We are in Sea to Sea to help reduce poverty in Christ name Envisioning a day when poverty is eradicated, Sea to Sea’s goal is to fight poverty by educating and inspiring people into action. In 2008 Sea to Sea riders raised over $2.5 million. In 2013 the Sea to Sea tour will start in Los Angeles and head east through Phoenix, Colorado Springs, Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Toronto and end in New York City (include your city or the city closest to you along the tour route in this list). The hope is that 200+ riders will raise $3 million and continue the tradition of Sea to Sea being the largest transcontinental fundraising bike tour in North America. Will you make a generous contribution today? Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Sea to Sea http://www.seatosea.org/ and follow the Donor to Cyclist tab or go to ****************************************************************************** http://www.seatosea.kintera.org/seatoseastehouwer?faf=1&e=6338102474 ****************************************************************************** Why I'm Riding SeatoSea 2013:

I want to ride my bike for God's glory. I want to improve the lives of disadvantaged people and help reduce poverty in God honoring ways. By volunteering in organizations like Kalamazoo Deacons Conference and Appalachia Reach Out locally I do that now, and they may benefit from a local ministry StoS grant. The main sponsors, Partners Worldwide/ World Renew/RCA Global Ministries, do that on a much larger scale and I want to support them. For almost two years already I have helped StoS become reality. Now I want to raise funds and ride. 2008 was a great experience. Pray God blesses. Let’s celebrate God's goodness together as Christians and our Reformed heritage toward renewing the world for God’s glory. Together we can raise awareness of poverty and be part of the solution.

Larry Stehouwer

As a kid I never realized how much God has blessed my family and me, but recently I've begun to see that I had been ignorant of so many things and taken them for granted. Along with this comes recognition of the blessings I have received that many of my friends and peers have not. I do not feel guilty for this because I did not ask to be given these blessings and there are blessings others have received that I have not, but it urges me to contemplate the ways I could improve the world and provide everyone with more of their needs. Obviously I cannot accomplish this alone and so I hope to participate in Sea to Sea to help others with this vision accomplish what we can for the benefit of our world.

Joel Stehouwer

I have enjoyed biking since I was young. My family has been strong in bringing me to know God. Poverty is a serious and ongoing issue. Sea to Sea is a way that I can support the reduction of worldwide poverty with my love for biking.

John Stehouwer

In 2008 I supported my husband and two older sons in their goal of cycling with Sea to Sea to raise funds to reduce poverty. I was amazed and excited by God’s blessing of their efforts. Now in 2013, I want to take a more active role by bicycling myself. I look forward to seeing how God will use my efforts to bless and help others.

Sharon Stehouwer

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.

August 29 Friday: Lackawana State Park, PN to Sussex, NJ

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.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Today we rode 76 miles form Romulus to Binghampton through some of the most beautiful New York country ever – finger lakes, hills, rivers, and forests. Gotta come back to New York someday to enjoy these forests and waterways. The ride was absolutely beautifully gorgeous. We left camp at 7:30 am and arrived at 2:30 pm. The day was another cool air, warm, sunshiny day. At the end of the day Valley CRC surprised us with donuts, chips, and water right across from the school that we were staying at. I played with Ed’s 2 little kids for an hour in camp this afternoon throwing tennis balls around on the tennis courts. Oh the joys of being a kid. Tonight we are having a special New York menu – speedies (marinated chicken and pork sandwiches), some other stuff, and ice cream. In fact it is happening right now. Time to chow down.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Today we rode 76 miles from Byron to Southwoods RV Park. It was quite a hilly day. We must be getting to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Upstate New York is a beautiful place to ride with not so busy roads, smooth roads, and wide shoulders and beautiful scenery with rivers, finger lakes, and lots of trees. A local CRC brought out lunch to us at a farm along the route. We had sloppy joes, ice cream bars, fruit, and lots of other homemade goodies. We spent 2 hours at this lunch stop just eating, napping, and socializing. The air was cool but the sunshine was warm, perfect weather for riding. We arrived in camp at 4:30 pm and played on the sweet playground equipment at Sampson State Park. The park is on one of the finger lakes of New York. The lake is the view from the door of our tents, so beautiful. I ate dinner sitting right on the edge of the water. Tonight we reflected on the significance of the tour for us in our small groups. The things that stand out to me are the people, the scenery, and the day to day lifestyle, sometimes pedal to pedal lifestyle. Some big questions are – What has this trip meant to you? What was your motivation for going on the tour? What has been tugging and pulling at your heart? God knows. This questions will take some thought and reflection especially when the tour all of a sudden ends. I am so grateful for this experience. I never thought I would get to know so many people on this tour, especially so many Canadian college students. It has been lots of fun.
Last night at Southwoods RV park a group of campers came out and played some music for us on their cello, violin, and keyboard. We got some good old swing dancing going and ate lots of s’mores.