We loaded up the trailer in front of Bloodwater and then went in search of a quick breakfast and then on the freeway toward home, with stops in Kansas City, MO; Denver, CO; Park City, UT and finally Redding!
We had a long first day in the van and got to KC at about 10PM! We were able to stay with my friends Jim and Amy Bailey and their kids Brennan, Madison, and Hudson! Thank you so much Jim and Amy for your continued friendship and wonderful hospitality to me and my team of students! To think that you guys started this at Simpson all those years ago! Jim and Amy are the Senior Pastors at Kansas City Metro Fellowship, a wonderful church there in the Kansas City area. The following morning it was on to Denver where we were to stay with my sister and her husband, Barbara and Richard Busch who live in Parker. One blown trailer tire in Straton with some very helpful folks at the local repair shop, and we were back on the road again, finally getting to Parker at about 10PM! We had a wonderful dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (Barbara still makes the best!) and a good nights sleep and we were off again (after I got a new replacement tire for the trailer and a new tire for the van). We got all the way to Laramie, WY and then we had another flat, this time the other trailer tire! We put the new spare on (Thank you American Tire of Parker for suggesting that I buy a spare rim) and we were off to Rawlins where we bought another tire! All this tire changing slowed us down some and we made it to Park City, UT where we stayed the night at a Holiday Express and had a great nights sleep! Then it was in the van by 7AM and the ride home! We made it to Redding by 9:30 Thursday night with welcomes by our families! We unloaded the van and trailer and had a final time of prayer together and called an end to the “Fellowship of the Bikes”! It will be strangely wonderful to not be with 9 other people all the time, but I will miss them all at the same time.
To my team: I am so very proud of all of you! We accomplished more than I ever expected, almost seven thousand dollars will be given to Bloodwater because of what we did together! That is no small thing! We worked very hard as individuals and as a team to ride 2600 miles and to talk with small churches and many individuals along the way! I know that I will never be the same because of having gone across the country with you all and I am sure that is true of each of you as well. I want to say a special thank you to all of the people who helped make this trip possible, ours drivers; Jill, Linda and Frank, Emily, and Mike! We could not have done this without your help. Thank you also to all of those who gave so generously to the team so that we could do this trip. I also want to say a special thank you to my co-leader, Emelia Christie-Robinson, without your continued determination and strength, I would not have been able to do this. It was an absolutely wonderful experience to work with you and watch you lead this group of students from start to finish. I had a great time working with you and look forward to watching God work in and through you as you move into your next phase of life! Goodbye for now, though I’m sure I will have more thoughts too express as time goes on!
Filed under: Updates |
Wheels For Wells 
Thank-you so much for leading these “children”. You are my hero and role model. Yay for the over 50 crowd! If you did it with a bunch of college students, maybe an oldster like me could do half as much.