'm so happy that "what goes up, must come down") there were rolling green hills, and the clouds were all dancing all over the sky. It was so incredibly beautiful! Before I went to bed that night, a local girl was going for a walk with her dog - and this was not just any dog, this was a St. Bernard! Roll over Beethoven! I love those dogs, they are my favy baby! I was just having all of him! We also had our worship service tonight - it was about Justice and Peace. Hans has done such an awesome job putting these services together. The benediction was incredible. I encourage you all to read this - it really marks the purpose or our tour, but I hope that all of you who read it will feel challanged and encouraged to seek Justice and Peace. "May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and explitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, startvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.And the Blessing of God, who Creates, Redeems and Sanctifies, be upon you and all you love and pray for this day, and forever more.Amen.

July 23/Day 24 - Dinosaur to Craig - 142km

This morning was beautiful, it was a bit chilly and we even had a baby bit of rain. It felt so nice a refreshing! As we were biking this morning the sun was shining through the clouds, so beautiful. Whenever God does that, I always think of the hymn "Beams of Heaven as I go through the wilderness below......" how fitting.We stopped at one of the Sag Wagon stops that also had a gas station - the lady at the gas station had the sweetest earrings. Of course me being me, I commented on how much I liked them - she told me she got them at this sweet place in Craig. Well I was pumped to hear that, before my mind could register I said "where in Craig, what was the place called?" So, I got me some sweet earrings today - along with ice cream, and the school we stayed at had a piano that I got to play - what an awesome possum day!

July 22/Day 23 - Duschene to Dinosaur - 145km

Today I saw why the dinosaurs died. There is a reason this place was called Dinosaur. It was hot, and we climbed, and I sweated - Jenny saw my helmet and called me salty McSalterson (thanx krystal.) My helmet straps are usually white at the end of the day from sweat - is yuckiss. Anyways, enough about that - it was a hot day BUT right as we were entering dinosaur (such a funny name for the town, all the streets were named after dinosaurs.) there was an ice cream shop, need I say more? Mom - I thought I liked ice cream b4 but seriously, after a hot hot day of biking, man i didnt think ice cream could get better!

July 21/Day 22 - Salt Lake to Duschene - 145km

Well, we did not have an elevation chart today - and sometimes ignorance is bliss. Today I believed that because guess what, we climbed, and we climbed a lot. But hey - I didn't know that was gonna happen, so before we got the climb my friend Marti and I were biking when we saw some caves. He's like hey, wanna check out those caves? And I was like sure - not knwoing what was lying ahead. Therefore we did some sweet off roading and the caves were really cool. When we did finish the offroading and did this massive climb, we got to the top of the pass and guess what - we were so high there was snow!! My goodness, it was cold up there too. But hey, I am not sad about coldness because usually it is hot hot hot!

July 20 - Sunday in Park City (Just outside Jordinalle)

This place had some great architecture. You could tell a lot of it must of been done for the Olympics (being just outside Salt Lake City and all.) A bunch of us got a shuttle downtown where we were right next to a laundromat and sweet bike shop - once a again we were like a bunch of kids in a candy shop!After we were done doing laundry and buying "candy" we went downtown where there were blocks and blocks of an outside market. It was very cool, I bought a hat made out of Alpaca - was inspired by my sweet roommates who went to Peru a couple years ago.That evening we had the rally/worship service and it was very rejuvinating. The speaker talked about Ezekiel chapter 47. Ezekiel is slowly walking into a river, ankle deep, knee deep, waste deep, until he was completely covered. When he came out of the river he saw things new, trees were growing, and people were casting nets - catching fish. The paster said this was much like our trip - we're slowly getting further and further in - and then when we've been dunked all the way in, and when the trip is over we'll see things so differently and we will have casted our nets - trying to reach out to people all over the country. It was very inspiring.we also had a rainbow that night - it was nice to be reminded of God's promise - that He will always be with us, in the days ahead while we do the hardest climbs of the tour!

July 19/day 20 - Willard to Salt Lake City - 153km

Hokay so, this was a hard day. Three climbs, oh dear. The first climb wasn't so super bad, the grade wasn't terrible and we were in lush greeness, oh how I love lush greeness. (hooray, no more sage brush!)The second climb - on the interstate = no shade, had black stinky pavement, and lotsa big trucks. But for some, these big trucks werent such a bad thing. As I was killing myself climbing us these stinkin hill, up in the distance I saw a semi truck slow down next to a rider in a red jersey. This rider grabbed onto the end of the semi and was slowly pulled up this hill for about 2 miles - what a turkey! When the climb was over I looked around to see who was wearing a red jersey, it was none other than our sea to sea chaplen, Len. Oh man, that was funny.We didnt actually stay in Salt Lake city but in a place called Jordinalle. This place was beautiful, we were right by a lake. We made the last climb (again sage brush everywhere) and at the top of the hill we overlooked the like and the greenery that surrounded it - I felt like Moses coming out of the desert! It was soooooooo awesome!

July 18/Day 19 - Snowville to Willard - 105km

Yay, a shorter day after a very very long drawn out one, hallelujah! It wasn't too eventful but we found a sweet spacestation thingy dingy and took some sweet pics. Oh and there were also a lot of "salt lakes" - foreshadowing of the times yet to come! Oh ps - we did get to go to a movie that night - the dark night - it was soooooooo goet zo! Mom: As soon as I saw this place I thought of you and couldn't wait for you too see these sweet space station pics.

July 17/Day 18 - Burley to Snowville - 138km

Well, I had to glorious opportunity to sweep today, I never look forward to it, but there's a couple guys on my sweet crew who always insist on having a good time, and of course I cant say no. So we started the day with coffee and a mini second bfast in Burley. We then biked a bit longer, found another cafe and well - had more coffee. Then we had one more stop before 80km of straight rode where all there is in sight is highway and sage brush (hopefully no snakes, uh yuckiss) Now this one last stop just happened to take us about three hours, and let me tell you why. There was a pizza eating contest - 15 inches, one litre of pop and one hour - all had to be done by one person and it was free. Nick, Theo, and Brad all decided they should try this (I must note here that yes, they are all dutch boys.) Needless to say, Brad and Nick got very sick and I got Theo's leftovers - overal a good day, but man did we stroll in late. Mom: sweet pics of the shower we had that night! Where did you find those? It was cold, very cold. Everyone should look at my momma's pics on facebook to see our wonderful shower tent, man that was funny.

July 16/Day 17 - Gooding to Burley - 130km

Today was an awesome yet very full day. It started out very early, yet very wonderful. There is almost nothing better than having an early start to a day when everything is crisp and beautiful. We had a lot of stops today as well. A dairy farmer offered us all and tour and some refreshments, it was really neat. Then later on in the day a CRC church about half way through the day offered us lunch - it was so good - subs, milk, and my personal facy ICE CREAM!! The last stop of the day was most incredible of all - the Shoshone falls, they call it the Niagra Falls of the west, it was so incredibly beautiful.Something interesting to note about this area of the states was the farms/crops on one side of the highway and sage brush on the other. This land is dry, but the soil is so full of nutrients that when water is added the land becomes super furtile. It was a very interesting sight to see. So we're riding along, crops on one side, sage brush on the other and then BAM - hello canyon! It was incredible! I'm lovin these sights!

Day 16, Tuesday July 15 – Mountain Home to Gooding – 100km

We saw the windmill dingists up close and personal today, they were so cool. We also found out that the reason why we saw them so close was because we went the wrong way. Oh well, it didn’t turn out to be extra mileage so I’m happy about it. It was a very old country road, the sun was shining through the clouds – beautiful. My friend Laura said it was romantic, haha, she’s very cute and very funny.
By the end of the day it was hot hot hot! I am tired, so goet nacht – ummm that’s probably not right, but its my shot at dutch for good night.

Day 15, Monday July 14 – Boise to Mountain Home – 89km

So today was Barren land! Not too much to see, a lot of sage brush be we had some interesting escapades. In the middle of the desert we found a boat, yep a boat. So we traveled through the brush (praying no snakes no snakes no snakes) and got to this boat – it was random. Then we made it to our friend Walter Vink from Woodynook CRC’s stop. Its our favy baby! He’s a sweet guy. Anyway, some people find Monday’s difficult, and our dearest friend Katilyn did. Here she is snoozing away, so we took advantage of the situation.
Later guess what we found, oh bike shop – again kids in a candy shop. One of the guys there had all these sweet unicycles that he let us try out, they were pretty funny.
Oh another funny thing – during dinner that evening we got hit with sprinklers, the only reason I thought it was funny was because I wasn’t sitting there, oh dear.

Day 14, Sunday July 13th – Sabbath in Boise

I’m really learning that at each place I stop, I’m a tourist learning about the town and its culture. I know I’m only a little border away – but it is amazing here. Boise is such a sweet little town, I Know I wrote a lot about it on Saturday, but I’m still super impressed.
We had the church service in the park, hosted by one of the local churches, it was very nice. They also had lunch for us afterwards – BBQ, so good! We are getting fed so super well, I think I’m gonna gain weight on this trip – too bad, food is too good!
We said good bye to three cyclists today which was pretty sad – they were only planning to stay until Boise. We are all growing together so well, the community here is awesome. I thank God and your prayers for that.
And this last picture (myself and John Vanderveen) is living proof that I am trying to blog! Its hard with the silly interweb, but I try my best!

Day 13, Saturday July 12th – Ontario to Boise – 105km

All day today was like biking through old county roads, again passing all kinds of farms. I’m just loving the scenery; I knew I would, thanks be to God.
We also reached Idaho today – wahoo, I’m making my way through all these states, slowly but surely.
When we reached Boise we were thoroughly impressed and excited! It had a small town feel, it was very green, the buildings were very Victorian, and there were bikers everywhere! We talked to a local in one of the coffee shops and she said that the city has become very biker friendly over the past few years. She also directed us to biker heaven (one of the bike stores in Boise,) we were like always, kids in a candy shop. Interesting to note though, is that everyone is conscious about the money they spend on bike equipment etc. We are biking across the country to end the cycle of poverty, not to display how much money we have and who has the sweetest looking bike with the sweetest looking bike stuff – I commend my fellow bikers for their great attitudes!
Tonight we also went out for some shlukies as some of our fellow bikers are leaving tomorrow. Again in was a local brewery (beer made right there in the restaurant!) I think the funniest part of the evening (besides this picture of Hans and I) was that one of the beer names was buttface. At one point in the evening Sarah Terpstra ordered a pitcher of buttface, when the waiter came out with the pitcher he was looking for Sarah. Sarah saw this, lifted up her arm and yelled “buttface” hahahaha, I laughed a lot. I’m sure you could all picture that.

Day 12, Friday July 11th – Huntington to Ontario – 56km

Wow, short day today, it was really fun. The night before our bike rides we have the peloton meeting (I’ve mentioned before) and a man named Clare tells us all about what we’re going to see the next day – birds, animals, plants etc. Today we saw grain, wheat, onions, potatoes and the sweetest smelling of all – spearmint! Very cool, very nice. Once again Hans, a feast for the senses! I also got some pretty pink flower, thanx Alex. All around good day.

Day 11, Thursday July 10th –Baker City to Huntington – 74km

Okay so, here’s the story. My dearest mother whom I love with all my heart – hates snakes, like fears them terribly – to panic. Now myself being her daughter I feel as if those have received some of that fear. We biked through the desert – barren land – again. Well lotsa snake road kill, which made me sad. Then Kaitlyn who was biking behind me said there was a snake the slithered across the road behind us, ewww kreepljes up and down my spine. THEN there was a snake rolled up in the middle of the road that I literally had to dodge. Well, I tell ya I put my bike in its hardest gear and have never biked faster 66km/hr – I don’t like snakes.
Huntington was an interesting place, population possible able to count on your fingers and toes. Just kidding, not that small but it was quite small. However, just outside of Huntington we hung out in a irrigation ditch, it felt SO GOOD!!! Wow, who knew that an irrigation would be a blessing after a long day, well the day was actually pretty much 74km of down hill….. saweet! In the words of Hans Doef “you know it’s a good day when you can coast at 40km/hr no problem.”

PS – that thing I’m sitting on is a bike rack – its in the shape of Oregon. Itsa a kinda cool huh?

Day 10, Wednesday July 9th – La Grande to Baker – 79km

The landscape again was great today. I got to see wind mill/turbine dingists for the first time today. (John Vanderveen and Reuben Vyn are trying to decide whether its dingists or dingi, not sure.) We stopped by a really neat coffee shop today. It was a house, but when you walked inside there was a coffee shop, but the rest of the place were rooms (like in a house) with themes. So the kitchen had kitchen stuff, bathroom, etc. It was pretty sweet.
The city of Baker was also very cool, there was a coffee/bike shop – how fitting. We went to a local brewery in Baker that apparently had “the best beer in the world.” Well it was nice to have a beer after a long day of biking, but the best……. well it did come quite close. It was really neat that the beer was brewed right there. But yeah, cute town – Canada is better, but the States are impressing me.

Day 9, Tuesday July 8th – Pendleton to La Grande – 92km

We fricken hicked today, but I should get used to it because more is coming! Before we reached the hill of doom with a million switch backs (it was actually called Hell’s canyon) Kaitlyn and I went for a run in the wheat. Never done that before so I thought it’d be kinda sweet, and it was.
La Grande was a great little city. Did some laundry – got my first flat, but I found it when I got to camp. There was a little sliver of metal stuck in my tire that then popped my tube – lame. But it was super cool that it didn’t happen on the road.
Theo decided to fall asleep on the monkey bars that night, what a guy. But we have been having some problems with night time irrigation some maybe he didn’t want to get wet, or maybe he didn’t wanna set up his tent…. Who knows.