Day 35/Aug 3 - Sabbath in Fremont

So these lovely friends of mine got a hotel room, so thats where I spent the night - in a bed - so nice! We also had a buffet breakfast, so nice as well. I'm pretty much just loving life right now.The service we had today was really neat, the church put a lot of effort into it. The lunch afterwards was also amazing - they had a pizza machine that made one pizza every minute. Crazy hey!I spent the rest of the day just relaxing and enjoying the company of my friends from Edmonton, thanx girls.And if I thought the suprises were over, after Lynn, Matt, Sharon, and I had dinner we came back to camp for some goodbyes and lo and behold, another friend from Edmonton - Amber - happened to be passing through. She had to take a 2-3 hour detour, but I guess I'm good enough for that. ;PLove you ber, thanx for coming!One thing that I thought about/learned during the service gave me more hope about the cause for the tour. The pastor was talking about reasons for the tour, and everyone doing their little bit and how that becomes one big bit, and it just made me think of a great lesson I've learned over the years from my dearest mother. Her greatest words "Netty, just take it one day at a time." That sentence got me through my bachelor degree especially. I've also relied on this sentence to get me through this tour. And it has, this advice has also helped me in enjoying the days and not destination. Now when I think about it, all of us cycling, the support staff, support from home etc. are taking this challange of ending the cycle of poverty one pedal at a time, one person at a time, on prayer at a time, one donation at a time, etc. If you look at the whole - the whole bachelor degree, the whole nine weeks of cycling, the whole problem of poverty - it becomes very overwhelming. But just chip at it as best you can, and let God do the rest.Mom: Thanks for the advice, love you!

Day 34/Aug 2 - York to Fremont - 154km

Alright, today we had cross wind, cross wind, head wind, cross wind - ice cream shop! tail wind! Turned right - bam wall of cross wind. Then we got into camp. The end.... jkLet me tell you about this ice cream shop, it was absolutely amazing! The sizes for one were ridiculous, I felt like a little piggy with just a small! It was huge. Perhaps I also felt like a piggy because I got a dipped cone too. They had butterscotch dipped cones! Those are so so good, and millions of flavors of shakes. But I deserved it, those winds were tough!The best part of the entire day today was the best part of my entire trip. As I strolled into camp in all my buckets of sweat glory I see John Vanderveen standing there with a camera faced in my direction. I was like, what in the heck are you doing? But whatev, its John. So I'm saying hello to people, about to sign in, give John crap for taking pics of me seating away when all of a sudden Lynn and Sharon pop out from the other side of the gear truck. For those of you who dont know, those are two of my really good friends from Edmonton. Oh and the camera - John was taking a video of the whole thing. But yes, that was the best suprise ever! Thanx girls!!Oh ps - Krystal, we all loved the cookies (seriously, everyone) especially Johnny poopy baby.

Day 33/Aug 1 - Minden to York - 151km

So we're getting better at this whole leaving for the ride at 6:30 thing. I am happy about it because the days are cooler longer and we get neat little things like this morning. We got to see a beautiful sunrise! I was just lovin' it!Today was also the day that we reached half way on the bike tour. Wow, we've all biked half way across the continent...... I cant decided if I'm happy or sad. I mean, its an accomplishment, but it also means I'm half way done this sweet trip....... Hey momma - You can be the excited part for me. I know you cant wait for me to come home, actually I cant wait for me to come.... ok ok. I'm also happy its half way done.

Day 32/July 31 - McCook to Minden - 153km

Jenna and I started off the day together bright and early. It was so nice to get out there early (there was a time change too so it was earlier yet!) Anyways it was crisp and beautiful with rolling green hills, those are my favy. Sage brush is yuckiss (which we had yesterday, also not my friend.) Then Jenna and I strolled along and found this fellow names Eric Stehouwer, now this story is funny - especially for my brother Eric (cuz I know he's gonna love this joke) and my dearest friend Krystal. Hokay so, we're climbing up this hill (we do that a lot) and I told Eric this funny joke that stretch (Mark, he's tall and skinny so we call him that) told me. What did one burp say to the other burp? Let's me stinkers and go out the back door! So of course I laughed histerically, so did Eric and Jenna. Then five minutes later Eric started laughing again, even harder - that's when he got the joke. So yeah, that's for you Kryst, you're not the only one!Later that night Lawrence was kind enough to put handle bar tap on my bike because mine was falling off (actually he told me I had to get new tape, that my bike looked terrible because of it and that he'd do it for me.) Anyways, he put it on, but he was not expecting this tape - pink handle bar tape! Alright!

Day 31/July 30 - Wray to McCook - 150km

Today felt like etenity - hello head wind, you are not my friend, neither is 40 degrees, he's not my friend either. But hey I went to two states today, both Nebraska and Kansas. But when we got to Kansas I did not see todo or tornadoes, so we turned around and went back to Nebraska. I'm just kidding, we only went to Kansas as a little baby detour (one mile there, one mile back.)Ok so, later on that day I was super excited because I saw a sign that said Stratton. Now my favorite show is called the office, and because I haven't seen it in so long I thought the town was called Stratton, but actually is Scraton. So I got my picture with this sign for no good reason BUT as you can tell from this first picture I'm not quite at the sign yet I'm actually yelling "shoo snakes, go away!" I didnt know she was taking that picture, but I knew at least my momma would get some enjoyment from this story.

Day 31/July 30th – Fort Morgan to Wray – 138km

Another day of flat lands, sage brush, and head wind! I am not a fan of the head wind, but once again we had a pace line that worked well together, so once again I was able to get through this day.
We met a very amazing man today, so let me tell you about it. We were at Corey’s SAG stop, getting some good ‘ol h20 when this car stopped, window opened and he asked “what are you guys doing?” We told him our story, then he told us his – he was born two months premature and then diagnosed with CP – for those of you who go to King’s this is a very familiar strory. Our good friend Carlos Gonzales Dechamps has the very same story, same crutches too. This man was on his way to McCook, where we are staying the next night. He’s traveling around the country (and other countries) telling his story, you see he jogged across the county – on the very same highway we were on today – yet he had to use crutches to walk every step of the way – and I complain about a head wind. God uses all kinds for his purpose, no one no matter of their conditions – physical, emotional etc. is more or less worthy to do God’s work.

Day 30/July 29th – Denver to Fort Morgan – 145km

So today we decided that 145km just wasn’t enough – 165km sounded better…… no I’m kidding – wrong turn – poopy.
We also had quite a head wind and it was hot hot hot, 40 derees today BUT depsite that all I was working with some awesome people and we had an amazing pace line going. It amazes me that no matter the conditions, the feeling of community and working together makes any situation way better. So guess what? I had a great day, wahoo!