Thanks and Praise God

I believe now that we have exceeded our goal of $30,000. Going into this I was intimidated by just raising $10,000 for just one participant. God totallly surprised us and more than tripled that. God is at work here and now. What a joy it is to work with Him - meeting so many great people and having so much fun! Thank God! Encore!

August 29, 2008

Today we rode 82 miles from Lackawana State PArk to Sussex. Breakfast was 1/2 an hour early for this big, hilly day. I think that this may have been the hardest day of the tour for me. I rode with Annette all day which was absolutely great. It was like riding with a hilarious, fun-loving sister. This morning at about 10 am we got free fudge samples at a general store that we hung out at for like 1 hour. I ate to much of my lunch right then because I think my stomach was doing more work digesting than my legs were doing pedaling in all this hilly country. We stopped at Susies's Canday Shop, a little pink candy shop with pink picnic tables outside, and got a free Bailey Irish Creme for mentioning Sea to Sea. I felt so much better after that chocolate. It was so good! I think I released some chocolate endorphins. Walter also had chocolate truffles at his stop. We biked two really high points today. We climbed 1.5 miles off route to High Point in High Point State PArk in New Jersey. What a view! We stopped at a local bakery in Sussex for Smash pie and scones. Sussex CRC gave us the full potluck spread for dinner tonight. Thanks so much. Last day tomorrow.

August 28, 2008

Today we rode 57 miles from Binhampton to Lackawana State PArk, PA. We moved from NY into PA today. It was another one of the most beautiful rides that I have been on. I would love to come back to PA or NY to hike or canoe or bum around. The route was auite hilly the last 10 miles, very steep and fun. We camp down a hill once to a very beautiful, placid lake that stood still in time. I talked to a senior in high school who works at the state park renting boats. He loves to mountain bike in the state park and go downhill skiing around here. More talk about the end of the ride in peleton. Yikes! 3 different police escorts the last day, shuttles, etc. Many people are joining us for dinner the last day at a local church, friends and family of cyclists. We stopped at a sweet bike shop in New Milford. I have never seen so much stuff packed into such a small place. It definitely had character. I wouldn't mind running a bike shop like that some day. At a coffee shop in town I had a stellar cranberry-orange muffin. Hans rode Claire's 3 wheeler for the last 10 miles and Claire rode Hans' two wheeler. I don't think he knew that all those big, steep hills were coming. Suppossed to be a skreamer tomorrow. So excited! Tonight we celebrate communion for the last time in peleton. The state park here has great pizza and ice cream.