First few days of Sea to Sea

Wednesday, August 20. Having been properly warned - several times – that if we didn’t take our passports we wouldn’t get into Canada, we made sure before going to bed last night that along with our driver’s license, a credit card, and our health insurance card we put our passports in our bike shorts pockets. Because it was very cold we went to bed early and stayed in the tent as long as possible in the morning. Breakfast was being served early and for a shorter period of time so the gear truck could be readied for the trip as well. The port-a-potty had been shut down for the whole day on Tuesday because it needed to cleaned and kept that way until leaving Canada. Ed Witvoet, the tour logistics manager, did not want to ‘declare the contents.’ He swore that he’d do a DNA sample and find the culprit if there was anything in that port-a-potty on Wednesday morning. Fortunately, we are a compliant group who do what we’re told.

I’ve been wanting to ride with Claire so when she asked if we'd like to, Rich and I jumped at the chance. We quickly put our tent away and brought everything to our baskets on the truck, pumped up our tires and took off at 7 a.m. We finished 20 miles by 8:30 a.m. and stopped at a little coffee shop and purchased a cinnamon roll and coffee - $7 not so wisely spent because as soon as we crossed the St. Clair River there were hundreds of people waiting to welcome the cyclists to Canada, with Tim Horton’s coffee, freshly baked cinnamon rolls, fruit, cupcakes, water, juices, etc. – all free. There’s no reason to spend any money on food during this tour. The cooks who are with us are excellent. First night was so much stew that they begged us to eat more after everyone had a least one heaping scoop and seconds, and last night the same thing with lasagna. There is so much food and it’s really good! (maybe we’re just very, very hungry?)

After that amazing welcome from so many people, we proceeded on a road along the St. Clair River until we reached the first of many "supported" stops. Then before we knew it - arrival at a large arena where people were providing watermelon and more refreshment, and pointed out that the bicycles would be stored in the arena. The camp area was lovely - we picked a spot near a fence so we could hang up our wet towels and tent cover (everything was put away damp this morning.

Tuesday, August 19. We faced a stiff headwind – which was predicted along with cooler weather than we had on Monday. Several of us left early because we knew there would be this 10-14 mile/hr. wind from the east and we had to cover 95 miles to get to Richmond High School where we’d spend the night. We arrived at camp by 4 p.m. – that’s after almost 8 hours
saddle time (and one hour of various short breaks.) We tried to stop frequently (we didn’t really have to try too hard!) so we could share information about the purpose of the tour. We pass out business cards with the Sea to Sea website and other information on them. Lots of people make donations on the spot. Other gifts have made as memorials – we’re hearing about that right now. Mark Van’t Hof, a young pastor who passed away in February of a heart attack, helped a couple people get set to go on this bike trip. His widow spoke about him and his work – his quiet, blushy and subtle ways. She wishes sometimes that he had been more flashy – like Shane Claiborne had talked about fires being started all over. She read from Isaiah 58.

Monday, August 18. A lovely breeze is blowing here at Sleepy Hollow campground. Rich is asleep in the tent after a swim in the lake. I waited in the shower line for 30 minutes, but it was worth it. So here it is – 4:30 pm on our first day of cycling from GR to Jersey City. I feel great! The 68 miles flew by – we were in camp at 2 p.m. No wonder, because it was a perfect day for cycling. We had the wind behind us all the way, except for a one mile back tracking to get to Lowell CRC for a refreshment break at 10 a.m. That was a great reception with awesome food - breakfast casserole, bagels, fruit, homemade muffins and more. Two girls who attended band camp at Calvin were serving coffee with the “first M’bandi in America.” Her husband works at Calvin seminary and their oldest son will be a sophomore at Calvin this fall.

The leftovers from the Lowell stop were sent with the food truck and we enjoyed a muffin and some orange slices when we arrived in camp. That’s not to say we didn’t stop for lunch – a couple times. At a farm house about twenty miles from our destination several cyclists were gathered around one of the motor homes in our caravan which had pulled into a driveway and asked if he could use the homeowners yard as a stop. Not only did the homeowners agree but they provided us with water they brought down from their cabin in northern Michigan. “Throw away all your water, and try this!”

I stopped a couple times to lie down on the grass at the side of the road and listen to trees rustling in the breeze. One time when Rich and I were lounging at the side of the road, 81-year-old Jake Prins came by. He stopped to take off his socks and go barefoot in his sandals. He doesn’t wear clips, but does have straps on his pedals. He also has a mat that is attached to his bike – “in case I want to take a nap on the way. People my age have to do that once in a while.” There are so many interesting people in this group – from ages 18 to 81.



What a privilege to cycle! To have a bike that glides over the road so easily – often over 20 miles an hour. To have all these support people and vehicles so that we don’t have to carry a load on our backs. Just to have the time to spend on this venture. I can’t get over the well-oiled machine that is Sea to Sea Bike Tour ’08.

Thinking back on the sendoff we had this morning at Calvin College – with Mike Van Denend and Dale Cooper, who recited from memory, as he does so well so often, Philemon verse 7 and Ps. 121, let me assure all who read this that we have been refreshed by God’s mercies, and the Lord did keep our coming in and our going out today.

Tailwinds on Monday, Headwinds on Tuesday

We started out the day with a strong headwind, very different from Monday, when we got more help than we deserved with the wind at our backs. I wrote up a lot of reflections in a word document on Monday and will post that later because I can't figure out how to cut and paste from the word document to the posting box. Anyway, suffice it to say that both days have been gorgeous. Rich and I finished 67 miles yesterday starting at 8 a.m. from Calvin after a brief send-off blessing by Mike Van Denend and Dale Cooper, and finished by 2 p.m., (remember, tailwinds) and 97 today - he by 3:30 p.m. and myself by 4 p.m. We started early (6:40 am. - remember, headwinds!) I really slowed down at the end of the day. We're supposed to stop and talk with people about the purpose of the tour. We have little business cards with a lot of information on them which we can hand out when people ask what the bike tour is about, and last night we were told to be more assertive. Don't wait until people ask; make yourself available. Hang out a little a corner stores, ice cream shops, roadside parks, etc. if people are curious. So I did that a little more often just to get off the bike! It's 7:14 pm right now and I have to get going to peloton (big group gathering of cyclists) and small group discussion (all women, all just starting the tour this week.) We had a very good time of reading the Shifting Gears devotional, introducing ourselves, and praying together until about 8:30 pm.

So this posting will be rather brief, but I wanted to at least let you know that we're fine and looking forward to entering 'en masse' into Canada tomorrow. We were warned last night already that we can't use the PortaPotty again until we're in Canada, because Ed (the tour manager) doesn't want to have to 'declare' the contents. He will do a DNA sample if there is anything in the pot, and someone may be denied access to the country.

All the Canadians are very excited about going home. I think it was chaplain for the tour Len Riemersma who said on Sunday evening that up until this point, "we've been heading to Grand Rapids, and now we're heading away from Grand Rapids," and someone yelled, "We've always been heading to Canada!"

Tomorrow is a very short cycling day - 50 some miles - but it's full of busyness. We plan on sleeping well tonight in our little tent on our thin ThermaRests.

The Crucible

On Sunday morning Rich and I were ready to leave for church but I hesitated because Elizabeth and Nicholas were just waking up and Chad and Jenn were still asleep.  But I'm so thankful that we went to service -  singing Psalm 105 vs. 5 about 'until God providentially made Pharoah set poor Joseph free', and being amazed at Jack's sermon on I Peter 4:12-19, in which he talked about what it means that our lives are in the crucible to be tested, using Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Troy Rienstra as examples, and then the prayers that Cele offered on behalf of the congregation, using the note I sent down the aisle to her about Troy's commutation being on the pile in the governor's office right now, waiting her confirmation of the parole board's 'no interest.'  But God controls the hearts of governors - through his people who plead the case of the poor and disregarded. 

Elizabeth had asked lots of questions about Sea to Sea when we were riding home from a busy day on Saturday.  After swimming in Aunt Jeanne's lake, going out for supper with Jeanne and Nancy, and then to Shirley and Rick's for dessert and a lot of monster truck stuff, she and I were sitting in the back of the van having a little conversation.  "Tell me more, Grandma," she'd say, and I reviewed all the things I knew I needed to think about related to the bike trip in a week.  When we arrived home, she sighed, "Wow, thanks for telling me all about that!"    I sent her home with a 'glow in the dark'  Sea to Sea bracelet.   Can't wait to tell her stories after the trip is over. 

Day Sponsors on WBLV

Here it is - 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 7, and I'm hearing it again on WBLV public radio for about the 6th time today and I wasn't even listening most of the afternoon while Kate and I were meeting with CJ to wrap up plans for the celebration next Sunday - "Today's "day sponsors" are Rich and Carol Rienstra, formerly of Muskegon, who will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary tomorrow - 8.8.08.  Rich and Carol invite their friends to join them at Fifth Third Ball Park on Sunday, August 17, to celebrate the Sea to Sea bike tour, which they will join for the following two weeks.  Sea to Sea is sponsored by the Christian Reformed Church in partnership with the Reformed Church in America to break the cycle of poverty.  For more information, go to seatosea.org"

Now that's one way to get your money's worth when you're going to do a sponsorship on the radio!  I wonder what would have happened if I slipped in "contributions to Sea to Sea '08 welcomed"???

A 600 mile day

Rich and I were up at 4 a.m. to get ready for a long trip to the Upper Peninsula to visit our son Troy today.  After picking up Don DeYoung (a pastor friend who wanted to meet Troy and visit another inmate) from Porter Hills Retirement Community we proceeded north and picked up Lisa Murphy (Troy's fiancee) at Exit 46.  We crossed the Mackinaw Bridge at about 8 a.m. - close to the same time as when we crossed last summer for the DALMAC.  We dropped off Lisa at Chippewa Correctional Facility and the rest of us went to Rudyard CRC and returned to Chippewa by close to noon.  Don visited with us until about 1:10 a.m. and then went out to be processed to visit with someone he knew from Kalamazoo.  He was ushered back in about 2:15  - after shift change.  We all left at  3:30 p.m. after hearing Troy give many accounts to how God is at work around him.  Again, his attitude and testimony amaze and encourage us.  He talked about the vinyl lanyards small crosses that he and a couple others are making - in the colors of the Sea to Sea tour  - yellow, blue and red.   He'll be sending those to me before the weekend that the tour is in GR.  

Reflections on training

Last night I read Tyler B's account of his crash, and noticed that our fellow COS church member, David Bosch, posted a response to Tyler's blog - telling about how he was hit by a car while riding on Leonard and sustained a broken arm. He still would like to come to the safety training that we're holding on Saturday morning at Calvin's Youngsma Center. On Monday when we were riding on Broadmoor a truck came very close on my left and I leaned to the right and fell onto the grassy area. Didn't hurt myself, but watched the truck whiz past Rich just as close and I felt like screaming, but of course that wouldn't help because if Rich heard me he would have turned and something bad could have happened. Yikes, these motorists can be so clueless sometimes. But I've noticed that my right knee actually feels better since I took the little tumble. Sometimes falls help, I guess.

Biking in Iowa

We've done some cycling while visiting here in Iowa this week. Today we put on 26 miles straight along a beautiful bike trail to Adel - about 12 miles from Urbandale where our son Luke, his wife Marcela and our granddog Beckum live. We will return to Grand Rapids tomorrow (by van....)