Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Day 1...Catch me if you can!



I made it 73 miles (this was our goal) and we had a great wind at our backs. We stopped every ten miles and it was an interesting day. We started off at around 7:30 with a group picture and we rode as a pack through town. At a stop light I went to take off and my back wheel had come loose so I had to stop and get it tightened back up. I rejoined the pack outside of town and as I was making my way to the front, I dropped a water bottle and had to turn around to get it. Talk about a discouraging start to the day! After I got all the mishaps out of the way I was ready to ride. (That would be me hanging from the Nebraska sign!) After one of the stops I thought I would ride with the guys in the front and I never looked back. We were riding around 24 mph and it was a blast! I had the privilege of being the first rider across the Missouri river and was part of a flying diamond pack that got to the church first, but I will tell you more about that later. We ate lunch at a little restaurant called Grannys. The special of the day was hot beef and when the waitress told us she baked her own bread we were sold. They were huge and boy did they taste good. Go figure the first rider to the restaurant was the last one to leave. I had to play catch up again, but it wasn't long and I was up in front and a group of three guys decided to follow the lead of Pastor Kevin Roach (pastor of River Hills A/G) as he led the charge to his home church. For ten miles Kevin, Kelvin Nygren, Dale Ackerman, and I rode in a tight diamond formation. There was one in front, two in the middle, and one in back. We were going around 24 mph and we left the pack behind us. It was a surreal moment--all of the riders said it just felt right. We wished we could of gotten a picture of us all riding with in arms reach of each other. It is a moment we will not soon forget.

Upon reaching the church we inspected our bikes and I found out that my back tire was cut and needed to be replaced. Not a fun time! There was an awesome potluck service tonight at the church and then some awards were handed out for the day. I was given the fastest rider award for the day and Jen surprised me with a belated anniversary card! It was so cool. Everybody is saying that I have the biggest calves on the ride and they made me get on a chair and model my legs! It was a little embarrassing, but oh well I guess it was alright, it helped me get the job done!

Tomorrow we head down the road to Fremont and the current forecast is a slight chance of showers and we will be riding into a 0 to 15 mph head wind! It should be interesting. We are looking at riding around 80 miles tomorrow!


Thanks for those that called and expressed your concern. I appreciate all your prayers!


Pastor Busch

Day 1--The View From My Picture Window...by Jen

Howdy friends and family! For those of you who have been following along on this journey that we are on, you will know that I set out a hefty "to do" list for myself today since Pastor is gone and wasn't quite sure how well I would sleep in an empty bed. My sleeping was short as I shared my bed with Jalise last night but my to do list...To all those who were cheering for me...I DID IT! :) My list consisted of cleaning up the living room, getting ALL the laundry done and hung on the line to dry, unloading the trailer of all our camping supplies drying them out/putting them away, repacking the trailer--which was no easy feat (rolling an extra large tent all by myself and making it fit in the bag was a site!), moving the trailer back to the church, figuring out how to unhook it from the van...oh yeah! Well, I did it!

I also was able to take in the first home game of the Lady Longhorn Volleyball team and cheer for our Julia Nielsen...(our foreign exchange daughter!) She had a great game with an awesome spike! (I will post the picture tomorrow!)

Tomorrow's list consists of more of the same...cleaning, cooking, except add a dr. appt in there for Jalise! She turns 15 months old tomorrow!!! Hard to believe that!

As far as I am concerned, we survived Day 1...we all miss Daddy, especially the boys, who think he is going to be home from work soon. Today at lunch we heard a motorcycle and Isaac said to me, "Oh Daddy is coming home! I didn't know he rode his motorcycle! What did he do with his bike?" Nothing like breaking a little guys heart for a moment...but then at supper I told them he would be home in 6 sleeps...that made it a little easier for the moment. Tomorrow night we will be able to SKYPE with him so that will help too!

Thanks again to those who have called or stopped by! From my very busy single parenting picture window to yours, have a great night!

Love to you all!

Jen

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