Bicycling Across America

 Dear Fellow Co-laborers,

August 2004, I turned fifty and had been on Navigator staff for 24 years. The numbers are adding up! A lot of spiritual battles have been fought in our Lord's name during that time.

Reading the book "Wild at Heart," challenged me to be doing some things that a lot of people only dream about, but never do. About the same time, I was having several procedures to remove cancerous spots from my body. It reminded me that I'm not getting any younger or stronger. It was while going through those two experiences, that I decided to begin training for a bike ride across the United States. So, I bought a road bike and trained for a year and departed from Everett, WA on June 25th of 2004.

For a long time, the challenge of riding across America on a bike has seemed like a wonderful way to slow down, enjoy my health, soak up this country and just take the time to think and reflect. I remember years ago in my twenties how I thought it would be fun to take very little except a bankcard, stop when I needed to and buy what I had to have. Well, my trip wasn't quite so light and carefree. Kathy drove a support vehicle that the Lord provided, and we are well-equipped thanks to the generosity of some good friends who own a bicycle shop.

We traveled on Highway 2, starting from Everett, Washington, through the northern states, across the upper peninsula of Michigan, through Canada to Montreal and then back into the States, reconnecting to Highway 2 and riding east out to Bar Harbor, ME. The trip is about 3000 miles and I came close to averaging 100 miles per day.

If you'd like, you can read our journal of experiences that we posted to the web. Just click, "Crossing America Updates."