Update #21 - Thursday, August 02, 2007
BEDFORD, IN
8,339.03 miles (13,342.35 kms) since Jan 01st
7,498.27 miles (11,997.23 kms) since March 03

For people who have wondered why there was a big gap of time since the last posted update, the reason why it happened is that the little SONY sub-notebook laptop that I've been carrying on the recumbents for the last two years died. The Windows XP Operating System became unstable after I allowed Microsoft to install new security updates. I advise everybody to not allow automatic updates to be done on your system.

I want to thank my very good friend, Philip, in Galveston, TX who offered to give me another laptop and he sent it to me while I was on my rest break with friends in Granite City, IL. I'm now carrying a Fujitsu Lifebook Series B Laptop. It was made in 2000 and it has a 40 GigByte hard-drive. The processor is so much faster than the one that was in the SONY laptop and it takes well over half the time to boot-up. It has Windows XP Professional as an operating system.

I took five days off the road with my friends, Rev. Ed and Pat, in Granite City, IL. I've known them since 1993. Rev. Ed retired a couple of years ago after serving 50 years as a minister with the Church of the Nazerene. I didn't do very much but rest and read several good series of books about the Amish and the Mennonites.

I got back on the road, July 28th. The ride has been going okay. For the most part, I've been following U.S. 50 across Illinois and Indiana. People have been quite friendly along the way. One of the best groups that I've met were some young kids that I met in Vincennes, IN a couple of days ago. I met them at a radio station in the downtown area. They were being interviewed since their Little League softball team were state champs. Vincennes will be hosting the National round of games in about two weeks. I spent about a half hour talking to the third thru fifth graders. They had some great questions. I was given a meal of hot dogs and soft drinks. I was really blessed when the group caught up with me after their interview to slip me a 'green-handshake'.

I'm heading northward off U.S. 50 for a while. I've got to get to a bike shop in Bloomington, IN to get a new rear tire. Because of some bad roads and shoulders, the tread wore out a little faster than what I had hoped.

From Bloomington, I'll be completing my crossing of southern Indiana to Cincinatti, Ohio. After Cincinatti, I'll be riding to Charlestown, WV and then back across the Appalachian Mountains to central Virginia.

I'll try and post an update as often as I can if my plans change. The next update should be posted between August 09th and August 16th. Hopefully, I'll have more to write about by then.