Update #26 - Wednesday, September 19, 2007
AMERICUS, GA
9,943.50 miles (15,909.60 kms) since Jan 01st
9,102.74 miles (14,564.38 kms) since March 03

My rest break here in Americus is a little over half way over. I've been getting some physical rest and I've been occasionally taking short breaks around town to keep my knees and legs in shape. I have been doing a lot of mental work since I've been doing a lot of work on this website. I've been giving it an internal overhaul. There is always something to do like making sure that all of the external and internal links work.

I have been also thinking about how to respectively look back at the last trip and to get myself for the next trip which might 15 days away. This trip might have been one of the hardest. This isn't because of the terraign because the only really hard section was the Appalachians in West Virginia.

The hardest part was when my EZ-Speedster-SX was destroyed in that freak car accident in the Mystic, CT area back in April. This was the second bicycle that had been destroyed by a car and the third bike that was taken out of commission before it's time. For the first twenty-fours, I was at a lost because I really didn't know what to do. I was on an emotional roller coaster that had some major climbs and some long and steep falls. I had put my trust into somebody who had promised that they would help out but they didn't. All of the balls were dropped into my lap and I had to come up with my own way to get my life back together. I wasn't even sure if I could even get myself and all of my belongings back to Georgia if I had to.

I'm grateful that I had some friends who stood up in the background to help me out. I'm grateful for the people at Shirks Bicycle Shop near Lancaster, PA who gave me a radical discount in the cost of the EZ-Speedster-AX that I saw and called them to see if it wasn't sold. I'm grateful that they also offered to take it apart, put it into a shipping box, and send it to the bike shop in Mystic, CT for free. I'm grateful for the people at the bike shop in Mystic who gave me a discount on the reassembly and also threw in some bicycle accesories for either free or giving me a discount on them. I'm grateful for the manager of the Bed and Breakfast in Mystic who gave me a discount on the room.

One of the hardest parts was getting sick like I did in North Dakota. I was so dehydrated and in pain that I was certain that I might die. I was grateful that the owners of the motel that I was staying that at were concerned about my well-being and they offered to take me to the hospital emergency room, give me some drinks and food, and allowed me to stay for a couple of days for free so that I could really get over the illness that threw me through a loop and also to replenish all of the fluids and potassium that I had lost.

Along the way, I've met some more nice people. I've got new friends in fourteen states. Some new friends in Virginia helped me out by getting me a new sleeping bag that I really needed. My friend, Phil, in Texas helped me with some computer problems. There's been some total strangers that out of the blue helped me out.

Police officers have been the most friendliest. This is especially true of the police officers in South Charleston, West Virginia. They went out of their way to help me out even giving me a police escort to a nearby motel where they arranged for me having a room there. Then there have been friendly people who work at quick-stop gas stations along the way. There were a couple of times when one of the workers would come out of the store to give me a meal or they even slipped me a "green handshake" to help me that way. There was a team of little league baseball players in Western Indiana who helped me out with a meal and also a small monetary donation. Also there was a tobacco farmer in North Carolina who went way out of his way to help me out even though he was struggling since he was almost losing his whole crop due to the drought.

There have been some kind ministers along the way. They were at small churches and big churches. I got to stay in almost 40 churches along the way. Then there were a few ministers who didn't want to even make an attempt to help me out. They were more willing to pass me off to somebody else than to do something themselves.

I am not really going to change hardly anything on the way I do my ministry. I will always just ask for the basics: water, a piece of grass, or a place on the floor. If they want to do something else, it will be a blessing from ADONAI through them. One of the things that I wished could be changed is how I'd like not to have to prove myself to the people that I meet. I always have to have my credentials in order and make sure I have the proper letter of references. I just wished that I could be seen as who I am by face value as I have to do others.

The next mission trip will start in a couple of weeks. I'll by riding through the Gulf States (between Florida and East Texas). Depending if any hurricanes come through the area, I plan to spend most of the time in Mississippi and Louisiana to see how the recovery effort is still going on after Hurricane Katrina. I'd like to make my way up to Shreveport, Louisiana to check out the housing development being built by my friend, Millard Fuller, and his organization the Fuller Center For Housing.

I'll try and post and update as often as I can if my plans change. The next update should be posted between October 01st and October 08th. Hopefully, I'll have more to write about by then.