Biking Sea to Sea

Thank You!

2008-09-08T14:48:00.004-04:00

(Note from Mirjam...)

Thanks for your prayers, cards, packages, and support for my Dad during this whole tour. It has been a wonderful experience for him and we thank God for protecting him (and the others) through all the biking.

P.S. If you would still like to donate to Sea to Sea, you can do so by clicking here.

THANK YOU!

Video - New Jersey

2008-09-08T14:38:00.002-04:00

Thanks, Hanneke, for this video of the tire dipping in the Atlantic Ocean!

Day 62 - Last day of the tour

2008-09-01T21:16:00.005-04:00

Day 62 - Saturday, August 30

Sussex to Jersey City —61 mi, 98 km

End in Jersey City, at Liberty State Park on Saturday, August 30, 2008. Dipping of front tires in salt waters of Atlantic Ocean at the boat launch at Liberty State Park, Saturday at approximately 2 p.m..

I am back in Haiti and I am happy to be home. The Sea-to-Sea tour was a great experience. I am thankful to have been able to participate in this event. Here are some pictures from the last day.

Coming over the mountains in New Jersey, this was our first glimpse of New York. (The Empire State Building is on the horizon.)

A gift from my grandsons, Adrian & Louis.

The crocodile horn.

"Holland American Bakery" in Sussex, New Jersey.

The whole group bikes together to Liberty State Park.

Tire dipping ceremony.
The speaker had everyone say the Lord's Prayer before they dipped their tires.

Pictures in Jersey City.

2008-08-31T20:46:00.003-04:00

Thanks, Hanneke, for these pictures of Dad (Ad):

With bike in the water...in the Atlantic Ocean.

With Mark.

Being interviewed by a lady from the Banner.

With Hanneke (daughter), Rebecca, Catherine, and Julianna (granddaughters)!

Some interesting tid bits...819 flat tires, 195 falls throughout the whole trip.

Arrival in Jersey City!!!

2008-08-30T15:30:00.003-04:00

Note from Mirjam:

Just received a call from my dad. They have arrived! They dipped their tires in the Atlantic Ocean! Had police escorts and all as they neared Liberty State Park. Hanneke and her girls were waiting for him at the finish line. I will post pictures asap.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Day 61 - Welcome to New Jersey (the last state of the tour)!

2008-08-29T07:50:00.001-04:00

Day 61 - Friday, August 29

Dalton to Sussex —82 mi, 132 km

Today would be a difficult day. The map and gps graph showed that we had to climb more feet than we had ever done in this trip before. Yes, we climbed impressive passes in the western United States with 4000 feet climbing, but this would be different. Many short hills would add up to more feet of climbing than the Steven's pass in Washington State, for instance. It turned out that it was true. Nearly the whole day we went up and down hills. Some were shorter and others were longer. The result was that one moment I got to 70 km per hour speed (a record for me) and the other moment I was slowly going in my "granny gear" with a speed of 8 kilometers per hour.

The terrain was beautiful. Hills covered with Pennsylvanian forests and from time to time a small town, village, or farm. I passed a row of windmills on the top of a mountain range, but the weather was a bit foggy at that moment.

I also passed a beautiful lake where the trees reflected in the water.

During a SAG stop, I saw one of the young bikers with a Dutch soccer shirt - and the name of the country was even written in Spanish.

I biked through Milford, a busy town with too many cars and tourists, and decided to continue. In Port Jervis, we passed the Delaware river over an old steel bridge.

I saw a huge hill coming and decided to first buy some lunch. I had already eaten most of my food from the camp during the hills. Before the real climb started, I saw other young bikers eating ice cream.

A minute or so later, I passed the border of Pennsylvania with New Jersey. This was special, the last state in the Sea-to-Sea tour.

The climb to "High Point" (really the highest point in New Jersey) was hard, especially at the end of the day. Eventually, I got to the top and raced down the other side into Sussex. And, of course, just before the Sussex Christian School was another steep hill.

Supper was prepared by the CRChurches of Sussex and Goshen - it was good food. I am not sleeping in camp tonight. I am enjoying the hospitality of Bouwe and Jane Leenstra, a couple that came to Haiti in January 2008 with a group from the Goshen CRC. They invited me to their home. A real bed and working internet. What a blessing!

Day 60 - "All God’s creation is magnificent."

2008-08-28T22:55:00.001-04:00

Day 60 - Thursday, August 28

Binghamton to Dalton —58 mi, 93 km

Today was a shorter ride, which was nice for us. So, I wasn’t in a hurry when I got up. Before leaving, I took time to make pictures of the new football field of the public school where we camped. This was a football field with artificial grass, complete with a track around it. Last night it was inaugurated and this morning it was on the first page of the local newspaper, just under the article about the Sea-to-Sea tour. Last night, I met one of the people of the education system, who said that similar projects cost about 8.3 million dollars.

This says something about the importance of sports in the American school system. A bit of a contrast with raising money for poverty elevation.

The biking went fine today. The first part was a bit hilly and then we had a stretch along a river (going downstream). At the end was the surprise: a series of short, but steep hills. We passed through Binghamton and several small towns, like Kingsley, Nicholson, and Hop Bottom.

Hop Bottom. We thought that the name of that town was funny. Imagine every time that people meet you, they always ask, “Where are you from?”. Then you have to answer “Hop Bottom”. What????

We saw a few railroad bridges that looked like gigantic aqueducts from the Romans, but made out of concrete.

Because we passed under these structures we couldn’t see what the use was. Later, when a train passed over the bridge, we understood that it was a railroad. We also saw some birds at the riverside, Kingfishers. The river was beautiful reflecting the trees and plants along the shore, but I couldn’t get the birds on the picture. They were flying fast, even under the bridge.

Somewhere along this route, we entered Pennsylvania.

The surrounding was mountains covered with forests and a few farms.

This trip has shown us nature in many different variations, from the desert to the forests, from the plains to the mountains, from sea to lakes and rivers. All God’s creation is magnificent. But we can’t always enjoy it, because cars are chasing the bicycles...

...or does this sign mean something else?

Only two days left of this tour.

Day 59 - Another day of week 9 passed.

2008-08-27T09:29:00.001-04:00

Day 59 - Wednesday, August 27

Romulus to Binghamton —76 mi, 122 km

This morning my tent was dry. It was a strange phenomenon - tents that were higher on the hill were wet, but the tents closer to the lake were dry. The fly of my tent was dry on the inside and on the outside, which does not often happen after a cold night. So, it was easier for me to clean up. I slept in and got out of my sleeping bag at 6:06 a.m. Somewhere around 7:30, I left.

The first 50 kilometers, from the state park to Ithaca, didn't go so smooth. The road went up and down, because the terrain was hilly and we started in a low spot (at the lake). Due to a southeastern wind, the downhill parts were not as speedy as expected. Ithaca is a town on the Cayuga Lake, the second of the finger lakes. Cornell University, well-known for its medical and agricultural faculties, has its main campus in Ithaca.

About half an hour before I reached Ithaca, we passed the Thaugannock Falls. We had to bike a steep road of more than 10% for a mile to reach the viewpoint overlooking the waterfall. The water falls over a great height from a natural rock wall. Because it had not rained for quite a while, the amount of water was not big, a mere trickle, but the place itself was impressive. The straight walls of the falls were beautifully carved by nature.

In Ithaca I waited for Mark, my biking partner, and we continued the route. We passed the bridge and started climbing. This was a long hill and we climbed about 1000 feet. The hills were mostly covered with trees and it was beautiful.

We passed a cemetery, which showed the influence of time and weather. We had seen many of this type of cemeteries during the trip, so I decided to take a picture of this one.

About 25 miles before Binghamton, we found a waterstop - the Valley CRC from Binghamton had set up a sign and they were giving us bottles with water.

This same church later prepared a supper for us, with "spiedies" as the main item on the menu. It is a local food: pieces of porc and chicken barbecued with a special sauce and eaten in a bun. Right in front of this CRC is a public school (Chenango Forks School), where we are camping now.

During the last part of today's route we passed through small towns, saw more road constructions, and rode for a while along this gorgeous river called Chenango.

Even though the hills were numerous, we enjoyed the ride. Another day of week 9 passed. Only three days left on this tour. We are wondering how this experience has changed us and our attitude towards the poor. We pray that many of this group of bikers will be more active in defending the poor both in North America and around the world.

Day 58 - "Bump"

2008-08-26T08:30:00.003-04:00

Day 58 - Tuesday, August 26

Byron to Romulus —76 mi, 122 km

It was cold this morning and the tent and grass were wet from heavy dew. I did sleep in until 6:00 a.m. and didn’t leave until 7:30. The biking wasn’t fast in the beginning, because we had a crosswind and parts of the road were rough. There was road construction going on over a part and they had not yet put on the finishing layer of black top. Later in the day, it went better, especially when we turned south, while the wind was blowing out of the north.

We have seen lots of road construction during this trip. After the winter, with frost and snow damaging the roads, repairs are being done all over the country.

With our bikes it sometimes created problems when we had to do detours. Most of the time we were allowed to pass. Several times we had to wait, because they only let one direction of traffic pass through at a time. Today, several bikers had already talked to the guy that was directing traffic – he knew all about the tour. One sign read “bump”. It reminded me of Haiti: if there they had to put signs up for bumps, there wouldn’t been enough signs…….

At lunch time we were hosted by a CRC church from East Palmyra. Their church was not on the route, but one of their members had a farm along our route. They served food, which included many different goodies.

We passed from Byron to Lima. This is the town where Dave and Courtney (former youth pastor in Haiti) used to live.

From there we biked through Geneva to Romulus. Along the way I took pictures of buildings that caught my eye. Some older buildings looked very English, especially the churches, others not at all.

When I was in Geneva, I realized that most of my pictures were of old buildings and this would give a very one-sided idea of the area. I decided to take some pictures in a normal street with stores.

The lady in the right corner of the picture saw me taking the picture and joked about her presence breaking the camera. I talked with her, explaining the tour and the fundraising and awareness about poverty. She told me that it was her birthday today (81) and she gave me 5 dollars as a donation from her birthday present.

From Geneva to Sampson State Park in Romulus, most of the road followed the east coast of Seneca Lake, the first of the finger lakes.

Thhese lakes are all north-south and really deep. The state park where we are staying used to be a navy base where people were trained in working with submarines. It is a peaceful park now.

Pictures from South & Grand Haven

2008-08-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks, Hanneke, for these pictures from the stop in South Haven...

Catherine and Julianna (two of my granddaughters) in front of my tent.

...and pictures from Grand Haven.

Casper G. with Julianna

The first to arrive on the Conference Grounds.

With Ardjan, Julianna, Hanneke, Rebecca, Coby, and Catherine

It was like coming home.

Day 57 - "I feel sad thinking that this great adventure will end Saturday."

2008-08-25T14:40:00.001-04:00

Day 57 - Monday, August 25

St. Catharines to Byron —77 mi, 124 km

This morning we first drove Mirjam, Adrian, and Louis to the train station. They had to be on the 7 o'clock train. It was still dark when we dropped them off.

After that we went to Beacon Christian School to get our bikes and some food for lunch. Just after 7:00 am we left from the school in the direction of Niagara Falls and the US border. On the way to Niagara we passed a lock that is in the canal between lake Erie and lake Ontario. There was a ship in the lock, which basically had to rise to the height of Niagara Falls.

The whole group of bikers arrived at the border. Jen, the assistant of the director, was checking out if everyone was there before we could go over the border.

About ten o’clock we all went over the border together. With a motorcycle from the tour leading the way, we slowly biked over the bridge.

The collaboration of US customs was amazing – they didn’t ask us to show our passports; we just biked over the bridge, which is the border between Canada and the US. Of course, the tour director had already sent the list of names with passport numbers to the customs supervisor weeks before, but still the border crossing today was extremely smooth.

Back in the US, we were biking in groups of 5 or 6 riders. The wind was northwest and we were traveling east and southeast, so the wind was sometimes a crosswind and often kind of a tailwind. The biking went well – the wind was good and it was not hot. We passed through different towns, including Oakfield.

Here there are no vineyards, but instead there are fields with different types of cabbage.

We are camping now in an RV park in Byron. This is the last week of the Sea-to-Sea tour. In a week, I will be back in the office in Haiti. These 9 weeks have passed so fast. I feel sad thinking that this great adventure will end Saturday. At the same time, I am looking forward to my family in Haiti. I realize that it is a privilege to be part of this tour during this summer.

Day 56 - "...the rain stopped and the sun came out."

2008-08-24T14:29:00.002-04:00

Day 56 - Sunday, August 24

Rest day in St. Catharines / Niagara Falls

We stayed at the home of Rick and Ruth Jongejan...

...which was nice compared with camping: a real bed and no lines for the shower, for instance. In the morning, we went with them to the Jubilee CRC in St. Catharines. We did meet several people with family members in Haiti, including Francois, a Haitian refugee who arrived in Canada only three weeks ago.

In the afternoon there was a celebration in Queenston Heights park. It started raining around noon; a thunderstorm passed over the area. We drove to the park expecting that nobody would show up, but instead people came out to the park. There was a mission market before the celbration. Leanne, Jan (from the office in Burlington), and I were at the CRWRC table promoting the programs of our agency. We were standing under a tent. Many adults showed their interest and we handed them flyers about the Embrace AIDS campaign. Many children came to our table, because we handed out Embrace AIDS bracelets and reflectors for bicycles with the CRWRC logo on it.

Just as the celebration was beginning, the rain stopped and the sun came out. This was really important, because the whole celebration service was in the open air and there was no “plan B”. Brian Walsh was the main speaker.

He challenged us by contrasting the fruits of the Spirit (the theme of the celebration rallies during the tour) with the reality of poverty and injustice in this world.

A few pictures and notes of the celebration rally (from Mirjam):

What does a celebration rally look like? There are a lot of people. At this point in the tour, the last leg, there are nearly 200 cyclists. Plus volunteers and staff. And then there are all those folks who come out for the rally - those from nearby CRC churches and others who may have come further to see family and friends that are part of the tour.

Then there is worship. Praising God for who He is and all that He does. There is speaking. Challenges to live out the fruits of the Spirit. Challenges to remember the poor and help them. Pledges made to help end the cycle of poverty. Memories of the tour are shared.

Blessings and prayers are made for the cyclists as they prepare for the last week of the tour.

The nearly 200 cyclists:

My Dad in that crowd:

It is a time of reflection and a time of celebration.

Day 55 - A visit with my grandsons.

2008-08-23T14:08:00.002-04:00

Day 55 - Saturday, August 23

Hamilton to St. Catharines —46 mi, 74 km

Today was going to be a short ride, but it would take time. Thanks to the hospitality of at least 5 CRCs we were offered food and drinks nearly every 15 kilometers.

The food was great and this made the day trip really easy and enjoyable for us. I did stop at all these places, but not long. Mirjam, our daughter, with her two children came down from Montreal and they were waiting at a friend’s house in Beamsville.

But first we passed the city of Hamilton on the south side. The road was leading over the "escarpment”, an area that has been lifted up, creating a steep cliff. We stopped and took a picture of the view of the city of Hamilton with lake Ontario in the background.

Later we went down the escarpment in one of the steepest roads we have taken during this tour, a 12% hill. At the bottom of the hill was a stop sign, which was unfair, because we couldn’t really use the speed of this hill.

The area between Hamilton and St. Catharines has seen of lot of changes in the past years. Nowadays, there are many more vineyards and wineries than in the past. An old Victorian house with a vineyard was only one of the many examples.

The vines were full of grapes.

Around 10 a.m. I arrived in Beamsville and found the house of Ruth and Rick Jongejan. This couple had taught in Haiti in the past and Mirjam was staying at their house. Just when I got to the house, Mirjam and Adrian (3 years old) came out. Adrian was dancing in the street, calling “opa”.

Mirjam also had her 2 month old baby, Louis, with her. This was the first time I saw him.

Later, I biked to Beacon Christian School where the camp was. Mirjam picked me up and we went to Niagara Falls. Adrian enjoyed the falls, especially the beautiful rainbow that was visible in the mist of the falls.

Day 54 - "Development is something we can’t do for the people, but they have to do it themselves."

2008-08-22T13:56:00.001-04:00

Day 54 - Friday, August 22

London to Hamilton —75 mi, 121 km

Because I didn’t stay the night at the camp, but at the farm of Rudolf and Francien Hoving, I got to the camp by 6:30 a.m. It was good to stay at their place and sleep in a real bed and get my laundry done. Francien drove me back to the camp.

I got breakfast and packed some lunch. I shouldn’t have done that, since we had several churches on the road that were preparing food and drinks for us.

The day was nice, not too cold. Biking eastwards, most of the time we were protected by trees and corn from the crosswind. I passed Woodstock. This is Woodstock in Ontario, not the famous place from the sixties.

Between the different towns, there was road and farms with nice houses built out of stone.

Somewhere along, I started biking with Thea, who is from the London area. She works in education with special needs children and also helps refugees from Sudan. I shared about the work in Haiti and the importance of sustainability. Development is something we can’t do for the people, but they have to do it themselves. We concluded that the basic principles for the work in Haiti and in Canada were the same.

After several stops at churches, we arrived at Redeemer University in Hamilton relatively early – it was about 14:30. We were camping on the campus.

I had my tent up in no time, but then I was asked for an interview with a TV program. It took quite a while before that was done. After a shower, I went to the library because the last days I didn’t have a good internet connection. I am sending out my updates, hoping that my blog manager and daughter, Mirjam, finds the time this weekend to put them on the blog. She is traveling to St. Catharines and I will see her tomorrow with Adrian and Louis. I am looking forward to that.

Day 53 - "It took quite some time because there was so much food."

2008-08-21T13:46:00.001-04:00

Day 53 - Thursday, August 21

Chatham to London —75 mi, 121 km

The night was not as cold as the previous one. This morning I was part of the sweep team, so we had to help serve breakfast and later load the gear truck. We left about 9 a.m. The wind was not very good – we were traveling more or less northeast and the wind came from the southeast, a serious crosswind. Ontario has many trees, both in the form of small planted forests and in the form of windbreakers. The result was that we often did not feel the wind as we would have felt it in a state as Nebraska. Also, the corn, that is high here, helped to protect us a bit.

We only stopped at the SAG wagons, which were about every 25 kilometers. Most of the time we saw corn and soybeans on both sides of the road, as we have seen in many other states. We did see some tobacco.

We kept on going until we came to Mount Brydges...

...where members of the Hope Community CRC had prepared a lunch for us. It took quite some time because there was so much food. At about 2:00 p.m. we continued our journey to London.

London was, of course, named after the capital of England. It is a relatively big city in Ontario, with a small river in the middle, that they, of course, have named Thames.

We were biking along the Thames on a bike path and met a welcome committee from the local CRC.

As soon as I got to the campsite (the Christian High School) I met Francien Hoving. She came to Haiti years ago and now lives with her husband on a farm in Mount Elgin. I have the privilege of staying with them for the night.

Day 52 - To Canada!

2008-08-20T13:30:00.000-04:00

Day 52 - Wednesday, August 20

Richmond to Chatham —56 mi, 90 km

To Canada! This morning it was cold, somewhere below 10 degrees Celsius. I took my rain jacket in order to stay warm. The fly of my tent was went from the dew. We had to leave early because of the border crossing. All bikers were supposed to be in Marine City at 9:30 in order to start taking the ferry at 10:00. My partner and I biked about 33 kilometers and arrived in Marine City at 9:00 already. I had forgotten the batteries for my camera, so I bought a few batteries and took some pictures of the town. The Catholic Church was a beautiful structure of stone.

Along the riverside were many older houses; some reminded me of the gingerbread houses in Haiti.

A local told us that these houses were built in the past by captains and engineers of the freighters that passed on the St. Clair River. Now these house are top real estate, because of the location.

In the park were signs to welcome the Sea-to-Sea riders...

...and a nice lighthouse.

We waited in the park and watched the traffic that passed by on the river.

By 10:00 a.m. we started walking to the ferry. On this side of the river is the US customs office, but we didn’t have to show our passports – we were leaving the country anyways. We were not allowed to take pictures in the area of the customs office. We walked on the ferry – like the ones you see carrying cars and bikes at the Rhine river in the Netherlands. It took the ferry several trips just for all the bikers and then there were the support vehicles.

At the other side of the river we had to pass through Canadian customs, showing our passports. Everything went very smooth, because it was well prepared by the Sea-to-Sea organizers. Customs had received a list of all the participants with their passport numbers, names, etc. Many CRC people were waiting to welcome us.

They had brought drinks and food, so we had a welcome-to-Canada party. I met the de Pooter family, whose daughter Heather is teaching at Quisqueya Christian School in Haiti.

We still had to bike some time to arrive in Chatham. So I left the riverside and continued my way to Chatham. When I reached the town I took a picture of the sign.

I knew that Mary and Tony de Koter, who also work at Quisqueya Christian School in Haiti, often visit this town, but QCS started already so I assumed that Tony (who is the principal) was in Haiti. Later, during supper time, Mary stopped by at our camp, because she was still in Canada. It is fun to meet all these people who we know from Haiti.

When I got into camp a young boy was just putting up the welcome sign that he had made. I added him to the blog even though I didn’t ask his name.

Blog to be updated ASAP.

2008-08-20T13:20:00.000-04:00

Note from blog manager:

Just to let you know that the blog probably won't be updated for a couple of days.

My dad (Ad) said that the internet connection at the Sea to Sea tour camp is out for the coming days. Also, Lord-willing, I will be traveling this weekend to St. Catharines to meet up with my dad. If possible, we will update the blog some this weekend or as soon as possible.

So, please keep praying for the tour, for the safety of all, and that God will be glorified through it all.

And check back to see more exciting updates and pictures soon!

In Him,
Mirjam

Day 51 - "Gran Blan"

2008-08-19T09:10:00.001-04:00

Day 51 - Tuesday, August 19

Laingsburg to Richmond —95 mi, 153 km

The morning was cold and I started out biking with my rain jacket over my jersey. The weather forecast had said that the wind would be northeast and that was true. We basically had a cross/headwind, because for 90% of the time we were on a west to east route. In the first two hours it was cloudy, but then the sun started coming through. The surroundings in east Michigan are beautiful with lots of trees, which helped to protect us from the wind.

We passed through different towns. In Durand we saw this beautiful train station/depot. According to a bypassing local, this was the most photographed train depot in the US. It is a beautiful building and functions now as a train museum.

There were several towns with French sounding names. We passed through one called Grand Blanc, which I thought was funny, because in Haiti the fishermen at the flamingo lake call the White Egret (a big white bird that eats fish) a “gran blan”.

We passed through Metamora, a town with a lake and many luxurious houses. The town had a nice center, too, with stores and a donut shop.

We got coffee and a donut. On a day with nearly 100 miles to bike and a headwind, you need a lot of energy. :) We talked in the donut shop with different people about the tour. One person pulled out some dollars and gave a donation on the spot.

The next town – I forgot the name – had a nice church. In general, it seems that the eastern part of Michigan has a lot of people with money. Is the car industry in Detroit the source of all the wealth?

After many miles (or kilometers) we arrived in Richmond. We are camping at a high school and the public library is beside the school, so that is easy for our access to internet. Tomorrow we are supposed to pass the border. We have been told for the last two days to not forget our passports…….

Day 50 - Something unique to the US...when compared to the "old country"

2008-08-18T08:58:00.000-04:00

Day 50 - Monday, August 18

Grand Rapids to Laingsburg —63 mi, 101 km

Before leaving from the Calvin College campus, we had a prayer and blessing. About 15 people finished their leg of the tour in Grand Rapids, but about 60 new people joined for the last leg from Grand Rapids to Jersey City. It is a big group now – nearly 200 bikers – and so many new faces.

We left Grand Rapids through Ada and the valley of the Grand River. This was a beautiful ride in a quiet area with many forests. We passed over one of these covered bridges.

I took a picture of that covered bridge, because in the Netherlands these things don’t exist. Must be something unique for the United States, perhaps because they have way more snow here than in the “old country”?

In Lowel, at Calvary CRC, we had a stop – kind of a second breakfast. After this we headed straight east toward Laingsburg. It was a nice road with hardly any motorized traffic. The surroundings were beautiful – rural with mainly corn and soybeans and sometimes the smell of pigs. From time to time we passed a river or pond.

The whole time we had a strong tailwind and all the bikers had fun just going fast without a lot of effort. Most of them did 27 kilometers per hour (average) or more over the whole distance, which means that the 102 kilometers took them less than 4 hours biking. Around 1 p.m. I was in the camp, where we had to wait until the gear truck was parked. We are staying in the Sleepy Hollow State Park for tonight.

Day 49 - Celebration Rally in Grand Rapids

2008-08-17T08:50:00.001-04:00

Day 49 - Sunday, August 17

Rest day in Grand Rapids

Today, I stayed at the home of Mike and Deb Feys, who invited me for the weekend. I needed to do some financial reporting for CRWRC, so it was important to stay at a place with a good internet connection. It was also nice to have a normal bed for two nights. I found out later that I missed the Jim Vriend family, who came Sunday morning to Calvin College to see me.

In the morning we went to church. Two of the riders from the group, Bob and Lisa Brouwer (father and daughter), are part of this church. Bob gave a presentation during the church service about the tour. Bob’s talk and the picture presentation was great for me - reliving the first 7 weeks of this tour.

In the afternoon all the Sea-to-Sea riders went to the Fifth Third ball park, where the celebration would take place.

An interesting message from Shane Claiborne, author of “Jesus as President”, was the central part of the celebration. We met a lot of people that support the tour. It was good to meet Dan VandenHoek, former CRWM missionary in Haiti, and his family, Dave Genzink, who works with Partners Worldwide and often comes to Haiti, Andrew Ryskamp, US director of CRWRC, and other staff from the Grand Rapids office. I was also surprised how many people said that they were reading my blog.

Back at the Feys, I finished the financial reporting.

Day 48 - Refocusing and Getting Lost

2008-08-16T21:36:00.003-04:00

Day 48 - Saturday, August 16

Grand Haven to Grand Rapids —45 mi, 72 km

It was hard to leave my family at the Conference Grounds. This was the only day I had seen Coby during the summer, so I left late, just before the sweepteam left (they are the last ones to leave the camp). Coby is going back to Haiti in a few days. I had to refocus myself. For the first 4 weeks my goal was to get to Denver (and see Leon). My next goal was to get to the Conference Grounds in Grand Haven and see Coby, Ardjan, and Hanneke and her children. Now the end of the tour is coming close and the next goal is to get to the Atlantic.

Right when I got on the road I met a group of local bikers and started chatting with them about the tour. It was Saturday morning and then we often meet local bikers on the road. The weather was beatiful and the wind was good. The result of this was that I missed the first arrow and so I got off the route. I also had forgotten to pick up a map, so I was lost. I thought that the route lead over the bridge in Grand Haven, so I followed my gut feeling and went that way and after that, turning east in the direction of Grand Rapids. After biking about 20 kilometers I realized that I was really lost and had no clue where the official route was. I called one of the SAG wagon drivers, who had no map, and he advised me to go back to the Conference Grounds and start over again, but I didn't want to do that - I would have biked 40 kilometers just to get back to zero! I asked some friendly local people who gave me directions to Leonard Street, which would lead to GR. The scenery was beautiful and after a lot of biking, I saw other Sea-to-Sea bikers. They turned from a side street into the road that I was on, so the route found me back.

Because of all the extra miles I had done, I was in the back of the pack, but still ahead of the sweepteam. I stopped at several CRC churches along the road, who had all prepared food and drinks.

There are so many CRC churches in this area. After a few hours I got to Grand Rapids...

...and found my way to Calvin College. Upon arrival, I was found by the Feys. Mike and Deb Feys knew Hanneke when she was studying at Calvin College and they had invited me to stay at their house for the weekend. A real bed is a treat and I have some reporting to do for CRWRC. Another busy weekend.

Day 47 - "It was like coming home."

2008-08-15T20:41:00.003-04:00

Day 47 - Friday, August 15

South Haven to Grand Haven —47 mi, 76 km

I did get up early this morning and that was not easy, because we had just changed timezone. The sun was up officially at 6:50 a.m. and so that was when I left. Today I would see Coby.

The morning was cold, but there was no wind. The road was quiet and I saw two young deer playing along the road.

I made good progress until I got to Cory with our first SAG wagon. I stopped and bought a new tube, realizing that I was riding alone that day and that I had no good spare tube with me. Lo and behold, when I left the spot where the SAG was parked I had a flat. So I turned back in, changed the tube, pumped it up (SAG wagons have a good pump with a pressure gauge), and bought another tube from Cory. Then I left again.

In the town of Graafschap I stopped at the CRC church. They claim to be the first CRC in the US and in the basement of this church is a Heritage center. It is a small museum about the Dutch who settled in that area. These people came from the Graafschap in the eastern part of the Netherlands and from just over the German border (Bentheim). Several displays showed how they started a new life in the US.

After that I continued north. I had an appointment at 10 a.m. with the Calvary CRC in Holland, Michigan.

So I got there and had coffee with Joyce Johnson, Paul Brinks, and Pastor Frank.

With Paul and Joyce

Joyce and Paul had been to Haiti and I visited the Baptiste area with them. I had also met Pastor Frank before in Haiti, while he was visiting with a group of business people. Now the Calvary CRC is supporting the cooperative training program of SKDE in Haiti and they also have adopted me as one of their missionaries.

Then I really raced north. It was still 25 kilometers to the Conference Grounds, but my family was waiting. I was doing 25 to 30 kilometers an hour and in no time I got to the entrance of the Conference Grounds. It was 12:15, and I was the first biker to arrive. Coby was there as well as Ardjan, Hanneke and her children, and many other friends that we know from the Conference Grounds. It was like coming home. For three weeks I had been biking towards this place, and now it was reality.

Day 46 - Welcome to Michigan, with a Surprise!

2008-08-14T21:09:00.001-04:00

Day 46 - Thursday, August 14

Chesterton to South Haven —74 mi, 119 km

We woke up early. Some of the people wanted to be an hour ahead, because today we would cross into another time zone and "lose" an hour. So at 5 a.m. many were busy taking down their tents and packing. Most of us left before 7 a.m.

The biking was good. The weather forecast had told that we would have a wind from the north, which was a headwind. However, the wind was not strong, except for the last hour when we got close to South Haven. Most of the time, we were biking in a "dune area" along the coast of Lake Michigan. The road went up and down while we crossed the dunes. The advantage is that most of this area is covered with forest (many oak trees) and so we were protected from the wind.

Very soon we crossed the borderline with Michigan. We have many people in the tour who are from Michigan, so they were excited. Of course, we took a picture when we saw an official welcome sign at the highway. In fact we were biking on a road parallel to this highway and I carried my bike across a railroad to take the picture with the welcome sign.

Michigan is a little bit like coming home for me, because Coby, Ardjan, and Hanneke are waiting for me in Grand Haven.

The route zigzagged between the Lake and the dunes. Several times we followed a road along the lake with houses that were very different from what we experienced yesterday in the poor areas of Chicago. Here were the beautiful houses of the rich and as my biking partner said, "Most of these are just for the summer." The houses and the boats show the other side of the country, that is obviously not influenced by the suffering economy of West Michigan

The agriculture pattern changed with getting further north into Michigan. We were seeing several signs of vineyards and wineries. There were also the first fields with berries and other fruits. Around 3 p.m. we arrived in South Haven. The beaches and the town reminded me a lot of Grand Haven that I had visited in the past.

We were tired and spent some time in a restaurant. I ordered soup, but most of the other bikers were eating icecream.

Katrina, one of the bikers, used the time the others ate ice cream to change her leaking tire.

When we arrived at the school, there was a big surprise! Hanneke, our oldest daughter, and her three children (Catherine, Julianna, and Rebecca) were waiting for me. I put up my tent and we went out for supper. I was expecting to see them in Grand Haven, because they were with Coby at the Conference Grounds, but they came to surprise me in South Haven. It is obvious in the camp that the closer we get to Grand Rapids more family members are showing up.

Day 45 - Roseland Christian Ministries (ministering to the needs of the community) / Welcome to Indiana

2008-08-13T22:44:00.006-04:00

Day 45 - Wednesday, August 13

Palos Heights to Chesterton —48 mi, 77 km

This morning we had a short blessing ceremony at Trinity Christian College before leaving. The tents were even dry this morning, even no dew. On our way out, I took a picture of a sign that no biking was allowed on the Trinity campus. Perhaps Trinity should change this, especially in the context of higher fuel prices.

About half of the riders went an alternative route visiting the Roseland Christian Ministries. Roseland is a suburb of Chicago. In the past there were many Dutch families and several CRC churches in this area. Other ethnic groups came in and most of the CRC families moved out and churches moved also to other suburbs. The Roseland Christian Ministries was started to minister to the needs of the community. They now have a shelter for women and children and a drop-in during the day for men. Roseland Christian Ministries provide meals for men and women. We visited with them and learned all about their work.

Today, we only had a short route, so we had time to visit. After some biking we got to the 2^nd CRC in Highland (Indiana). We were received by some excited girls who had welcome signs. Because we had entered the state of Indiana by a back road (and we didn’t see an official welcome sign for the state of Indiana), I took the opportunity for a picture with the “Welcome to Indiana” sign with the girl who was holding it. Inside the church we had a great lunch, prepared by the church members.

Through a bike path we ended up in the Indiana Dunes State Park. We are camping under oak trees and feel like having vacation.

Day 44 - $10, A Windmill, and Chicago Pizza

2008-08-12T22:28:00.000-04:00

Day 44 - Tuesday, August 12

Woodstock to Palos Heights —83 mi, 134 km

About the first half of the ride was on a bike path along the river Fox and the rest was biking in an urban situation (these are all suburbs of Chicago).

When I left this morning we were biking through downtown Woodstock, a small town with about 20,000 people. The square had several older buildings, which were still functional.

Two market people were setting up their booth. I talked with one of them about the tour, handing out a card with the information. He spontaneously donated 10 dollars for the cause.

Today I started biking alone. Somewhere along the road I got together with Gerry Loonstra with whom I had been biking a lot during the weeks between Seattle and Denver. After about 15 kilometers we got to the Fox trail that was going along a river. It is one of these former rail road tracks that has been converted into a bike path. The surroundings were beautiful, nice river with a lot of trees along the sides. We passed several towns along this path, and many bridges.

At the town of Aurora we found a welcoming committee from the Wheaton CRC with cookies. They were in a park with a real Dutch windmill, right at the bike path. This windmill is considered to be the best example of an authentic Dutch windmill in the United States. One of the ladies was very helpful in taking pictures of my biking partner and I with the windmill in the background.

She also took orders for specific bike parts. I asked her to buy me new cleats for my shoes, because the ones I have are completely worn.

The second part of this day, biking through a chain of suburbs was not really fun. For most of that part of the ride, we were on roads with much traffic and many traffic lights. We did come in at about 4:00 p.m. and are now at Trinity Christian College. The college served us a supper with real Chicago pizza and we had a get together with members from the CRC community.

Day 43 - There is No Sign, but Welcome to Illinois Anyway

2008-08-11T21:50:00.002-04:00

Day 43 - Monday, August 11

Madison to Woodstock —81 mi, 130 km

This was a fantastic day. It was quite cold this morning when we got up at 5:20 a.m. I had to help with serving breakfast and later with cleaning up and loading the gear truck. We left at about 9:00 a.m.. I was riding today with Ed Gringhuis. By the time we left, it was sunny weather, but not too warm, so ideal weather for biking.

We were doing good speed. Officially, they had announced a wind from the east, while we were going in the southeast direction, but the wind didn’t bothered us much. Probably the wind was not strong and this area has many trees. Around 1:00 p.m., we arrived in Delavan, a beautiful town. The local CRC had prepared a great lunch, so we ate there and talked with some people of the congregation.

The town was green with many trees and nice houses...

...and, of course, all the other American things: mall, many fast food places, and the Super Wal-Mart.

Not far after this town we got to one of our support vans. We had not seen any official sign, but we heard from Cory, the driver, that we were already in Illinois. One of the other cyclists had made a sign to mark the border to Illinois.

If the officials don’t do it, we have to do it ourselves, they must have thought. Cory is holding up the sign for the camera.

So we already left the state of Wisconsin. I realized that this was my first visit to this state, where my great-grandfather is buried. My great-grandfather, Jacobus de Blaeij, emigrated in June 1907 from the Netherlands to the US and ended up in Wisconsin. He left the Netherlands with his 4 younger children, while my grandfather (who was married already) and three brothers stayed in the Netherlands. And that is why I was born in the Netherlands and not in the US. Someday, I hope to visit the American branch of our family, who live in the Sheboygan area, in the eastern part of Wisconsin close to Lake Michigan.

Tonight, we are camping at the High School in Woodstock, Illinois.

A few pictures from others

2008-08-11T21:14:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Jonathan T. Stoner for these pictures:

Upon arriving at the University of Seattle, before registration (at the beginning of the tour).

Thanks to Tyler Jones for these pictures (from July 26th):

Day 42 - Crossroads Church: A good place to camp and to celebrate

2008-08-10T21:04:00.000-04:00

Day 42 - Sunday, August 10

Rest day in Madison

The Crossroads church in Madison received us very well. Sunday morning we had a celebration service in the church with a sermon about “faithfulness”. Every Sunday we have a sermon about one of the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5). After the service there was again a mission fair, where Leanne and I talk with the people about the work of CRWRC and hand out brochures.

This church also had the children make welcome signs, which were in the garden in front of the church.

Even on the doors of the church the Sea-to-Sea tour was promoted.

In the afternoon I cleaned my bike chain and reorganized the baskets in the gear truck.

There was also a concert of an Unkualung Choir, which consisted of a group of ladies, who played a type of musical instrument (Unkualung) imported from Thailand.

In the evening, there was a short service outside with another CRC in Madison.

This is the start of week 7. We have completed 6 out of 9 weeks. This church in Madison was a good place to camp and to celebrate. We thank the people of the CRC in Madison for their hospitality.

Day 41 - Biking through Barneveld

2008-08-09T22:09:00.010-04:00

Day 41 - Saturday, August 9

Fennimore to Madison —72 mi, 116 km

Today was a beautiful day and a great ride. I woke up at 4 a.m. and it was raining. Not a very nice idea to have to pack the tent in the rain and everything else being wet too. Because the ride would not be that long, I decided to stay in my sleeping bag until 6 a.m. Just by that time the rain stopped. Of course the tent was wet, but for the rest we would keep things dry.

I left camp at about 7:30 and it was still wet and cloudy. It rained a bit when I passed an Amish man with cart and two horses (and the cart was riding on iron wheels without tires), so I decided not to take a picture. Later I passed a whole battery of windmills, but the picture is not that impressive, probably because of the condensation on the camera lens.

Slowly, we got out of the rainy area and it even became sunny. The wind was Northwest and we were going east, so we had kind of a tailwind. The biking was great, I was flying. I biked alone during most of the day and I couldn’t stop. I only took a few breaks to eat and take some pictures.

We passed the town of Barneveld and so I had to take some pictures. It reminded me of my mom and dad de Blaeij, who visited this town with “uncle Jim” and of my sister, Marleen, who lives with her husband Adri and two sons in the Dutch town of Barneveld. The water tower of Barneveld looks like the model of water tower we have seen in many of the towns in Nebraska and Iowa.

In the middle of the town was a nice church and the American flag shows that this is Barneveld in Wisconsin.

There is also a picture of the police/fire/rescue squad station in Barneveld.

We passed another town that was started by people from Norway. I only took a picture from the very “Norsk” church that was still in that area.

I arrived at the Crossroads Church in Madison at about 1:00 p.m. I put up my tent and it all dried fast. We are camping on the sports field beside the church. Nice members of the church shuttled us to a high school where we could shower. Later they shuttled us to a laundromat where we did our laundry.

I also received mail and a package. Thank you all for your support and your encouraging mail. This week we did many miles, but I biked them all by the grace of God. Have a blessed Sunday.

Day 40 - "Wisconsin Welcomes You"

2008-08-08T21:45:00.001-04:00

Day 40 - Friday, August 8

New Hampton to Fennimore —100 mi, 161 km

The morning was cool and clear when we left New Hampton. This is a neat town with much greenery and trees, which reminded me of Grand Haven in Michigan (without the lakeside, of course). I took a few pictures while riding through the town.

We continued biking east, passing several small towns. One of these towns looked very nice at the entrance, but there were several abandoned houses and businesses – not a pretty view.

There was not a lot of wind, so we continued biking and made good progress. We met several trailers loaded each with a wing of a windmill. We had no clue how big these wings are – they had to extend the normal trailer just to be able to load a wing.

At about noon we got to the Mississippi. Here in the north of the US this river is not so wide as in the south, but she is still impressive.

We passed over two bridges (there is an island in the middle), and got in the town of Prairie du Chien. The river is also the border between Iowa and Wisconsin, so we arrived in the next state. We were again welcomed by a sign and, of course, we had to take a picture there.

The Mississippi valley had a lot of French influence and so Prairie du Chien is not a strange name. When the French came to this place there was an Indian village and the Indian chief’s name was the Indian word for dog. The settlers preferred the French version of “dog”, which is “chien”.

Being in the river valley forced us to climb again to get to our final destination, Fennimore. During these kilometers we noticed the difference between Wisconsin and Iowa - less soybeans here, but more grassland and milk cows.

This was the third day with 100+ miles. My knees hurt and I feel my muscles, too. Tomorrow we have to get to Madison and then we have a day of rest.

Day 39 - "...huge windmills, slowly turning in the wind, is magnificent"

2008-08-07T21:26:00.000-04:00

Day 39 - Thursday, August 7

Algona to New Hampton —113 mi, 182 km

Today another long ride. We were riding again in east direction, but with a crosswind from the north. My partner already got a flat tire during the first 20 kilometers and that slowed us down. So today was not as easy as yesterday, but most of the people made it, by the grace of God. I arrived at the camp around 5:00 p.m.

Iowa is a green state. Some people think all that corn and soybeans is boring, but I think it is beautiful. The main thing that was different today were the windmills.

We passed two areas with more than a hundred windmills. So probably those are areas that normally have much wind. The view of all these huge windmills, slowly turning in the wind, is magnificent. I forgot my camera again today, so Dirk van Wyngaarden, one of the other riders, gave me two of his pictures.

Now I am sitting in the library trying to send you the information from the past two days. In every town where we camp, riders of our group flood the local public library to get their blogs updated and to answer their emails. John VanderVeen, another cyclist, took a picture of some of the riders, including me, in the library in New Hampton. The internet system of the camp is not working at this moment, so that is why we are all here.

I keep it short today. I am very tired of these long rides – two in a row of 113 miles and tomorrow the third one of 100 miles. I want to go to bed early today. God bless you all.

Day 38 - Blessings of Rain (for farmers) & Tailwind (for us)

2008-08-06T08:23:00.002-04:00

Day 38 - Wednesday, August 6

Sioux Center to Algona —113 mi, 182 km

I had a good night of sleep in the college dormitory. When I woke up at 5:20 am, I wanted to sleep another 5 hours, but we had to leave. Having slept in a building we were completely surprised when we came outside – it was raining. It was not raining hard, but a soft rain, which I normally call “Dutch weather”. It was good that we didn’t sleep in tents, so we didn’t have to fold up wet tents. But we had to get out our rain gear.

After breakfast we started biking in the rain. We knew that after 20 miles we would find “refreshments” from a church. The church from Hospers was not located at the road, but they put a stand in a park along the route, where we could chose from the best donuts (from a Dutch bakery). After another hour of biking in the rain we got to a stand in a park from the church in Primghar.

They provided bananas, coffee, and other food. It helped us through the difficult first hours biking through the rain. Slowly, it started drying up and we realized that we were going faster than expected – this rain had brought us a tailwind. The rain was a blessing for the farmers: they need rain in the time when the corn is in the tassel. The tailwind was the best blessing we could receive on this day with this 181 kilometer ride, and we thanked God for this.

During the day we continued to bike eastwards. Because many back roads have gravel here, we had to go sometimes a little north or south to find an asphalt road, but mainly we were moving eastwards with a strong west wind in the back. We stopped at several places for rest and drinks. One of the support cars was parked beside a small cemetery.

We also saw there a rain gauge, which showed that we did not have more than 5 mm of rain that morning.

For the rest of the day we rode through cornfields and soybean fields. I realized why people speak of the “corn belt”.

Literally everywhere you look, you see corn. Many farms have big barns with livestock and we saw and smelled the pigs and the cows, which were of course fed with corn.

My biking partner, Mark Faasse, and I left Dordt College in the morning just before 7:00 a.m. and we arrived at the camp in Algona just after 4:00 p.m.

Day 37 - “Deye monn gen monn”

2008-08-05T23:00:00.002-04:00

Day 37 - Tuesday, August 5

Sioux City to Sioux Center —61 mi, 98 km

After having a good night of sleep in the gym we passed through Sioux City. By the way I learned that this is supposed to be pronounced “Sue City” - English is a complicated language. :)

The surroundings were really beautiful. Everything is so green, especially compared to the states in the west where we traveled through the past 5 weeks.

The drivers in Iowa are also more “biker-friendly” than the ones we met in earlier weeks. They wait to pass us, until there is enough room on the other side of the road. Often that takes a lot of patience, because the road goes up and down, and so they can’t easily see the oncoming traffic.

On the above picture, you see a big semi that is behind several cyclists, waiting until it is clear to pass. And the drivers here often wave to us in a friendly way…..

These states we are in are part of the prairies and while we were in the Rockies we would consider these states “flat”. Now we are finding out that these states are not as flat as a pancake (that is only true for Kansas). Today, the road went up and down all the time. It reminded me of the Haitian proverb “deye monn gen monn”, which means that behind every mountain is another mountain.

At the same time, the wind was not very helpful and I got really tired from this (relatively short) trip.

On our way to Sioux Center we passed through a town, Ireton, where the local CRC had prepared refreshments for us.

It was a “root beer float”, ice cream with root beer, a treat when the weather is warm. It was good talking with the people from the church, especially because many of them are or were farmers. In Iowa there is not a lot of irrigation. Their corn and soybeans depend on rain. Water is pumped from the ground mainly for drinking water.

By 2:00 pm, I had arrived at Dordt College, the place where we would stay for the night. We are going to sleep in the student dorms in a real bed. That is a luxury for people who are used to sleeping on air mattresses. I decided first to change my back tire. After having many problems with that tire, I asked my biking partners, who went to the bike shop yesterday, to buy me a new tire. So I put a new tire and tube on the back wheel. After that I did laundry, using the opportunity of using the washing machines of the college.

At 7 p.m. there was a Sea-to-Sea celebration – many people from the area came. After this celebration there was another mission fair, where Leanne and I stood at the CRWRC table, giving out information about the work of CRWRC to participants. We met many people who were interested in what CRWRC is doing for the poor. We also met the father of Howard Van Dam, who came down with his wife from Minnesota for the Sea-to-Sea celebration.

It was late when we went to bed and I had a headache. With two ibuprofens and a short prayer I went to bed, hoping I would be able to bike the 113 miles the next day, the longest day of the tour…….

Pics are up!

2008-08-05T22:56:00.001-04:00

So, the pictures are now up...for day 35 and day 36.

Check it out below!

Pictures to Come!

2008-08-04T22:41:00.004-04:00

Another little note from the blog manager:

For some reason I am unable to upload pictures onto the blog this evening. You know how it goes with technology...it's great when it works! :) So, for the previous two posts, there are no pictures. When it works again, I will upload the pictures for those two posts.

But don't stop here. The updates are there and interesting to read!

Thanks for continuing to read my dad's blog and to pray for him and the others, as well as the overall goal of this tour, for God's glory and kingdom!

Day 36 - The People of Iowa Welcome Us

2008-08-04T22:15:00.006-04:00

Day 36 - Monday, August 4

Fremont to Sioux City —89 mi, 143 km

Today we rode from Fremont to Sioux City. We are not really in Sioux City, but in a town a few miles South of Sioux City, with the funny name of Sergeant Bluff. The local CRC pastor explained that Sergeant Floyd was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition and he died in this area on a bluff.

We are staying at the Bluffs Area Family Center. Some did set up their tents outside on the grass, but many of us are sleeping in the gym. That is a lot easier (you don’t have to set up and take down the tent) and it is air-conditioned inside here, so not too warm. The gym looks a little like an evacuation place for tornado victims, but we like it inside.

This morning the wind had changed direction. Yesterday, it came from the South, but this morning it came out of the North. We had half of the time headwinds. The temperature was lower today with clouds in the morning and we even had a short rain. Before we passed the border of Iowa, we went over a bridge over the Missouri River.

The bridge floor was built out of a grid...

...and so most of us preferred to walk over this bridge.

With our thin tires and just after it rained, this bridge floor was very risky. I have never seen a bridge with this type of floor, but it seems to be used here in different bridges.

Just on the other side of the river we entered the state of Iowa. There was a sign that “the people of Iowa welcome you”.

It was surprising to find out that the people of Iowa knew that we were coming and that they even had the time to put up a sign. Just kidding. I did ask someone to take my picture with the sign. This is the sixth state we visit on this tour and the second state where I have never been before.

Today one of the bikers got in a small accident with a car, but she is doing okay. She even completed the ride to Sergeant Bluff. We pray and thank God for his protection, because with a group this size and being on main roads there are many risks.

Day 35 - Blessings: Rest and Hospitality

2008-08-03T22:06:00.003-04:00

Day 35 - Sunday, August 3

Rest day in Fremont

Today is Sunday and we don’t have to bike. Everybody on the tour was tired after this heavy week and said what a blessing it is to have one day off.

We went to different churches. Because there is no CRC in Fremont, an arrangement was made that one group would go to the CRC in Lincoln and another group to Omaha. I went to the latter. There were two school buses going to the Omaha church and it was the first time that I traveled in a real school bus.

The people of the Prairie Lane Church welcomed us.

We had a great service, with attention for a local mission working with the homeless in Omaha as well as a global mission (Mission to India). The church members had prepared lunch for us. On our way back several people in our group mentioned that they were glad to see some civilization. They meant that after the many small towns we had seen in the western part of Nebraska, here was a big city with a mall, a lot of fast food places, and big apartment complexes.

I am not sure what I prefer. These small towns had something attractive about them, but the stores were closing there, and so it would require a lot of traveling to get all the things we need (or think that we need).

Back at camp we heard that the neighboring Lutheran church (located just beside the camp) had offered that we could sleep in their building. That was great, because the nights here are very hot and humid and I couldn’t sleep last night because of the heat in my tent. So I (and many other bikers) moved our sleeping mattresses and sleeping bags to the Lutheran church. The people of the church have a brand new extension to their church (including a gym) and they let us use that for the night. Talk about hospitality.

We started a new week and we are looking forward to the challenges of this week. We have to continue to pray daily. We all need God’s help and grace to live and survive.

Day 34 - Something Forever...

2008-08-02T18:29:00.000-04:00

Day 34 - Saturday, August 2

York to Fremont —96 mi, 154 km

We are still biking in the northeastern direction. Because of the road here we go straight east, and then north, and then east, and then north again. With the wind being from the south today, we had a strong crosswind while we were biking in the eastern direction, and we had a tailwind while biking north. So it was a day with a long bike ride. I started at 7:30 a.m. and got to camp by 6 p.m. My biking partner had one flat tire. It was really hot today, 104 F or 40 degrees Celsius. This week we biked 553 miles, the highest total of the whole tour.

During the ride we went through a nice town called Seward.

In the center was this beautiful building and around it were the stores. There was a traditional bakery and we decided to go there for coffee with cinnamon buns. They had some deep thoughts about the state of Nebraska on the wall.

Some of the towns are really nice here. Other places are small, and remind of the wildwest – see the pictures I took in a restaurant of the bathroom doors for girls and boys.

Now we are camping in a park in the town of Fremont – population about 25,000. We use the facilities of the YMCA skating rink in the park. Some of our young people are ice skating while I am writing this. I love ice skating too, but I am not sure if I want to risk an injury by skating in this stage of the tour.

Tomorrow we stay here and will go to two different churches. I hope you have a blessed Sunday, too.

Day 33 - Halfway to Jersey City!

2008-08-01T22:08:00.002-04:00

Day 33 - Friday, August 1

Minden to York —94 mi, 151 km

We are halfway through the tour. Yesterday we were halfway in time, but this morning, after 18 miles of biking, we were halfway between Seattle and Jersey City in terms of distance. Last night, we got ice cream with strawberries to celebrate the half point!

Today the biking was not so easy. The wind was coming from the east, so nearly the whole day we were fighting this wind. We left late, because we were still on duty, which means that our group not only helps with serving breakfast (need to be present at 5:30 a.m.), but also with loading the gear truck before we can leave. About 9 a.m. I left with a group. This group had several strong bikers and we managed to ride about 25 km/hour even with the headwind, by taking turns on pulling, while the rest was drafting behind the leader.

I forgot my camera and left it in my bag, so I couldn't take any pictures along the road. Anyways, the surroundings are still the same: lots of corn and soya fields and every 5 miles a big silo along the railroad.

I am including a picture of one of the young bikers who has nice jerseys from a Dutch biking team. One of the girls is showing off her Rabobank jersey.

Another long and tiring day. On top of that I had 3 flat tires in one day. I am getting good at changing a tire, but still it is frustrating when you can't find the cause of these flats.

This week has the maximum amount of miles per week: 553 miles (about 885 kilometers). We sure are glad that there is a day that God had set apart to rest.

Day 32 - You definitely see a lot more details...

2008-07-31T21:54:00.000-04:00

Day 32 - Thursday, July 31

McCook to Minden —95 mi, 153 km

These days are long biking days; you can understand that if you see the distances. This day the surprise was that we had a tail wind, so the biking was easier. Still 152 kilometers is a long way.

We biked through different small villages. One of them had a main street with a nice bank building...

...but the rest of the street was boarded up or for sale.

On the corner was an abandoned gas station, where I made pictures of some old cars.

You definitely see a lot more details from the country while traveling by bicycle than when you travel by car.

I was again “on duty” this afternoon. Our group had to help serve supper and clean up later. After such a long biking day, we are tired and go to bed early. Good night.

A note from Mirjam (Ad's daughter).

2008-07-31T21:13:00.004-04:00

Dear friends of Ad,

The cyclists are half way through the tour from Seattle to Jersey City! As my Dad wrote in one of his blog entries, he is tired but loving it.

If you haven't heard already, there are several places where the cyclists can receive mail. Even with email, I still love getting snail mail at home, so I can imagine that the cyclists would enjoy receiving mail while on their tour...and that my Dad would enjoy receiving encouragement from you.

If you would like to send my Dad a note, you can do so to one of the following locations:

#3 — Madison, Wisconsin

Tour arrives Saturday, August 9

Mail to:
Ad de Blaeij / Sea to Sea Bike Tour
Crossroads Church
3815 S. Dutch Mill Road
Madison, WI 53718

#4 — St. Catharines, Ontario

Tour arrives Saturday, August 23
(note: mail must arrive by Fri., Aug. 22, as there is no Saturday mail delivery in Canada)

Mail to:
Ad de Blaeij / Sea to Sea Bike Tour
c/o 4 Nickerson Ave.
St. Catharines, ON L2N 3M1

If you know other cyclists on the Sea to Sea tour, I'm sure they would enjoy receiving some encouragement from you as well. Just make sure to put their name in the first line of the address (instead of my Dad's).

Thanks for supporting my Dad and the Sea to Sea tour!

Day 31 - Welcome to Nebraska

2008-07-30T20:38:00.002-04:00

Day 31 - Wednesday, July 30

Wray to McCook —93 mi, 150 km

This morning we left early. We had heard that this would be a hot day, with temperatures above 104 F or 40 Celsius, so it was wise to leave as early as possible. Also, we would lose an hour due to going into another time zone.

I left at 6:30 a.m. and started following highway US 43. In the beginning this road was going south, while there was a wind from the south. Headwind. After an hour or so, I saw a bunch of bikers along the road. They were at the sign that we were going from Colorado state into Nebraska. Everybody wanted to take pictures, so we had to wait in line to take a picture with the Nebraska sign. The sign reads “Nebraska the good life”. Now we don’t know if everybody in Nebraska agrees …… Do you see the bullet holes in the sign? Anyways, I took a picture holding my bike up in the air. That was because there were a bunch of nasty weeds below the sign and I was afraid for my tires.

We passed several villages, where we enjoyed the luxury of buying coke, fries, and lots of Gatorade. It was hot, indeed, so we kept on drinking. I passed one small village that was unincorporated, which means that there are no governmental services. The name of the village was “Max”. We thought that it was a funny name for a town. We saw a store that was closed, many empty houses, a grain elevator that was working, and a closed gas station.

If you want to know when that the station was closed, you can find that out, because the gallon price for gasoline on the pump was 1,43 USD.

We also entered Central Time zone. There was a sign and, of course, we took a picture. This is the third time zone we are in. Now tomorrow we have to get up one hour earlier, which is difficult, because it will still be dark. However, changing the time zone is also a sign that we are getting further east. Tomorrow, we will be half-way through the tour (which is 9 weeks long). It is amazing – time flies indeed.

I don’t know what the people mean with the statement that Nebraska is Livestock Friendly. I have seen many cows and I do suppose that they will be killed for their meat. How friendly is that? Or will they give these cows a pension so that they can retire?

Tonight, we finished the day with a worship service. We read through the book of James, full of wisdom, including about the issue of poverty, and faith in action. God bless you all in applying your faith in daily life.

Day 30 - The days are tiring, but I still love it.

2008-07-29T21:55:00.008-04:00

Day 30 - Tuesday, July 29

Fort Morgan to Wray —86 mi, 136 km

Yesterday during our peloton meeting, Katrina announced the weather forecast for today. She is one of the bikers and does that every evening as a service to the group. The wind would be from the east and she was right. We were biking today right in to the east, so we had a headwind all the time. For the rest, it was a great day: the weather was sunny, the wind cooled it just enough, and the road (we were biking along the US 43) had a smooth shoulder. I got to Wray about 4:00 p.m.

In the morning we passed by a piece of art about a biker flying into a hay bale. It must have been a cowboy, considering his boots. What the story is about this cowboy and his bike, I do not know, but it makes for a cute picture.

Later I passed Art. He is one of our bikers, but his knees are giving him problems. He has not been biking for several days and is waiting for his knees to heal. He is helping these days as a SAG (service and gear) post, providing us with water. Here he is sitting in the middle of the flat prairie land with the jugs of water.

For the rest the country is flat with many corn, wheat, and bean fields along the road. From time to time there is a big grain elevator that is visible from a distance. So we are cycling from elevator to elevator. Often there is a small town at the bottom of the elevator with a gas station or some restaurant.

We also passed these huge feed lots where thousands of cattle are raised for beef. You can smell them from a distance, depending on the direction of the wind.

Greetings from the tour. The days are tiring, but I still love it.

Day 29 - Flat #4

2008-07-28T21:44:00.000-04:00

Day 29 - Monday, July 28

Denver to Fort Morgan —89 mi, 143 km

Today was the ride from Denver to Fort Morgan. This morning we got up at 4:30 and Leon dropped me off at the camp in Denver at 6:30 a.m.

So I started today with Mark Faasse, a retired policeman from Michigan. The first part of the trip was nice, a 27-kilometer bike path along the river Platte. It was a great way to get out of a big city, without being in the middle of busy traffic and having to wait for endless traffic lights. However, I got a flat tire. That was not so nice. I had put a brand-new expensive tire on Friday on my back wheel and today I had a flat. This is flat #4. A tiny piece of metal wire had gone through the tire into the tube. So we changed the tube.

We passed close to the Denver airport through a town called Brighton. This side of the mountains is dry, but there are more towns, which means more possibilities to buy coffee, Gatorade, etc. We are really in the plains now. During the morning, we still saw tops of the Rocky Mountains, but in the afternoon, we saw only plains. Sometimes the plains are just dry with sagebrush, but often there are farms with irrigation, growing mainly grass and corn.

We mainly followed Highway US 76, sometimes on the shoulder of the highway, more often on roads parallel to this highway. It is an older highway, originally made from concrete and later covered with asphalt. So you get the cracks in the asphalt between all the concrete pieces – not very easy to bike on.

Beside the highway was a train track, where trains passed transporting coal.

The wind was officially North and we were going in Northeast direction, so most of time we had a headwind. I got in around 4 p.m. We are camping again on the grass next to a High School, hoping that the sprinklers will not go on tonight.

Day 28 - Thanks, Leon & Crystal!

2008-07-27T21:30:00.000-04:00

Day 28 - Sunday, July 27

Rest day in Denver (or Colorado Springs)

When I got to Denver on Saturday, there was mail again. Thanks to all of you who sent me mail.

Sunday, I stayed at Leon and Crystal’s house.

That was a real day of rest – sleeping two nights in a real bed in a real house, instead of in a tent. In the morning, we went to church in their neighborhood. The sermon that day was from one of the experts of the Creation Research Institute; it turned out that there had been a conference about creationism.

Later we went out for lunch and purchased a few items for the maintenance of my bicycle.

Thank you, Leon & Crystal, for the hospitality. Leon, thanks for picking me up from Denver and bringing me back early Monday morning. Thanks, Crystal, for the good Mexican food and for my clean laundry.

Day 27 - Highest Summit: 11,307 feet (3446 meters)

2008-07-26T11:39:00.000-04:00

Day 27 - Saturday, July 26

Winter Park to Denver —80 mi, 129 km

This morning I got up early. I didn’t sleep very well. Perhaps it was the excitement of getting to Denver that day, perhaps it was the hard soil at the YMCA center (I felt the rocks through my air mattress), but I was awake part of the night. Anyways, I got up and packed my tent and other stuff and left before 7 a.m. It was below 10 degrees Celsius, so I put on my rain jacket in order to stay warm.

On the road through Winter Park, I met local bikers and walkers. Yes, it is Saturday and then people do those kind of things. I handed several of them cards about the tour and its objectives. Upon hearing that we were biking from Seattle to Jersey City, one lady said, “You are nuts." Perhaps we are. :)

There was one major climb today, the Berthoud Pass. From Winter Park, the road was slowly going up, but then, about 6 miles before the summit, the real climb started. It was not as steep as the pass near Steamboat Springs that we had done two days before, which had a slope of 8%, but it was a serious climb. We got to the summit. There one of the SAG wagons was stationed (the van with the port-o-potty on a trailer) and several bikers were welcoming the next ones.

This was the highest summit of our tour and the last one of the Rocky Mountains. Officially, 11,307 feet or 3446 meters. We stayed for a while to applaud other bikers – see picture of Adrian Kloet.

Because there was construction at the parking place on the summit, there was no official sign, so I couldn’t take a picture of that. Instead I took one from the surrounding mountain tops with still some patches of snow.

After that we still had a lot to bike, but it was mostly downhill. Through the valley, where a river was flowing...

...and people were enjoying a white-water-rafting trip.

After several hours, we finally arrived in Denver. This is the end of the first leg of the tour. About 15 people stop here and another 15 or so start.

I am spending the weekend at Leon and Crystal’s place in Colorado Springs. It is so good to sleep two nights in a normal bed.

Day 26 - My Muscles and Joints Ached

2008-07-25T21:34:00.009-04:00

Day 26 - Friday, July 25

Kremmling to Winter Park —35 mi, 55 km

Today was a short ride and I was so glad for that. Even in this 34 mile ride from Kremmling to Winter Park, I felt tired and my muscles and joints ached. It's no wonder, after 4 heavy days with climbs and long distances.

The ride basically went through the valley of the Colorado river. We followed it upstream and went through a beautiful canyon, where we also met a few other bikers.

The US 40 goes through some small towns – Sulphur Springs and Winter Park. The place where we are staying is Snow Mountain Ranch, a YMCA center, also a ski resort in the winter. Even now we can see snow patches on the mountains.

We are all tired and looking forward to Denver. Other bikers are obviously feeling tired, too, after riding in here at the Snow Mountain Ranch.

Some of the problems are the high altitude here where the amount of oxygen is lower. Tomorrow, we have to climb another 3,000 feet, but then it is all downhill to Denver. I hope to stay Saturday/Sunday with our son, Leon, and his wife, Crystal, in Colorado Springs.

Day 25 - I thank God that I have the privilege of being a part of this adventure

2008-07-25T21:04:00.020-04:00

Day 25 - Thursday, July 24

Craig to Kremmling —96 mi, 154 km

This was another long biking day. This week has been heavy for most of the riders, but we are moving and nobody expected this tour to be easy.

When we left this morning we had a headwind from Craig to Steamboat Springs. I don’t know exactly where the wind was coming from, and the road was winding through a valley, but most of the time it was not helping me. When there is a headwind and you bike uphill you don’t feel the wind. But then you get over the top, and you want to fly down and then the wind holds you back. I have concluded that I have less problems with the mountains: all the extra energy you put into the climb you gain back when you go downhill. With headwinds that is different.

We arrived at Steamboat Springs – a ski resort town. It looked very touristic with a lot of small stores in the main street, with art, antiques, ice cream, etc. I didn’t stay long. Just ate my sandwich on a bench and bought a good coffee in a bookstore/coffee shop. The picture gives you an idea of what the town looked like. By the way, the nice Harley-Davidson motorbike belongs to Billy D., a member of our support team. He often rides along the bikers checking if everyone is okay.

Just a few miles out of town the climb started. It was another steep one of about 3,000 feet over a distance of 5 miles (my estimate is that it was at least 6%). I stopped perhaps every half a kilometer, drinking water, eating a bit, and sometimes taking a picture, because the view was spectacular.

At last I came to the summit, but it was a false summit – there was still a lot of up and down until we came to the real top. This is also the continental divide, which means that the water before that point is all going to the Pacific and from that point on the rivers go eastwards.

For several weeks we were riding in a desert environment. Here we are high (9,426 feet) and in an alpine climate. It indeed looked like Switzerland. The houses could be Swiss,

and the forest there was beautiful (except that many trees are dying because of a beetle plague).

There were also beautiful flowers along the road.

After these summits it was mainly downhill. However, there were many small up-and-down hills in this last part of the route. I got my third flat tire at the last stop, so I changed the tube. I found out that my back tire is getting thin, so tomorrow morning before I leave I have to put a new tire on my bike.

It was an exciting day, especially getting over the continental divide. It has been a hard day/week until now, but it is an adventure and I thank God that I have the privilege of being a part of that. Last night, we had a worship service in which Leanne and I talked specifically about Haiti. This tour is not only about biking, but about creating more awareness about poverty.

Day 24 - A gas station means...COFFEE!

2008-07-23T08:24:00.000-04:00

Day 24 - Wednesday, July 23

Dinosaur to Craig —88 mi, 142 km

The route today was from Dinosaur to Craig. We were following the US 40 for the whole day, so it was not difficult to find our way. The surroundings were the same desert with sagebrush that we have seen a lot from Idaho, through Utah, and now in the western part of Colorado. See the picture that I took from one of the other riders.

There were some flowers along the road, perhaps because there is some runoff from the road.

When we left this morning, it was cloudy and we had even a bit of rain. It stayed cloudy for the whole morning, which was nice and not very hot. In the afternoon, we had a few hours of sun and the temperature shot up to 104 F or 40 C, but by the time I got to Craig (around 3:30 p.m.), it was cloudy again. We are camping on the grass in front of a public High School and we are using the bathroom and shower facilities of the school.

Ed had warned us that between Dinosaur and Craig, there was no other town, so we had to include that in the amount of food that we took with us. Leaving Dinosaur a sign warned all car drivers that the first 49 miles there would be no gas available. My conclusion, based on that sign , was that there would be a gas station after 49 miles and a gas station in the US normally means that there is coffee! So, yes, there was a small village after 49 miles, or 80 kilometers, with the name, Maybell. There was a gas station with a “general store”. This general store had been there since the thirties, but it looked clean and updated inside. I bought coffee and Gatorade and continued the rest of the journey.

Just before I got into Craig I saw a big electricity plant. It seems to be one of the bigger plants in the US.

Craig is a town with stores, shops, and all kind of restaurants, but I didn’t take time to go into town. I cleaned and oiled the chain and derailleur of my bicycle, because that was really necessary. When you wait too long, the chain will collect a lot of sand and dust and the biking will be more difficult. After supper we had our meetings and I found half an hour to answer emails and work on the daily report.

Day 23 - Welcome to Colorful Colorado

2008-07-22T10:44:00.000-04:00

Day 23 - Tuesday, July 22

Duchesne to Dinosaur —90 mi, 145 km

We are in Dinosaur. Probably you haver never heard of this village. It is really small. Today we rode from Duchesne to Dinosaur.

This morning I was still on duty. We had to be ready to work at 5:15 helping the kitchen crew to set up everything for breakfast. A group of 142 bikers not only eat a lot, but they also prepare their lunches. So there is tons of food: cooked oatmeal, many different cereals, fruits, bread, yogurt, peanut butter, chocolate spread (Nutella), and lots of power bars. When all the other riders leave, we have to help clean up the breakfast and load the big trailer with all the (more than) 142 duffel bags with camping gear.

We left at about 8:45 and started biking fast. The first third of the route went slowly down hill; so that part was not that difficult. In the first town we went into a big store and drank coffee. Then we continued to the next town. We are biking through really Utah terrain – very dry and rocky and here and there, an irrigated field.

We came in the next town and were hungry - it was already in the afternoon and we had biked about 100 kilometers. In a Kentucky Fried Chicken place, I ate fries and had a coke. You can’t eat to heavy when you bike, because then your legs don’t want to go anymore.

The last part of this day was really hard. We were climbing slowly and I was tired. I was glad that clouds came and provided shade; otherwise, it would have been really hot.

At last we arrived in Dinosaur. Just before we entered, there was a sign “welcome to Colorado”.

So, we already crossed Utah and are in Colorado now. In this area of Utah/Colorado, they have found many bones of dinosaurs and that is the reason why they gave this town it’s name.

They even have street names referring to different dinosaurs, like the Brontosaurus Boulevard. In the small park we set up our tents.

I wanted to go to bed right after supper and the meetings, but I had to update my information for the blog. So now I can go to sleep. I hope it will be a good night, because I need to rest. Ants were crawling over my tent. Hopefully, they don’t find a way to come inside.

Day 22 - 9,435 feet

2008-07-21T10:43:00.001-04:00

Day 22 - Monday, July 21

Salt Lake City to Duchesne —90 mi, 145 km

Early this morning at 4:50 I woke up. Barbara had prepared breakfast and Don drove us over to the camp. We were at the camp at 6:30, packed lunches, and took our bikes. We started out with a big descent. I had to stop and put on a jacket, because it was cold and I didn’t want to get sick(er).

Of course after every descent comes a climb. We got into a beautiful valley with farms and a river,

...from time to time a small village. We talked with a farmer who explained that because of the elevation they only have a growing season of 3 months. Even on June 12 they had a snow storm. He asked us all about the tour, because he was a biker too. He would like to do a cross country tour himself.

After came the big climb – about 3000 feet over a distance of about 10 kilometers. Parts of the road had an 8% grade, and (for you who know Haiti well) it made me think a lot about the road to Jacmel. After hard work we ended on the top, where we were at 9435 feet.

There were fields with grass and purple flowers, and pine trees and patches of snow in the background.

After this climb we had a descent of 20 miles, where we hardly had to bike. The environment became dryer again and we saw impressive rocks at the side of the valley.

It was a hard day, because of the distance, but by the grace of God and the encouragement of other bikers we got to camp by 4:00 pm. I had to work right away, because my group was on duty. We help in serving supper and we have to clean up. That is part of our responsibility, but that makes long days even longer.

Day 21 - A sign of God's faithfulness

2008-07-20T22:00:00.000-04:00

Day 21 - Sunday, July 20

Rest day in Salt Lake City

Today we didn’t have to bike. I didn’t even camp, because I had the privilege of staying at the home of Don and Barbara Alexander. They are part of the Mountain Springs Church in Salt Lake City. Several families had volunteered to host riders in their homes.

Sunday morning we went with them to church, and we heard a sermon about “Jesus Preference for the Poor” based on Luke 4: 16 – 21. In the afternoon we went to the Sea to Sea camp and had a celebration meeting. It was windy at the campsite. There were clouds and an awesome rainbow, sign of God’s faithfulness.

Before we went to the camp, we visited the Mormon temple and tabernacle in Salt Lake City.

This is the center of the Mormon church and there are many Mormons living in Utah. We went in the tabernacle and were impressed with the acoustics. Because we were wearing our Sea to Sea tour shirts, the (Mormon) tourist guides asked us about the tour. We explained that we are biking through the US and the reason why.

I was glad to sleep in a real bed for two nights. Thanks for the hospitality, Don and Barbara.

Answered Prayer - Praise the Lord!!!

2008-07-20T21:58:00.003-04:00

Dear friends of Ad,

Thank you for all of your prayers (and emails) for my dad. I spoke with him last night and he is doing much better. A couple of days ago, he was afraid he was getting a fever with his cold, but he did not. He still has a little cold, but is feeling good, he said.

His biking yesterday went well, too. They biked about 100 km and then had two mountain tops to go over. It was more of a challenging day, but he made good time and was at the next stop around 4 pm. (See more details in blog entry below.)

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Have a blessed Sunday!

Mirjam

Day 20 - A heavy day finished well

2008-07-20T21:41:00.007-04:00

Day 20 - Saturday, July 19

Willard to Salt Lake City —95 mi, 153 km

Today we rode Willard to Salt Lake City. Everybody was aware that this would be a heavy day – 97 miles or 156 kilometers and, at the end of the day, two major climbs.

The night before Ed Witvoet (the leader of the tour) asked everybody to leave an hour earlier. Some people left at 6 a.m. already and I left at 6:45 a.m. The first 90 kilometers were flat and there was a bit of a head wind. We came soon in urban area with more buildings and trees, which eliminated the wind. The CRC church in Salt Lake City is close to the center of the city.

The church had prepared lunch for us. I didn’t stay long there and left at 11:45 a.m. for the hills.

The first hill was like Route Kenscoff in Haiti from Thomassin to Kenscoff, but the road was wider and there were many local cyclists, because of the weekend. On the summit of this hill, people from the CRC had set up a small booth and gave out power bars and Gatorade.

A little girl with the name Noel received us with a “mist”. We then went down through a valley with a water reservoir

and got on highway I-80. There we met the second hill. It was hard: the heat, biking on the shoulder of a 6-lane highway, and this hill, but by the grace of God and a lot of drinking I got to the top.

We passed through Park City, a town where the Winter Olympics has been held in the past, and where a lot of the ski-training still happens. Beautiful, like being in Switzerland. As a surprise there was another hill just before we got to the campgrounds. I was in camp by 4:30 p.m., and I am really thankful that it went so well for me.

The campground is at a lake and the view is gorgeous.

Day 19 - Thanks for your prayers!

2008-07-18T20:59:00.007-04:00

Day 19 - Friday, July 18

Snowville to Willard —65 mi, 105 km

Today was the ride from Snowville to Willard. It was 65 miles, or just over 100 kilometers.

The environment is still desert. In the morning when we get up, it is cool (sometimes 12-15 degrees Celsius), but it heats up very quickly. I tried to get to Willard early to avoid being on the road in the hot afternoon. I arrived here before 2 p.m.

We first followed the highway for about 20 miles. Then we took a side road going through desert and salt water swamps. We passed an enormous company producing rockets. They seem to build rockets for NASA and probably for the army.

Later we passed a nice town, Brigham.

I saw a sign “Ogden 19 miles” and was thinking about Dave Gebben, who was an intern in Haiti. He was from this area in Utah. He was a bike fanatic; he even brought his bike to Haiti. This summer he is getting married, so he couldn’t be part of this tour. I hope you have a great wedding day, Dave and Sarah.

We are camping just south of Brigham in Willard Bay State Park on the Pelican Beach. It is very hot here and we don’t have a lot of shade. There is a kind of gazebo with a lot of picnic tables, where everybody sits behind their laptops. If we look to one side we see the mountains

and to the other side is the beach, where the rest of the group is floating in the water.

I feel good today and, hopefully, the cold is not getting worse. Thanks for your prayers.

Day 18 - Welcome to Utah!

2008-07-18T20:47:00.009-04:00

Day 18 - Thursday, July 17

Burley to Snowville —86 mi, 138 km

Today, we started in Idaho and we saw a lot of potatoes.

After that we passed over several mountains, which some had steep hills.

And then we entered Utah, the next state.

It was really hot today. I rode with Leanne and her bike computer showed that even when there were clouds, the temperature was still 95 degrees F. When we rode in the sun the temperature went up over 102 degrees.

I am very tired today, with the cold still bothering me, so I keep it short. Please, pray for me and for the rest of the tour.

Day 17 - Farm Visit (near Gooding) and Lunch & Canyon (Twin Falls)

2008-07-18T20:34:00.008-04:00

Day 17 - Wednesday, July 16

Gooding to Burley —81 mi, 130 km

Today we rode from Gooding to Burley: 81 miles or 130 kilometers. It was the longest distance until now. The bike riding was not too bad, especially because we had a tail wind most of the time.

About 20 miles out of Gooding we visited a farm. The farmer has contacts with one of the organizations in the tour and he invited us to come to his farm. Of course, we got ice cold milk and we looked at the milking. He milks 1700 cows three times a day; so he has a carousel milk parlor with 50 places. I asked the farmer about the increasing prices for feed, but the price for milk has gone up too. I suggested that he use his manure to produce bio-gaz (methane). He said that he was discussing with two neighbors to build an installation for that.

At about 60 kilometers was the town of Twin Falls. The Reformed Church of Twin Falls had prepared a lunch for us. That was great – including ice cream and watermelon. Twin Falls is on this deep canyon from the Snake River. At Twin Falls the canyon is narrow and a bridge is over this.

Deep in the canyon is a green world because of the water there.

I have a cold, which bothers me during the night. During the day, it is not bad. I hope I am not going to get a fever. It is not easy for my body to heal with all this biking.

Prayer Request: Health from a Bad Cold

2008-07-18T13:02:00.004-04:00

Hi, this is Mirjam, Ad's daughter, (aka blog manager). My brother called me today to let me know that he spoke with my dad yesterday. My dad is not feeling too good.

He was biking yesterday and stopped at a little place. He had a cold soda, the place was air conditioned...and my dad started to shiver. He knew he was starting to get sick. At the park in Snowville (Utah), where the group stayed last night, they did not have any showers. They had set up tarps to make "showers" and were using a hose with cold water. Understandably, my dad did not want to take a cold shower. Instead, my dad biked to a nearby truck stop and paid for a warm shower. He seems to have a pretty bad cold. Leon said he sounded very congested on the phone. My dad was planning on continuing with the biking and then try to rest up on Sunday. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for the group - they are biking 95 miles (153 km) and going uphill a total of 5723 ft.

So, please pray for my dad's health. Pray that he gets better quickly and has the health and strength through today and tomorrow's cycling.

Please also note this prayer request that I took from the Sea to Sea website:

For the week of July 20

SEA TO SEA BIKE TOUR – WEEK 4!
Arnie Issette, of Canadian Lakes, Mich., suffered a torn tendon this past week forcing him to withdraw from the tour. Please pray for healing of his body and spirit. And pray for the safety and good health of all the cyclists, whether on tour or still training.

Day 16 - A wrong turn, a 2nd flat...and Bliss

2008-07-15T21:50:00.010-04:00

Day 16 - Tuesday, July 15

Mountain Home to Gooding —62 mi, 100 km

Today we rode from Mountain Home to Gooding, a total of 61 miles or about 100 kilometers. In the beginning the weather was cloudy and so the ride was not that hot. However, later in the morning the sun came out and it became hot. During the first half, the wind was against us, but later the wind turned (or we did) and we had a tail wind.

We are still riding through dry land with sage brushes.

In the beginning we took the wrong road, which led through very dry and remote country. After some biking we ended up in the same time as the other bikers who had done the right route. We saw two groups of deer – two mothers with young, and a dozen other deer. Because we had a headwind the deer didn’t notice us early on, so we came relatively close before they ran away. It was a pity I couldn’t take a picture.

In between we saw farms with irrigated fields (corn, alfalfa, grass), and a lot of cows, both dairy and beef.

In general it is rural with small towns. We passed through towns with 1600 inhabitants, like Bliss. We also stopped in Glenn Ferry, which had about 3600 people. Both towns had a gas station with a small store, which sold coffee. That is the only reason we stop in those places.

I rode today with Matthew Rekman from Sarnia (Ontario). He is a student in nursing and was very interested in medical work in Haiti. I told him about different organizations that work in Haiti and what type of work they are doing. He would like to do an internship in a Third World country. He wanted to take a picture of the sign with the name "Bliss", because he thought that was a funny name for a town.

Today I had my second flat tire. Every night we are counting the flats of the day – yesterday we 22 flat tires in a day. Most of them are caused by “goat heads”, a plant that grows here in the desert and which has nasty thorns. The wind blows parts of the plant on the road and that is how we get all these flats.

Day 15 - “Degage pa peche”

2008-07-14T00:22:00.000-04:00

Day 15 - Monday, July 14

Boise to Mountain Home —55 mi, 89 km

Today we rode from Boise to Mountain Home, a distance of about 55 miles or 90 kilometers. It is still the same desert type of area and the weather is blue skies without clouds. The wind was good for us, pushing us most of the time in the right direction.

Boise is a beautiful city on a river with nice parks and much green. There are also many cyclists in this town. Most of the gardens and parks have automatic sprinkler systems, which are programmed to start spraying water over the grass at a certain time. Sometimes during the night a system starts and our tents get wet. The sprinklers are supposed to be shut off when we are camping, but it is not always like that.

Between Boise and Mountain Home, there is no city or village. Our leader Ed had warned us that we shouldn’t expect anything, not a coffee place, or restaurant. We were happy that he was wrong this time, when we found halfway a truck stop where they served good coffee. The ride went well and by 1 p.m. we were at the Mountain Home Junior High School. But while I was one of the first to put up my tent, things went wrong – one of the tent poles broke. So I had to go into the town and find a new pole. There is no real camping store in this small town and the only place where they had something was at Walmart. The only pole available was not really the right size (it is bigger and shorter). So, now my tent has two different size poles, which makes the tent 10 centimeters lower on the inside. But I can sleep. “Degage pa peche” they say in Haiti. In English that means “making do is not a sin”.

(P.S. Also my camera was not working today, so no pictures.)

Day 14 - CRWRC table

2008-07-13T22:58:00.004-04:00

Day 14 - Sunday, July 13

Rest day in Boise

Every Sunday there is a celebration, a big service with the different CRC churches in the area. After the service, the different organizations linked to the CRC (CRWM, CRWRC, Partners Worldwide) and other local mission groups have a stand to give information to the general public. This picture was taken by Leanne Geisterfer after the service in the park in Kennewick (Day 7).

We had a CRWRC table with different documentation (for adults) of the work of CRWRC to help the poor. For the occasion they had made a few things to give away to children: a reflector and another CRWRC name tag that can be put on a bicycle. In order to demonstrate to the kids how to mount these things on their bike, I had put my own bike in front of the table with a Haitian flag on it. Some people asked if the bike was a prize for a raffle ……….

Day 13 - In Idaho

2008-07-13T22:07:00.005-04:00

Day 13 - Saturday, July 12

Ontario to Boise —65 mi, 105 km

This morning I started late. My group had sweep team duty, which involves serving breakfast, cleaning up the camp, and loading all the camping gear in the truck. Around 9 a.m., we were done and could leave. Normally the sweep team also sweeps the route, which means that you can’t leave anybody behind.

It was a tough ride today – 65 miles, just over 100 kilometers. This is still dry country; however, we rode through valleys that were irrigated. My companion on the ride today was Ed Gringhuis. He is from Ontario and is board member of Coram Deo International Aid, an organization working in Haiti (for the Haitian people – his daughter, Kim, worked in Haiti two years ago). Of course, we talked a lot about the development work in Haiti.

We entered the state of Idaho, and Ed took my picture with the welcome sign, even though the sun was completely in the wrong corner.

The weather forecast had said that there would be a Southeast wind. We had the wind against us, because the roads we took were mainly going in Eastern and/or Southern direction. We are camping now on the grounds of a big school in Boise (Idaho), the Timberline High School.

It is a nice school. You see on the other picture a part of the school entrance and also our kitchen trailer. Our kitchen staff consists of volunteers and they make very good food. I lost weight in Haiti while I was training for this ride, but in these first two weeks I don’t think that I lost any, thanks to the good food. When we bike, we burn a lot of calories.

Today is Saturday and that means that the big trailer has to be cleaned. You can see that many people have their two baskets in or beside their tent.

The team on duty will clean the trailer when everybody has taken the baskets out. Normally I use one basket for clothes and stuff that I don’t need this week, and the other for things I do need. That way I only have to take one basket to my tent everyday. This past week when we were in Huntington there was a strong wind, carrying a lot of sand inside the trailer, so the cleaning is really necessary.

Day 12 - Horses: Jealous of our freedom or thinking we are crazy?

2008-07-13T21:53:00.006-04:00

Day 12 - Friday, July 11

Huntington to Ontario —35 mi, 56 km

Today was a short ride from Huntington to Ontario (both in Oregon). We have been traveling along the border with Idaho. We passed a sign stating that we were entering the Mountain Time Zone.

These are signs that we are moving along in the Eastern direction. Tomorrow we hope to enter the state of Idaho, and then we are already in our third state.

There is not too much to report today. Still the contrast between the nature (which is desert and very dry here) and the irrigated fields in the valley. The agriculture land sometimes looked the same as in the Dutch polders with big fields of potatoes, wheat, corn, onions, and sugar beets. But the background of dry mountains showed clearly that we were not in the Netherlands.

A group of horses stood at a fence. I was watching them, and they were watching me.

What did they think of these bike riders passing on their bikes? Were they jealous of our freedom to bike where we wanted, while they were limited by barbed wire? Or were they thinking that these humans were crazy to be so active on a hot day? We will never know!

We are camping in this town of Ontario. Three people are leaving us tomorrow. They have other obligations and could only commit to two weeks on the tour. Slowly, we are learning to know more people in the group and it is sad to see people leave.

Day 11 - Huntington: small and poorer

2008-07-13T21:29:00.007-04:00

Day 11 - Thursday, July 10

Baker City to Huntington —46 mi, 74 km

Today was an easy ride, Baker City to Huntington. It was a short distance, only 75 kilometers, and after some climbing, most of it was downhill. We were in the “town” of Huntington early. It is very small, has a few stores and few cafes. There is one small library, but it is closed because the lady who runs it had a death in the family. Now the library is closed until next week.

During our trip we went through very dry land.

The main vegetation consists of sagebrushes, a shrub that is very drought resistant. For the Dutch people – it looks like “heide”, but a little bigger. From time to time you see some trees, when there is more moisture in the ground.

In the valleys there were some irrigated fields, mostly grassland with livestock. We saw a few nice farms, but also several places for sale. It seems that this part of Oregon is rather poor, according to American standards. The people in Huntington said that it used to have 5000 inhabitants and now there are only 500 left.

On the road we often see snakes in this area. I took a picture of a dead one, because when they are alive they vanish too quickly to take a picture.

We have been staying close to the I-84, an Interstate Highway. Today we had to bike on the highway for 17 kilometers, because the valley was so narrow there was no alternative road. Riding the bicycle on the shoulder of the highway is not fun. With cars and trucks passing so close, the ride becomes more stressful.

Day 10 - Extra Picture

2008-07-13T14:30:00.004-04:00

Note from blog manager:

Here is another picture from Day 10. It was missing from the original post, but I have edited it now. It was taken by my dad of a pretty church with the Blue Mountains in the background.

Day 10 - The Golden Rule for Biking

2008-07-09T21:30:00.013-04:00

Day 10 - Wednesday, July 9

La Grande to Baker City —49 mi, 79 km

Today we biked over a few hills, but it was not that difficult. This morning I started early – I think that I was on the road before 7 a.m. During the night I didn’t sleep that well because there were several trains passing with lots of honking and noise. It was cool this morning and the hill climbing was in the early part of the ride.

I really enjoy this biking. It is the feeling of being free. I enjoy the beauty of nature, the hills and the trees, but also the variety of agriculture crops we see along the road. In some places they grow wheat that is only rain and snow fed, and in other places they grow wheat under irrigation. The first is yellow and ready to be harvested. The second is still green and growing. In the area we passed they raise a lot of cattle.

On the first hills we had a lot of wind but today we had the wind in our back, so that was nice. There were many windmills producing electricity for the US consumer.

We passed through Haines, a small town that is a typical cowboy town.

It is a pity that those guys drive pickups now. They should ride some horses, especially now that the gas is getting so expensive. We stopped at a small place and had coffee. That is the good thing of these small towns – there are small coffee shops. In Haines there was a sign with the cattle drive history of the area.

Along the road we had a good view of the mountains to the right, which even had snow on the tops. These mountains are part of the Blue Mountains. We were going south and these mountains were on the west side of the valley. In Haines I took the picture with the pretty church and those Blue Mountains in the background.

Biking as activity is not so difficult; however, the seat starts hurting after a few hours. We stop from time to time to rest, but especially to eat and drink. The golden rule for biking is “eat before you are hungry, drink before you are thirsty, and change gears before the biking is too hard”.

Thanks for the encouraging comments on the blog. Greetings from beautiful Oregon!

Day 9 - Biking on the Interstate

2008-07-09T21:21:00.009-04:00

Day 9 - Tuesday, July 8

Pendleton to La Grande —57 mi, 92 km

I had a good night of sleep. Here in this dry climate the nights are really cool, and I have to sleep in my sleeping bag. We started early in order to prevent that we had to bike many hours in the heat.

We had to climb quite a hill – about 3000 feet over a distance of 10 miles – but it was nice that this was in the beginning of the day. Then it is still cool, and we are not so tired. After that we rode up and down through rolling mountains with pine trees.

The last 12 miles we had to ride on the Interstate. There was no other road, because we were going through a narrow valley, basically a canyon. So we rode on the shoulder of the Interstate and big trucks and semis passed beside us. This part was downhill, so we were going also 50 kilometers per hour.

We are camping here in the town park. There are big trees, so that gives some shade. We are next to the public swimming pool, and we can use those facilities for free, because that is where we use the showers.

I am now working in the public library – it has reliable internet. I still have to do some of my work while on this trip, so a good internet connection is really important. Also to keep in contact with you!

Thanks to my co-cyclist for these pictures!

Day 8 - Welcome to Oregon

2008-07-08T10:19:00.008-04:00

Day 8 - Monday, July 7

Kennewick to Pendleton —69 mi, 111 km

Biking again. From Kennewick to Pendleton. In the beginning we crossed the Columbia river and followed it downstream. In Kennewick are several bridges.

We were going Southwest, and we were fighting a headwind. We passed a historical place where Fort Walla Walla used to be.

Somewhere we left Washington and entered the state of Oregon.

About half way we turned left and we had less problems with the wind. It became very hot. This is a dry area and there are hardly any trees. We saw much wheat growing – I didn’t know that Oregon had so much wheat. We came in around 3:00 p.m. The gear truck was not even in. We waited in the shade of the school until we could set up our tents.

During this day I rode together with Gerry Loonstra. He is 72 years old and still bikes strong – I hope to be in shape like that when I am that old.

He lives in Alberta, but is originally from Friesland, not far from Dokkum, where I taught at the Agriculture School before going to Haiti. In fact, I found out that he was a student at that school in 1955/56, while I was a teacher in 1979-1982. I worked together with two teachers that had taught him in the fifties.

(Note from blog manager: You can click on the pictures to see them larger.)

Day 7 - REST!

2008-07-08T10:03:00.004-04:00

Day 7 - Sunday, July 6

Rest day in Kennewick

Today it is Sunday. I wake up with this great feeling that I don’t have to take down the tent, and don’t have to pack. This is a break after all the packing we have to do every day.

We have a service at 10:30. People from the local CRC, and from other CRCs in the area organized the service, and participated.

Local CRCs are involved in helping refugees. They started helping a family from Sudan, and now a family from Burma. A small group of Burmanees were singing at the service.

For the rest of day we had rest. Some people went floating in the river, I just stayed at the camp and emailed. Our internet is not working all the time, so we have to use it when it is running.

The day was warm and ended with a beautiful sunset.

Day 6 - "I thank God for this opportunity..."

2008-07-06T21:16:00.008-04:00

Day 6 - Saturday, July 5

Sunnyside to Kennewick —49 mi, 79 km

First of all my apologies. I have not been able to send out emails yesterday and the day before. Our internet system is not working, so the information on the blog has not been updated. So my blog manager is not at fault.

We are now in Kennewick. The ride from Sunnyside to Kennewick was really nice – it started with a bit of rain, and the tent didn’t get dry in the bag, but later the weather became really sunny. The temperature went to about 100 F. We had the wind in the back, so at a certain point I was going uphill with a speed of 20 km/hour. Yes, Tim, you were right: a road bike rolls so much easier than a mountain bike.

We are biking through this dry area behind the Cascade mountains, and which stretches North-South roughly from in Canada to Mexico. The mountains are brown, like the mountains in Haiti in the dry seasons.

However, they have big irrigation systems in the valley. They pump water from the river and use it to grow mainly fruits: grapes, apples, cherries. Rows of poplars are being used as wind breakers. They look like the rows of poplars in the Betuwe in the Netherlands. "Oma’s trees" our children used to call them.

Yesterday we were in Sunnyside, and we learned that the majority of the population is Spanish speaking. Many of the Mexican people came here to pick fruit. As you can see on the picture I could find work if I got stuck here, because they are still looking for people to pick fruits. It would be good for my Spanish if I did that.

Sometimes we stop and buy a drink. Yesterday I went in a small store and bought a bottle of Gatorade. When I paid, the lady asked where I was biking to, and of course I said “New Jersey”. She was shocked and called her husband. We use these opportunities to talk about the reason for the tour. People along the road ask questions about Sea-to-Sea, because they see the trucks and all these cyclists. The other day a lady in a store spontaneously gave a donation of $10, and so we are fundraising while biking.

During the week we camped mostly at the grounds of High Schools. The shower facilities of these schools are really good. Today we are camping under big trees in the Columbia River Park. This is a State Park. I can hardly believe that this is already the end of the first week. The main challenge was the Steven’s pass on Tuesday, and the two passes on Wednesday. For the rest the biking has not been as hard as in Haiti. I thank God for this opportunity to bike and to meet all these people. I thank Cullie Woodall who played the role of my coach in Haiti, giving me a lot of good advice, and biking many times with me on the mountain roads of Haiti.

Day 5 - Coffee, fruit, and other encouragement

2008-07-06T21:02:00.006-04:00

Day 5 - Friday, July 4

Yakima to Sunnyside —41 mi, 66 km

Today we biked from Yakima to Sunnyside. It was a 60 kilometer ride through the valley of the Yakima River. It was not a difficult ride, because we are still going downstream with a short hill from time to time.

I rode together with chaplain Riemersma. He is a pastor in Ohio, and we talked about our families, Haiti, church and the work of CRWRC. Part of the reason I am in the tour is to be a resource person about poverty, and the ministry of CRWRC. Half way through the ride we stopped at the CRC church in Zillah. People of the church had prepared coffee, which was good. They also provided bananas and cherries. This area is dry, but full of orchards, where farmers (many from Dutch origin) grow apples, grapes, pears, and cherries under irrigation.

One of the CRC families lived along the road that we passed. They had put a sign on their lawn to encourage us, and they were outside waving to the riders. We stopped and had a talk with them. It reminded me of Coby’s family sitting in front of their house during the "Vierdaagse" in Nijmegen.

It is American Independence day today – the 4^th of July. Yesterday a group of Canadian riders purchased small American flags for all the bicycles, and so we rode today with a small American flag on our bikes. It rained during the first hour, so our bikes and the flags got wet and dirty. When we arrived at the Sunnyside Christian High School here everyone started cleaning chains and sprockets.

Day 4 - First Flat Tire

2008-07-03T23:02:00.010-04:00

Day 4 - Thursday, July 3

Ellensburg to Yakima —42 mi, 68 km

Today we have been riding from Ellensburg to Yakima, just 40 miles (64 kilometers). This was a short ride, going through a beautiful canyon. We went basically downhill, with from time to time a short climb. A river in the middle of the canyon and we followed it downstream. A dry area. Left and right mountains with hardly any vegetation, only short grasses and shrubs. Sometimes steep rocks forming a wall of basalt. Close to the river some trees with many birds. We left early this morning (7 a.m.) and were around 11 a.m. already at the next camp. We are staying here at a Christian school, and our tents are on the grass in front of the building.

I had my first flat tire today, but I had it on the best place you can imagine – just when I turned into the school parking. I could walk the last few meters, and then change the tire in the shade of the school building. To be honest, I had been fearing that first flat, because I had never changed a tire of a road bike. I have always been on a mountain bike in Haiti. Even the valve of the tube of these bikes is different from a mountain bike. That was my first miracle today. The next one was early this morning when I packed. My laptop fell on the ground in the gear truck. There was even a piece broken off the corner of the casing, but it still works. Praise the Lord!

Greetings from the Sea-to-Sea tour.

Day 3

2008-07-02T22:03:00.008-04:00

Day 3 - Wednesday, July 2

Leavenworth to Ellensburg —58 mi, 93 km

Today we traveled from Leavenworth to Ellensburg, about 90 kilometers. There were two tops on the way, one just over 4000 feet, and another lower. Most of the way was through mountains with beautiful pine trees, and fast running streams.

Scenery at the second pass.

Arrived at the pass.

Our group had to work this morning, preparing breakfast and loading the camping gear on the truck. We got up at 5 a.m., but left the campsite only at 9 a.m. Our leader asked volunteers to be the sweep team, the group that makes sure that all bikers get to the destination. The young people of the group volunteered, so we could leave and didn’t have to wait. We arrived at noon on the highest pass, and were at the next campsite at 3 p.m.

My tent with the Haitian flag on my chair.

This town is kind of semi-desert. It is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 C) and there is a little wind. All the people are washing their clothes, because it dries so well here.

Drying the clothes.

I have been biking today with Ed Gringhuis. Because he is the board member of an organization working in Haiti, we discussed development in Haiti during our trip.

Greetings from beautiful Washington State.

Day 2

2008-07-02T11:13:00.004-04:00

Day 2 - Tuesday, July 1

Sultan to Leavenworth —79 mi, 127 km

This was a challenging day. That is a nice word for a hard day. We biked through the beautiful Cascade mountains from Sultan where we camped last night to Leavenworth where we are camping now.

The first 30 miles we were biking was more or less flat. But then we climbed 4000 feet (about 1300 meters) in a distance of 20 kilometer. After that most of it was downhill. We left early (7 a.m.) and by noon we were on Steven’s pass, the top of the mountain. I was biking with two other men, and one of them got 2 flat tires. In the morning it was cloudy, but by the time we started climbing it was hot. The total distance today was 125 kilometer. By 4 p.m. we were in camp here.

We also have to help in the camp, and this afternoon our group had to help with dinner. There is a group of volunteers cooking, but we have to help with serving. Tomorrow morning our group has to be on duty for breakfast, and later we have to load all the camping gear in the trailer after everybody is gone, and then we leave last. So we serve then as the “sweep team”. We will stay with the “slow” bikers, and be sure that nobody is left behind. That means that we will arrive last at the next camp. There are 11 groups, so this work we only have to do once every 11 days.

Day 1

2008-07-01T11:42:00.005-04:00

Day 1 - Monday, June 30

From Seattle to Sultan —50 mi, 80 km

Getting my feet wet in the ocean.

The whole group lining up.

Last moment instructions.

On the starting line with my group.

Last wave of goodbye!

Thanks to Ray & Sandra for the pictures!

Sea to Sea Day 0

2008-06-30T10:12:00.004-04:00

Dear friends:

Tomorrow will be day 1, and we will start biking. Today we had a great worship service with the participants and the volunteers. After that we had a road safety training. Tonight we had a celebration, which was a service organized by the different CRC churches in Seattle.

Tomorrow we will dip our back tires in the Pacific Ocean, and we will take off. The first day will be a ride of about 50 miles, or 80 km.

There were about 10 bikers who arrived yesterday without bikes – the airline had their bikes sent to the wrong place. It is Sunday night now and the bikes just came in.

Please, keep praying for this tour, especially about the safety of all these bikers on the road.

God bless,

Ad de Blaeij
Seattle

General information about the tour is on the website: www.seatosea.org
You can watch the tire-dipping ceremony at Golden Gardens Beach in Seattle at 9 am (PT) via live web cast on this site: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sea-to-sea

Greetings from Seattle, Washington!

2008-06-29T21:07:00.005-04:00

I'm in Seattle, Washington, preparing for the big day.

On Saturday, we moved to a dorm of the University of Washington. We are getting orientation and are quite busy. This morning, we had a church service and tonight there will be a celebration. In between, we had safety instruction.

Tomorrow is the big day. Then we start. The weather is really warm here (90F). At the same time, I have a view from here on mountains that still have snow on the top.

Enjoying some fish (salmon, of course) and chips with friends, Ray & Sandra, whom I stayed with in Seattle.

Training with Leanne on Friday. We did a trail (up and down about 30 miles).

At Sammamish River Park.

Training in Haiti

2008-06-23T21:54:00.002-04:00

A couple of pictures of my training for the tour:

Sea to Sea - Facts & Tour Schedule

2008-06-15T21:12:00.002-04:00

Sea to Sea Facts

June 28- August 30, 2008; 63 days total, 54 riding days
3,700 miles, daily average 68 miles
Operational costs are expected to be covered by corporate sponsors
Each sea to sea cyclist’s fund-raising goal is $10,000 (or $4,000 per section)
Largest bike tour to cross North America
Largest previous tour is 96 cyclists crossing Canada in 2005 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the CRC in Canada
Currently 211 participants of which 128 will bike the whole distance
The tour goes into Canada from Michigan
Ages range from 18-81
Cyclists range from students, teachers, carpenters, ministers, to retirees
Male to Female ratio is about 2:1
Sea to Sea is partnering with cyclists from the Reformed Church in America
Cyclists will pedal over one million revolu-tions
All funds raised go to programs that break the cycle of poverty

About the Tour

This is the opportunity of a lifetime! I’m excited to see God’s beautiful creation from my bike, to be part of a community of cyclists for a summer, and to serve God by participating in a great cause.

The bike tour will be both challenging and rewarding. It will be a challenge to ride an average of 70 miles per day going up and down mountains and across prairies, to deal with all kinds of weather, and to deal with aches and pains.

The cyclists are not going to be doing this alone. A support crew of volunteers will be traveling along with the cyclists, helping fix broken bikes, hauling our gear, preparing meals, and setting up campsites.

We will bike six days a week, ending each day to rest in a campground, field or school gym where we will eat, rest, and socialize.

The What, Why, & How of Sea to Sea

2008-06-15T08:13:00.010-04:00

What

This summer, I will ride my bike across North America with the Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour. This is not just any bike tour but the largest cross-continental tour ever.

Presented by the Christian Reformed Church, the Sea to Sea tour begins June 28 in Seattle and will end August 30 in Jersey City, covering nearly 3,700 miles! Sea to Sea not only allows me to exercise my passion for cycling, but to speak out about my other passion, which is to make a sizable impact to end poverty.

Why

Even though this bike tour will be exciting and challenging, my main reason for participating with Sea to Sea is to raise awareness and donations to help those in poverty, specifically the poorest of the poor, or those whose basic human needs are not met.

Over the last few years, my view of poverty has changed significantly. I saw that many people do not have the means, no matter how hard they try, to improve their situation. It is true some people are poor because of mistakes they have made, but many live in poverty that they can not escape by their own means.

How

There are several ways that I will help to eliminate poverty by participating in the Sea to Sea Bike Tour. I am raising money for four CRC partners: Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC), Christian Re-formed World Missions, Partners Worldwide, and the CRC Foundation, which will grant money to ministries serving the poor. My goal is to raise $10,000. I am also raising awareness and knowledge through tour publicity and by encouraging others to learn more about poverty.

What You Can Do

How can you get involved? You can:

Help me reach my financial goal by making a tax-deductible gift in my name to the Sea to Sea Bike Tour.
Come to one of the 12 Celebrations during the tour. Nine of them are listed in the table on the right (for example, Seattle on June 29, Kennewick on July 6). In addition, rallies will also be held in Sioux Center, Iowa (Aug. 5), Palos Heights, Ill. (Aug. 12) and Wyckoff, NJ (Aug. 30).
Volunteer as a support crew member
Pray for those in poverty and for the tour
Be thankful for our many blessings
For more information go to: www.SeatoSea.org

To Make a Gift

To make a tax-deductible gift, go to www.SeatoSea.org or send a check made out to Sea to Sea Bike Tour (with “For cyclist Ad de Blaeij” in the memo line) and send it to:
Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour
2850 Kalamazoo Ave SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49560

(Canadians should use this address:)
PO Box 5070 Stn LCD 1
Burlington, ON L7R 3Y8

What poverty and biking have in common...

2008-06-04T21:11:00.007-04:00

During lent I read this well-known passage in John 12 about Mary who anointed Jesus with an expensive perfume. One of the disciples who didn’t (want to) understand what happened, talked about taking care of the poor instead of wasting money to perfume. Jesus, who knew that Mary had done this out of love defended her with the words “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Now, some people use these words to discourage us from working on poverty reduction. We all know that poverty is a reality in nearly every country in the world, and it is hard to change it. However, the Bible calls us through the Old and the New Testament to care for the poor, and the vulnerable in society. Both the prophet Micah and the apostle James challenge us to show our faith in our actions towards the poor. Living and working in Haiti where 55% of the population live on less than $1 US dollar per day (which is the definition of extreme poverty) gives this a complete other dimension.

Poverty reduction has been a theme for CRWRC for many years. We have learned that short-term relief doesn’t really change the situation of the poor. CRWRC has focused more on solutions that help the poor improve their situation today and tomorrow. This week I visited a program of PWOFOD, one of our partners in Haiti. Normally PWOFOD starts working in a community by training the deacons of the different protestant churches. These deacons become the base of the transformation of their community. Often churches are focused on the poor in their midst, but PWOFOD is teaching deacons to include the needs of the people outside their churches. Through literacy and micro-credit programs PWOFOD tries to help alleviate poverty.

Since three years CRWRC has been engaged in a program to help orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). These are children, which are most often the victims of AIDS, and are taken care of by another family member. In Haiti it is not always clear if the cause is AIDS, because people don’t speak easily about this disease. I visited an old grandmother in the village of Bas-Vaudreuil, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Port-au-Prince. She is taking care of five grandchildren, including the little boy in the picture with the name of Kevens Lovens Wladimir. His father died while working in a factory in the city, and now the mother spends most of her time in the city trying to earn a living for her family. PWOFOD came along and is helping this family. The promoter negotiated that the school would allow these children to attend school without paying, while PWOFOD funded the building of a water reservoir for the school. At the same time the OVC program purchased a goat for the grandmother to increase her income. The grandmother takes care of the children and the goat. The goat has a kid now too, so together they are making progress. This is a simple way of helping families in rural communities to improve their income.

Grandmother with Kevens Lovens Wladimir and the goat with her kid.

This summer 216 people will be biking 3,750 miles (6,000 kilometers) from Seattle to Jersey City. Besides 104 American, and 111 Canadian bikers there is 1 International biker, and that is me (Ad). So what has this tour to do with a poor grandmother in Haiti? Of course, it is a physical challenge to bike through the United Stated from one ocean to the other. But this Sea-to-Sea tour is about raising awareness of poverty in this world, and to help raise funds to
support CRC projects in different countries, including Haiti.

“Funds generated through the tour will be used to support new or ongoing CRC initiatives in three areas of development (business, community and leadership)—each one ending the cycle of poverty for individuals, families and communities in places all over the world.” For those of you interested in supporting me in this big adventure, I am looking for sponsors. 100% of these funds will help CRWRC Haiti continue the work of helping Granny and Kevens, and other people in the same situation.

Looking for sponsors of the Sea-to-Sea tour….

You can find more information on the website of the tour www.seatosea.org including a picture of me and my bike on the beach in Jacmel (Haiti). If you would like to sponsor me and donate for the good cause, please click here and you will find everything necessary to become part of this adventure.

In the mean time I will continue to bike regularly on my old mountain bike. The roads here have many holes, and so this is the right bike for Haiti. I hope to get a better bike for the real tour.