Today, however, went as planned. It was a wonderful ride, with some rolling hills, none over 250 feet, and a lot of flat land. The morning was spent in urban riding through Santa Cruz, Soquel, and Aptos. I had forgotten how slow urban riding is with traffic, stop lights, stop signs, pedestrians, etc. I did get a chance to have only my second Starbucks of the trip. It was a real treat. Then the urban riding ended and I entered the strawberrry fields of Monterey County. As I rode on mile after mile through strawberries (and a few artichokes), the old Beattles song "Strawberry Fields Forever" kept playing in my head (shows my age!). At one point a worker on a tractor was spraying chemicals on the berries. He was wearing a respirator and the spray was blowing my way. I was surprised when he saw me coming that he stopped the tractor and shut off the spray until I rode by. I thanked him with a wave of my hand.
Diana and I met for a wonderful lunch of fish and chips at Phil's Fish Market and Eatery in Moss Landing (a very famous local establishment that people drive miles to frequent).
The food was excellent! After lunch I got back on the bike and headed for Monterey. I took advantage of a wonderful bike path that ran for many miles alongside the CA 1 expressway. Diana said she saw me on my bike from the car.
After we checked into the motel, we did some laundry and shopping,then went and got a bite to eat. In the drugstore on the way back to the motel, we saw a newspaper with big front page headlines, "Big Sur fires close road, force evacuations." The plan was to ride CA 1 south tomorrow from Monterey, through Big Sur and on to Cambria. So, even though today's plan was fulfilled with a wonderful ride from Santa Cruz, tomorrow's plan will have to be changed.
God's plans are always better than ours, even when they seem worse. I have been looking forward to doing the Big Sur ride which I did in 2005 for several months. At the same time, I've found myself being more and more tired on the bike each day. I realize now that in planning this ride I made some mistakes. I took my known ability to ride 70 or 80 miles on any given day and extrapolated it into the ability to do the same thing for three weeks straight. They are not the same thing! Over the last fifteen days I have ridden every day, covering nearly 1000 miles. I planned two "rest" days of 50 miles each, but haven't had a single day off the bike. I planned it that way in part because I didn't want to be away from Elijah (and Rebekah) at home any longer than necessary. But my planning was too ambitious. I overestimated my strength and condition. So, in light of the news about Highway 1 being closed, Diana and I talked it over and decided to make tomorrow a true rest day. We will sleep in, have a nice brunch and drive to our best friends' house. Diana will be staying there for the last week of the trip and Tom will take over driving the "sag wagon" for me, as we head down to southern California.
Once again, God knows best. I don't believe he caused the fires that closed Highway 1 just to keep me off it, but I do believe he used that situation to tell me to take a day off -- a REAL day off. I hope that all of you who pledged support for Day 16 of my ride won't feel cheated. To help you cope, I'll include a profile of the ride from 2005 so you can see what I did then. At least you'll know I've done it once. Here's the profile.
Even if I chose to ride tomorrow, finding alternatives is difficult. Bicycles aren't allowed on 101 or I-5, and there aren't any other "through" alternative routes other than Highway 1. So, sometimmes our plans are fulfilled and sometimes they are changed, but when we're trusting God, it's all good.
Diana is looking forward to a few days of well earned rest with her good friend Janet, and I'm looking forward to another week on the coastal roller coaster, all the way to the border. Please pray that God will keep us safe while apart, and that Tom and I will make a good team for the remainder of the ride.
We love and miss you all, including our OSLC family. Yes, I do miss ministry already, even though I am enjoying my sabbatical immensely. May God bless and keep every one of you, friends and family alike, whether in the Northwest, Texas, the Midwest or elsewhere. We look forward to seeing all of you again. Thanks for your support, your comments, and your prayers. They are deeply appreciated.
2 comments:
Hi, Pastor Bob!
I've been enjoying reading about your adventures, and find myself fondly remembering my own trip from 26 years ago (can it be that long?). I keep you in my prayers each day and hope that you have been able to find a way through the fire areas. As you have described the different places you have ridden, I can almost conjure up the smells along the way; the ocean, the coastal oaks, the redwoods, the eucalyptus, even the strawberry fields. It's been fun to follow along, and I thank you for taking the time to share your adventure with us. May God continue to bless you as you travel!
Brett
Hey Pastor:
Liked your account of the Santa Cruz trip. I was there five years, and it had the most predictable weather in the world - foggy until 10:30, then sunny the rest of the day.
Also, Phil's was my family's favorite restaurant - they were even a sponsor of my radio program. I wonder if you were able to order the cioppino? It's a bowl of seafood soup that looks like it's going to crawl toward you. Happy riding!
Post a Comment