How I do love thee
In mid summers day
From blazing heat you do protect me
How precious is your clear liquid self
As it Cascades right into my mouth,
I wipe your brethren, Sweat, from my brow
As I bike near the cow
Oh precious water
You quench my thirst
As we pedal through
fifteen mile Raging Hot Valley's curse
And 106 degree dessert
We have survived.
Riding into Tonapah we thought that we had hit our hardest hottest day. Boy are we wrong. The past three days have all reached into the triple digits. Yea baby! To avoid any overheating we have gotten into a routine of waking up at 4:30ish and starting our ride by 6ish. Even though it's a little hard the lower temperatures are so worth it!
Thursday we biked until 1130 or so and stopped off at Warm Springs. Warm Springs was a bar with a spring fed pool and our water refill spot. I say was because it was no longer a bar and we weren't able to fill up our water there uh oh... At least the spring was pretty sweet and we got to make friends with a snake. Ten miles down the road we found the only trees(living thing) for ten miles. Can you say three hour sweaty lunch break next to some pretty old cow pies.
Our lunch break ended around 6 with us nearly out of water. Little did we know that literally half a mile down the road there was a place with a mechanical engineer pilot ceramics and glass blowing artist farmer named Anne who happened to have the day off. Needless to say we were super thankful for the water and cokes she gave us. From there we headed towards Rachel.
On our way to Rachel,about thirty miles out, we stopped off and camped in a thorn bush field to camp for the night. That night was probably one of the most beautiful nights to date. We saw shooting stars, satellites, and stars galore. It was awesome.
The next morning I woke up somewhat dazed. Someone's alam had gone off and I really don't remember much more than that other than the sunrise. I love sunrises the red and orange hues spread out in the sky. At 430 in the morning everything is still in a slumber and so the world is totally peaceful. I love it. We bike about 20miles before hitting the Little A -Le-Inn a bar/inn at Rachel. Too our detriment we stayed there talking eating delicious hamburgesas and drinking lots of water until probably 1130. Not good... Well it was nice but NOT smart. From the inn we bike up a mountain and down into a fifteen mile valley which honestly got to be 106 degrees. That was hot. After what seemed to be long enough to cook us into brownies we climbed a steep and still really hot mountain. We also had two cars stop and ask if we needed water which we gratefully accepted.
After surviving (and I might add dominating) the mountain we stopped at the first shade we could find, a tree. After resting for several hours we rode down into the Ash Spring valley replenished our nonexistent food supply and headed to bed. I slept like a baby last night. It felt so good after what was probably one of the dumber days we've had so far. Word to the wise don't bike in weather that potentially could come close to a record high. It's just not a good idea.... At least that's what we found out yesterday.
Today was a different story. We were up mostly on time. And we're on he rode almost on time. And we are in an air conditioned laundromat definitely on time. Experience is such a good teacher. In all seriousness though I can't tell you how thankful I am to be on this crazy adventure.
Although many times it has been taxing and exhausting, I have learned so much. Two main lessons that i have been experiencing are giving and the importance of time with the Lord. The first, giving, it's incredible how much an hour of your time or $10 or even a bottle of water can totally turn someone's day around. I feel like this is all that Jesus meant when he said the greatest commandment is to love others. Love them where they are at and fill their needs as you can. This takes me to the second thing that I am re-learning. The second greatest commandment is to love others, and the greatest is to love God. How do you do this? Spend time with Him. He cherishes each and every moment with you. Read scripture and meditate on (think about) it. He wants you to know the truth and to tell you who you are in him. And lastly He wants you to take what you have and to fulfill the second commandment with it. Love others. Before this trip I feel like I have gotten away from both of these commandments. Slowly but surely I am remembering or re-learning how good and enjoyable time with my God is when you give him the time of day. He has shown me so much of where I have fallen short. He has not done it in judgement, but in love. He wants only the best for his kids and draws me away from that which kills and he draws me into that...or rather Him who gives life. Jesus.
I want to thank you guys for all of your help and support. It's truly been a blast so far, and we still have 2/3's of the trip left to pedal! Woohoo!
-Paulie G
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