USA

Time for a new adventure. In a week we will be boarding the plane for a return trip to Israel. Wynn and I will join 6 others from our New Community Baptist family and four friends from Myrtle Beach for this journey. We will meet up with a group from PA to take a Pilgrims Tour throughout the sites of Israel. Wynn and I went on a tour of Israel in 1994...Yep- 26 years ago. We are excited to see the sites again and notice the difference that 26 years have made. We are excited to go with new friends this year and look forward to seeing God bring amazing things to life for us again. I posted the itinerary and hope to once again upload some pics and tell some of my thoughts each day. We are busy getting suitcases and carry-on's packed. We secured our new passports a couple of months ago. We are hoping for good travels, weather and friendship. I have been working hard to get my knee and feet healthy for the hiking. The new orthotics arrived and my Merrill hiking shoes broken in. We are packing layers since the forecast is highs in the 50-60's and lows in the 40-50's. Our shoes are waterproof and we are taking raincoats too. So until Tuesday...farewell. Let the adventure begin!

Back again for another adventure with Wynn and Brenda. This trip our traveling companions will be one of Wynn's brothers-Kim and his wife Karen. She was my college roomie back in the day. This will be our second road trip all together. ( our first was to Disney world back when our 33 year olds were around two years old. ) But I digress... Wynn and I drove to West Chicago on Friday night June the 16th. We packed up the van and were on the road at 6 am CST.

We drove our Dodge caravan for the adventure and everything fit quite nicely! We had an aggressive goal of traveling to Rapid City, SD which was almost 900 miles of driving. We did famously!!
After leaving Illinois, we drove through three states to get to our destination.

It took us several tries to get all the signs. Wynn thought we could doctor up that last picture, but we finally found the SD sign.
The country side seems so big and there were so many quick changes in the clouds/skies. The horizon seems so far away. Here are a few pics along the way.

Since we made such good time, we decided to stop in the Badlands, which wasn't originally on our plan for the day. What a wonderful display of God's beauty and imagination. From the scenery to the sunset to the animals along the way. As Kim said, "He gave us quite a show today."
Seeing the Big horn sheep was the icing on the cake and the sunset was the cherry on top. I guess the buffalo at the end of the day was the whipped cream!

We arrived back at our hotel after dark, ordered a pizza from Papa Johns and hit the sack.

I didn't hear another sound until 5 am MT, which is my normal 7am wake up time in Ohio. Wynn and I took a long walk (3500 steps for our Dalad friends) until next time...
We are off to start another day

Hello folks,
Hoping to get a little writing done while sitting at the afternoon water stop waiting for the team. ( they are 5 miles out) we are at the side of the road on top of a hill so I actually have 4 bars and 3G. We left New Mexico for Arizona today. The Whitewater Lodge was a homey little place in Glenwood, NM.
Videos from yesterday:

We were greeted by critters, motorcycle travelers and a wonderful home cooked breakfast at The Golden Girl Cafe.

Our pony riders continue to keep up their tech skills after a hard day on tour.

The riders started at 7:30 again this morning after breakfast in our rooms. What a beautiful day and the scenery was spectacular . We rode out of the mountains and into the desert today. Temps here soared to 88 and the riders were back in shorts and shirt sleeves.

Here is the view of one of the declines as we rode through sections of both the Apache and Gila National Forests.

Evelyn and I met up with the team right at the Arizona border...perfect timing.

After another few miles we had lunch at a little three way cafe, and I use that term lightly. Sandwiches and a few chips and cookies still seem to satisfy the riders.

The curves kept coming and of course every rider's joy- the cattleguards in the middle of the road!

We watched the GPS to see what was ahead for the riders. Look at that orange line!

There were plenty of climbs and descents.

We saw some cactus on the roadside and also came upon a father and two sons. The 13 year old had just shot his first deer. He couldn't stop smiling.

Evelyn wanted me to put the deer pic up and tell you that this SAG team hunts down the supper before preparing our evening meal.. She has been such a joy to have along and I am ever so grateful to get to know her better.

The riders have stopped for their last water break and will finish the last 19 miles to the hotel. Ev and I are headed to the hotel, a Best Western, to check out laundry and pizza, IC, and Dan's beer.

Back with the stats of the day in an hour.

We rode 84.7 miles at 11.9 mph. We were in saddle for 7 hours and 8 minutes. Our accomplishments for the day include crossing our sixth state, 7 category climbs- ( 3 CAT 3's, 3 CAT 4's and 1 CAT 5.) We made our most thrilling descent so far. We have less than 600 miles remaining which means we have already finished 2000 miles. The team needed this day after the hard days preceding this. The climbs, descents and lack of gusting winds was refreshing. I think everyone came back today feeling jazzed.

I am including a few videos showing the rides today.

Goodnight to all from Pacific time, we are now three hours ahead of most of you.
Brenda and the Pony Riders

As we get closer to departure date, I will be introducing you to Wynn's teammates on this great adventure. They will be actively taking part in this blog as well. My husband is 58 years old. He has been on many adventures with me; Carribean cruises, Hawaii, Hiking Grand Canyon, Israel,ect...He is always excited to go and enjoys any adventure I put together for us. But this trip is his baby! And I hope it is indeed the trip of a lifetime for him. Wynn sent this to be posted today.

So, what are the three of us doing these days? Well, first of all, we are riding our bicycles frequently. Yesterday, we rode a 35 mile ride south from Berea/Metro Parks and returned on Station Road in Columbia. We will meet again to ride on Wednesday at our club ride, the Silver Wheels, a club centered out of Oberlin.

I was without my #1 bicycle for the past two weeks getting repairs done on it. I pretty much have a new bicycle now, including repairs that I had done in the spring of this year. Closer to the leaving date, I will throw on a couple of new tires, all of which I hope will take me the 2,600 miles. In the two week void, I was using bike #2 that my boss graciously gave to me several years ago (thank you).

The three of us will be meeting in a week or so, to go over more details of the trip – mapping of the route, practice packing of our van that we are taking (hopefully we will have enough room), compare lists of items that we are taking to be prepared as best as possible.

That is it for now. I have to save some more for later posting.

Wynn (known affectionately to my wife as "Schwynn")

I am working hard to learn how to use this blog. I am trying to insert pictures and videos and also trying to learn how to include our daily map. The riders are working hard to get in shape, riding many miles each week. I am looking for grilling and crockpot recipes that will make easy meals for along the way. Hotels have been researched and we hope to book as we go along. The riders are fine tuning their bikes. Wynn gets his bike out of the shop tomorrow. He had a crack in one of his rims. These are the kinds of things that we hope happen now so the bikes are all in great riding condition! Wynn got a helmet cam that we hope to use on this trip as well.

So follow along and pray for us all as we begin the final weeks of preparation. Soon the Pony Ride will begin...
Respectfully,
Brenda