Posted by
Suzi
USA
2011-06-22 16:04:08
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We (Aaron, Cliff and I) are sitting in the airport....waiting to go home. Going through photos and videos together - laughing, remembering. Feeling blessed to have been involved in this. Feeling tired beyond words. I must say - as much as we love our home, we wouldn't mind continuing this effort. Being part of a team, working together for a common cause, working hard for our Lord - it is hard to stop and go home. Now...our question is, "What next Lord. We await your call."
I have much to write. Each night, we checked in to a hotel, and dropped into bed (or intermittently slept while doing laundry), then got up at up anywhere between 2:30 and 4:30am and were at it again. My writing ability was nil. I could barely keep my eyes open to transfer the photos of the day. So...forgive my silence. I journaled some. And the photos will help me remember. I will write more for this blog. Eventually. There are so many wonderful stories to tell.
Thanks to al of you who supported us - in prayer, in donations, texting, emailing, commenting on Facebook. it helped so much to know you were following us...pulling for us. It was one of the hardest things we have ever done - and we were in the CAR!!! We are so amazed at our son's ability to do this...and proud of him.
They are ready to board...must go.
Thank you to all the churches and the Christ's Hope staff.....
Sue Peppers
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Posted by
kaseplace
USA
2011-06-20 08:47:35
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Sunday, June 19th. Fathers Day. Team is in good spirits. We are off to New Orleans! Brett's team followed the directions in map my ride. Thought it seemed strange to go west, but assumed in turned. 40 miles later they ran into Tim's team heading into the opposite direction and realized they were negaitive 40 miles on their route!
I had gotten a text and call from Mrs. Chung at Heavenly Sweets in New Orleans that she heard about us on KLOVE and was on our route and wanted to serve us. Mrs. Chung and her son Danny, brought us at the hotel a couple boxes full of the most incredible chocolate chip cookies, lemon bar cookies, sausage croisants, and more! What a blesing! All the riders came out to say thanks and get a picture with our team. Thank you Mrs. Chung!
On to St. Roch's Community Church. It was the first time all the teams have made it to eat and meet together. This small but warm inner city church fed us Shrimp Jambalya, bread pudding, pizza...mmmmmm it tasted soooo good. We didn't present this night, we went around and all introduced ourselves and for our team what the ride has meant to us and our host, something about them. It was remarkable, theraputic, inspiring, and blessed. We went till 8:30 pm. The team shared more and better about Christ's Hope and their own experience than we ever could. Checked out the French Quarters, then off to bed.
Forth leg team was leaving at 2 am to get to ride in the cool of the morning. Tallahassee here we come!
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Posted by
kaseplace
USA
2011-06-20 08:22:21
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Sorry for such delay in updating. All have been going from 5 am to near midnight each day. Teams are doing awesome!!
Let me do some updating:
Wednesday we were invited back to Calvary of Albuquerque Church for their Wednesday night service of around 1800 people. Assed was asked to briefly (hard for an African) about his story of the street boys. Assed did an incredible job and many people were touched. Jos also prayed and assisted in the communion part of the service. Pastor Skip,our friend Holly, were wonderfully gracious and encouraging to us. After the service, Assed and our tables were mobbed. It was a wonderful sight! Didn't get on the road till have 10 pm. Since we had nothing in Lubbock we drove till around 2 am and then took off to Dallas early Thursday.
Thursday, June 16th we were at Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Southlake, TX outside Dallas. Reverend Dave and the congregation were very warm in receiving us. A beautiful spread of food was perfect for our hungry team. Assed and Jos shared. It was really a great evening.
Dustin, who hurt his ankle the day of the start, has persevered incredibly, till it was clear Saturday that he had to pull off. He should be able to make the last day, but icing and resting in the mean time.
more to come.....
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Posted by
Suzi
USA
2011-06-14 21:22:49
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What's today? Tuesday? Then we are in Albuquerque!!! I almost feel I should tell our last two day story backwards. It's such a blur.
Day #1 of our ride proved to be extremely challenging on so many levels. We were up at 5:15am, bikes loaded on top of the van by 5:45am, and on our way at 6am, as planned. This team truly understands the concept of working together! First order of business was to find CARBS for the cyclists and coffee for the driver and his lady (me). McDonald's fit the bill. We piled back in the van, committed the food and the day to our Lord, and set the GPS for our first drop off point. While the team gobbled down egg and bacon biscuit sandwiches, and sucked up water like thirsty racehorses - we had our devotional time.
Forty five minutes later, we were in the small town of Salome, Arizona. "Small" is really the wrong word for this town. I'm thinking more like "Petite". Maybe "Deserted"? We had to wonder if we had done something to make the coordinator of the ride mad at us. :) We were literally in the middle of Nowhere, USA, population...it turned out...ONE. As the riders slathered themselves in sunscreen and chapstick, and filled their packs with ice water, a woman emerged from what looked like an abandoned building across the road. She said nothing - just stared. I'm sure having a van show up in her front yard decked out with Christ's Hope stickers and strange people walking around in spandex might have been cause enough to come out of her protective abode. She stared long enough for us to take a few photos and see our team off for their first leg. Then I ran across the street to say hello and explain what was happening. We had a lovely chat, and I left her with a card wondering if she had internet service there to look up our website.
And off we went. Cliff and I would drive up ahead 7-9 miles to check out the route and make sure all turns led somewhere. You see, this trip was planned via GPS, and we knew in advance some of the roads may not be complete roads. Our job was to scout.
Our first right turn at about 15 miles in turned out to be a dirt and gravel road that dead-ended at a water tower. That would not do. Thinking we may have bad directions, or the roads had changed, we pulled out the Atlas. (Do you know how long it's been since I read an Atlas???) The next street was a freeway (the "10") and just passed that was a street with the same name as the first - JACKPOT. That must have been the paved road! Nope...it too was gravel. We checked with the locals at the gas station/store, and they told us the road started up again 17 miles down the highway as a paved road.
We had heard that Arizona would allow cyclists on the shoulder of the freeway - in most areas of the state. But Cliff, being the good law enforcer type, called the Arizona Highway Patrol to be sure. We would do nothing illegal, but more importantly, nothing unsafe for our team. The answer was "no" on this stretch. Too many trucks. Too dangerous. Here they were, EXCITED to be cycling the first trek, and they had to jump into the van.
Our next stop would be the nuclear power plant-where we planned to meet up with a woman from the church we would be at that night, and a friend of hers...both avid cyclists. Excited to have made it to the meeting spot right on time, a phone call revealed that they would not be able to meet us until 2pm, after she had served at their VBS (Vacation Bible School). We set a new meeting point and backtracked about 6 miles to get back on our assigned route. But first, potty stop. Pregnant women do this. While waiting in the parking lot, Brett's tire EXPLODED. Sounded like a gunshot. We were stunned...then grateful beyond measure that this happened while standing still. We had a spare wheel, and our next challenge would be to find a bike shop where we could buy a new tire.
At about the 30 mile mark, Kate called it for herself. It was about 105 degrees, and she knew her limit. We were pleased that she was so responsible about this. She is an amazing and capable athlete, but she is also an expectant mother, and she already loves this baby! We put her bike on top, and she climbed in.
Cliff and I were getting the swing of driving ahead, getting out, having ice soaked rags, bottles of energy drinks mixed, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all ready for the riders as they passed or stopped for a break. I was taking still pictures and videos as much as possible, and posting updates on Facebook. Thanking God that we kept a signal on our cell phones.
The streets were instructed to take seemed to have moved, been blocked or were not really streets. One was, I believe, a drainage ditch. Hmmm. After cycling in circles for about two hours, well past our 2pm meeting time - we agreed it was time for a van ride to meet up with our hosts. We got to them by 3pm....Cliff agreed to drive Jim (the other new cyclists) truck and I would drive the van alone. We would just follow each other and stay ahead of the group. Off they went - all but Kate, who was still resting. She eventually joined them - leaving me in the van alone. We gave them directions for their next turn onto Upper Buckeye, which would eventually become Lower Buckeye, where we would meet them. We drove ahead and waited. No cyclists. Thought we missed them or something went wrong, so Cliff went ahead and I backtracked. No cyclists. We drove and drove, we called each other We checked maps. He went one way, I went the other. He called me and we had finally admitted that we had LOST them when Steve called to say he was at Buckeye and 72nd. Hmmm. To cut to the point here...we found them over an hour later, discovering (through helpful locals) that in addition to Upper and Lower Buckeye, there is a Upper East Buckeye and just a simple Buckeye. FOUR BUCKYEYES? Honestly, my lesson in this was TRUST. At one point, when I knew I had lost the team and could not even find Cliff...my cell phone died. I had NO communication. I pulled the van to the side of the road and prayed. (Should have done that earlier!). I felt a complete peace about all of this, immediately. I turned the van around and went to a local CVS Pharmacy...not knowing what to expect. I didn't even know what to ask. That's when the "locals" came out. A family with a teenager who had a cell phone. I asked if I could borrow it and she said of course. From there, we all figured out the mix up, and later laughed about it all. Found out then that Brett had two flats while out riding with them. The man (Jim) who had joined them on this leg, just happened to have two spare tubes and gave them to Brett. Jim later told us that he had not planned to come on this ride til the very last moment. There ARE no coincidences. :) He then gave Brett a tire (very generous) and donated $400 to Ride for Hope. God is so amazing in how he designs our days. This was nothing but a troubling day, but look at the blessings throughout.
We even made it to the church five minutes before we were asked to be there. Praise God again!!!
After our dinner, we climbed in the van and drove to Winslow, Arizona - a three hour drive. Cliff is amazing. His endurance in driving is how this can all work! We got about 4 hours sleep and were at it again this morning. Saving that till the next blog. I'm exhausted...sitting here in the laundryroom at a hotel doing the teams laundry. That is mostly for us...as we are the ones having to drive with their stuff in the van! :) My pleasure to do it...but it's time now to fold clothes. Signing off. Sue
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