samwise the brave

Ride day 8 - Tuscaloosa, AL to Birmingham, AL

ride day 9 - birmingham to heflin

we left out of tuscaloosa early monday morning and made the ride into birmingham…about 85 miles.  once there we had the opportunity to run back into the city and visit the 16th st baptist church which was where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. served as a pastor.  its an impressive building near the city’s downtown.  we also visited a impressive local coffee bar called the urban standard.

on tuesday we set out on what would be another century ride, our 4th of this trip.  it was a little crazy going on the front end, traffic wise.  the last 40 miles was on The Chief Ladiga Trail.  It is a 33 mile rail trail from Pedimont, Alabama to the Alabama-Georgia state. The trail is paved for 21 miles with the remaining 12 miles through Talladega National Forest

The trail environment is diverse with farmland, forest, streams and wetlands.connect with the Silver Comet Trail in Georgia creating a non-stop route of almost 100 miles.  we’ll continue on this trail for part of today as we head into the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, GA on Atlanta’s north side.  it will be about 85 miles.

one great memory from this trip was a random stop three of us made as we entered int talladega county, al.  we passed over an amazing old truss bridge near a lake.  it was so inviting we pulled over and asked a gentlemen if we could take a quick dip.  so along with my sojourners, Josh Iniguez  and Brad Godwin we took advantage for a cool dip.  it was one of this spur of the moment things that just had to be done.  Josh is with our organizers, venture expeditions and explained that early on in venture’s beginning years they would never quite know where they were staying each nite on their bike travels.  So anytime the came close to a body of water they would jump in just to get refreshed and “clean”.

Ride Day 7-Columbus, MS to Tuscaloosa, AL

We rolled into Tuscaloosa after a really enjoyable ride from columbus, ms.  the weather was sunny but cool and for the most part the roads were easy to travel, although the traffic was busier that preferred for the last 10 miles or so. we arrived around 3:30pm and had a easy nite.

sabbath is important. and especially on a venture like the Present:Hope Tour. It was good to sleep in and have a leisurely morning before joining in the services at our church host in tuscaloosa- first wesleyan. pastor joel and his bride traci were incredibly gracious. the time of worship was refreshing and restoring. the worship team is large…a small orchestra…offering an encouraging time of worship…something that all of us on the team found a blessing…and a time of restoration and healing.

for lunch we were hosted at a picnic by Holy Cross Lutheran Church in a local park.  lots of great food and fellowship and some fun games.  played a version of corn hole (it had three holes in the board and used smalled bean bags), had an egg toss and tried to guess the number of buttons in a jar.  after the picnic we met back up with pastor joel who then gave us tour of the area showing us the damage left by the tornado.

its amazing how much clean up is still needed.  many buildings still covered with blue tarps.  it was sobering to drive and see the destruction. we ended our time at the Pizza Palace.  The Palace survived the tornado with only blown out windows.   as we were leaving we drove just behind the store into an area that was a housing complex.  possessions strewn about…many valuables just left on the ground.  clothing still hanging in closets…but roofs and walls gone.  again…its been more than 5 months.

its been a incredible couple of days.  sorry for the silence here, but there just wasn’t enough time to get it all done….and  the need for sleep and recovery was shall we say…very necessary.

marshall, ar to newport ar

on tuesday we set out from marshall, ar on what would be our first century ride.  it actually was about 102 miles to the church in new port.

there was a sobering moment at 2:42 pm cst as we hit the 162 mile mark…we had traveled one mile for each life that was lost in joplin, mo.

riding along side pastor aaron has added so much more to this effort.  hearing stories of how he is continuing to process through what no seminary training can ever prepare a person for.  his resolve and leadership are a huge encouragement to each one of us on the team.

if you want to know more about the team, please jump over  here to the venture expedition blog. the age range of the 13 members is 22 to 65.  the sense of our common mission/purpose has leveraged  all of our energies.  there have been some hard moments, even for those that are experienced cyclists…but together we’re pushing through it.  i love the encouragement that we are able to offer each other.

day 4 - newport, ar to olive branch, ms

we also ended up doing another 100 mile ride on day 4…it was 95 miles when we got to life fellowship in olive branch, ms…and 4 of us…steve, jay, jeff and myself decided another 5 miles plus would be worth the effort just to log a back to back century ride.  the 2nd century was much easier…as the topography from newport, ar to olive branch, ms was much more enjoyable.  plus the goal of memphis bbq after the student ministry at life fellowship UP .  it was great to connect back home with the EVO students hanging at the outpost.

today, day 5 (thursday