Hi from Larry. We had a great bike ride today. Overcast and occassional morning misty rains. Some steep hills - I hear an early climb in the day was about 14% grade and that one was hard on me, all I can do is try to keep the pedals turning and huff and puff rapidly. Other ones went well, some even fast. The rolling terrain and I get along fine and speedy sometimes. Supposedly we climbed and rolled down about 7000 vertical feet over 86 miles. This helped us remember our mountain climbing out west. We needed a little more climbing after the last peak so we went up 400 more feet to the monument in High Point State Park, also climbing about 270 steps in the tower. It got hot toward the top and the views were only out small closed windows (the patio area at ground level was better). This is the highes point in NJ at about El 1600 feet I think. At High Point you can see NJ, NY, and PN. We had great sag stops from our sag teams and a CRC church greeted us at the top of the last mountain at High Point with much needed drinks, cookies, oranges and watermelon. Nice to see Ruth Herringa and grand kids there, as they waited for daughter/mom to bike in. So we had energy for the last few climbs Mark and I ate at a Milford Diner on the east side of town (gyro and a BLT). NJ's afternoon weather gave us a bit of sunshine and humidity (we started with 50 F, ended at about 88 F, reminding us of the warm to hot days out west and in the midwest. A highlight was Clove Brook Market and Bakery as we entered Sussex 1.8 miles before the school. First we had a couple scones, then a summer smash pie (thank you for that!) that we shared with about 8 including Eric, Heidi and Denise, and we tried two danishes and an almond roll. Wow was this all good! The Sussex and Goshen CRC churches hosted us tonight for dinner - burgers and hot dogs plus 100 +/- salad/casseroles and baked goods. Meals on the road in camp and by host are GREAT. Thanks to every church hosting us - that is one of the highlights of the tour we will always remember - God bless you as you have blessed us. We played "Cycle bingo" as part of our last peloton - we were not winners. In that game we learned who wore the same bike clothes for 3 days (without washing it), who had no flats, who had more that five flats, who did a volunteer activity, etc. Parting thanks were spoken to all support staff, sags, nurses, chaplian and others (even Johnny who alwas with a loud voice reminded us "lets do something beautiful". Tomorrow we do out last 60 miles to reach Liberty Island State Park for the Atlantic tire dip and conclusion of the tour. Bitter sweet, good byes to many new friends, now about to rejoin family, bikes that may not get ridden frequently, soggy gear from dew and what we exhale (it is raining tonight). Hope to post more pictures of these great things soon. God is good, all the time! We are so thankful we could participate in this bike tour and support ending the cycle of poverty.
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