Fijis Across America

Day 24

Today we rode in honor of Alice Polakoff from Sacremento.  Alice’s mother has Alzheimer’s and is still alive but has suffered in the past few years.  Her mother has experienced some awesome things like traveling to Europe and cycling in France and even cycling the Great Wall of China.  So we rode in her honor, and trust me we put plenty of effort into the days ride.

The first 20 miles may have been the hardest opening stretch of the trip.  There were 20-25 mph winds coming from the South and guess where we were headed?  “South!”  So we did our best to block the wind from each other but the wind was pretty demoralizing.  But, after 20 miles we were able to head east and just suffer a crosswind, which is tough but 100times better than a head wind. 

The scenery didn’t change much but we all noticed a difference in the climate.  The weather seems to become more and more humid as we travel east.  We are glad to ease into because we all know our home state of Kentucky is going to be miserably humid and hot. 

For lunch we stopped and I remembered a bit of my childhood.  We had some standard bagels and turkey, but a special treat of bologna and white bread.  It was a real piece of heaven and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Todays ride all together was pretty enjoyable.  We didn’t go as fast as normal but we all talked a lot on the bike and really enjoyed ourselves.  I spoke with Justin for quite a bit and it was very encouraging as we talked about being a man of God.  As a man it is easy to want to become independent and go out and make it on your own, but God calls us to always seek Him first and not become obsessed with success.  What truly makes a man is what is in his heart.  We also talked about what it says in James.  That we are to consider it pure joy when we face trials, such as 25mph headwinds.  Because it is in those times that God teaches us the most. 

We finished up and are staying at the Methodist church in town.  It is a nice place with a kitchen and a few couches.  We ate chef boyardee ravioli (awesome!) and baked potatoes.  They even had an 8 foot basketball goal in which Mitch tried to dunk on but came up short and fell on his rear.  It provided a pretty awesome laugh for all of us.  And though the church didn’t have showers, Wayne Jury maned the hose as we washed off (in bathing suits) in front of the church.  A car pulled up at one point but they turned around pretty quick.  It was a good day and we are all looking forward to welcoming Jordan back in a couple days when we meet him in Wichita.

In His Adventure,

Chaz Vittitow