It's Independence Day!

Hello folks! Well, last post was about Canada day, so I think to be fair I should also blog on Independence day. I don't want the American's to feel shafted or anything. But first, a recap of the other days.

In case you hadn't heard, my war wounds from my encounter with the road last week weren't doing so well. On Tuesday they had become infected due to the ointment put on the scab to keep it from drying out. Well, luckily my good friend Ava Baker, who happens to be a doctor, took one look at it and said "it's infected! Wash that off Right Now!"

Well, washing it off was not nice. It was very unpleasant, and had destroyed the scab which formed underneath. The skin was very hot and red, and I had a bit of a fever. However, she did a great job of cleaning it up for me (what a dear... it was really gross) and by the next day I was back on the road with some dressings to keep it clean.

That day we rode from Heber, AZ to St. John, AZ, a very small town which seemed to have less than 10 businesses still in function. Most everything had shut down. However, it was very exciting. We were hit with another classic mid-afternoon Arizona windstorm, which took down tents and almost blew away our bike Mechanic, Harold, while he was still inside. To escape the rain and wind, Zach's Angel's and Bosly (Matt Hoogsteen) head down to the local watering hole. Another quiet establishment, but with great drinks and the friendliest staff around. They were so excited that we were all coming in there! later that night when we returned after dinner, the bartender said that we paid the bills for the month with our business that evening.

This morning, Independence Day, we were woken at 5am by cannons being shot off. Less than 200ft from our tents. It was quite noisy and very persistent. 13 shots all together in fact, and so loud that I thought some of the women might have a heart-attack. Anyways, we all decked out in our American spirit gear, and got ready to ride. Some, however, did a better dress-up job than others.





She rode with the tu-tu all day long, over hills and through towns, for 90km. What an American trooper!!! This made my independence day great :)



The ride was beautiful, full of great landscape and nice weather. We had a bit of a headwind today and the hills were a bit tiring by the end of the 90km, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

 

We crossed the border from AZ to New Mexico today also, and had a chance to snap some photos.

 

 

 

Stay tuned folks! I'll post again later this week, maybe after our ride on Saturday which will be 97 miles (almost 160km) long!! Continue to pray for the riders, volunteers, and coordinators as we travel on.

 

Blessings!