Sunday, June 14th

Here I sit in a nice comfortable motel room in Donaldson, Georgia. I got caught in a horrific thunder storm. I was riding through this town when all of a sudden the wind started blowing so hard I thought a tornado was happening or something. I was afraid it was going to blow my bike over with me on it. I stopped in the middle of the street and pushed my bike into a parking lot. Got the cover for it out, got it covered and I ran over and stood under the eaves of a business. I am glad they had closed already. It must have rained a zillion inches in 30 minutes. I have never seen it rain that hard, not even in Africa. Got my handy-dandy cell phone out after it quit, called information and got thename of a motel. Called, and the manager had recently moved from Baker City, OR and said he would give a fellow Oregonian a good deal, and he did. Even let me push my bike into a covered area for the night.

I said in one of my previous entries that trucks were my least favorite part of this trip, but I have changed that to mosquitos. After showering tonight in my nice motel room I looked in the mirror, and I kid you not, there are at least 100 mosquito bites. I got them two nights ago when I camped near the Mississippi River. They must have gotten into my tent while I was cooking, and didn't have it completely closed. That night they had a royal feast. It was particularly hot that night, so I didn't sleep with a t-shirt on. My back looks like Pastor Bob shot me with a shot gun. I itch so bad that I am jumping up and taking a cold shower about every 30 minutes. (A little sympathy from a few of you would probably help. :-)

I rode about 275 miles today. Started in Alabama, went into Florida, and then into Georgia. I am still slightly ahead of schedule even with the wind-thunder-lightening-rain storm interruption to my goal for today. My plan is to ride 350 miles tomorrow, which will put me into Sylvania, Georgia, right next to the South Carolina border.

I went to church today in Alabama at Oak Grove Baptist Church. I decided that the first church I saw after 10 o'clock I would stop at and this ended up being the one. About 25 people in attendance. They all were so old that two of the men called me "young man," and the pastor made mention of the young man from Oregon that was visiting them today. I enjoyed the time very much. I don't think they get many visitors and they seemed very honored that I visited them. It felt good to be able to encourage them.

I almost ran over an armadillo today. I have seen quite a few of them dead along the road. I am not sure what that experience would feel like, running over an armadillo. I ran over a 2x4 board laying in the road where they were doing road construction and that made my bike buck pretty good. Almost bit my tongue. The armadillo was bigger than the 2x4 for sure.

All the states that I have been through have been pretty, each in a different kind of way. Alabama has been particularly pretty. I didn't realize that they had so much timber, at least in the south part. Lots of yellow pine. I even rode by a clear cut. Looked like Oregon. I saw cotton fields today. Lots of peanuts. Millions of acres of corn, much of it for ethonal. Haven't seen any dairies. I guess I will have to wait until I get to Wisconsin.

Every morning I spend some time working on a new Bible memory verse and then reviewing it in my head all during the day. Thinking about what it means and applying it to my life. Today's was Psalm 18:3-4 - "The Lord girds me with strength. He makes my way blameless. He makes my feet like deers' feet and sets me up on my high places. He trains my hands for battle so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze."

I was glad to hear that both Pastor Mike and Saah didn't "mess up" in the Services this weekend, and that Pastor Bob and Journey had a good "first Service." Keep praying that God will continue to bless JBC and all our daughter churches with more and more opportunities to reach people for Him. Praying for all of you! I love you! Dee