July 16 & 17 Hanging Out in New London, Minnesota

We rode 58 miles on the 16.
Averaged 13.7 mph with a few miles of tailwind that helped us to 25mph for a little while. Obviously a short while with an average speed of half that amount.

We enjoyed an extra day of rest this week on the 17th to participate in The Sonshine Festival near New London (in Wilmar). We shared with several hundred people that stopped by our booth to learn about our ride and the minsitry of YFC. There are 20,000 in attendance and it looks like they will have beautiful weather for the event. It was blazing hot today.

Stuart & I enjoyed the hospitality of Graden & Becky West, members of Peace Lutheran Church. Their home is built on a 24 acre piece of property that used to be a cornfield (in 1979). If you visited here today you would not ever suspect it. Since they purchased it, they have planted approximately 7,000 different trees and had several "volunteers" show up on there own. They moved around a lot (16 times) and chose to return to New London upon retirement. We took a driving tour last night around half a dozen of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota and learned a lot about the history and connectedness of many of the lakes here.

Graden is an avid outdoorsman and I learned a lot about fly-fishing. Makes sense with 10,000 lakes around you. He is also a bow hunter and makes his own bows and arrows in his basement. It was fascinating to learn all the detail and the steps involved in making a wood bow.

Becky is a wonderful cook and we enjoyed two delicious dinners with them. Wednesday night we had pan-fryed Bluegill & Crappie. I had the leftovers for breakfast today. Tasted great both times.

A frivolous comment:
Becky had a grandfather who always went by the name "Captain Dan". Stuart has a fascination with nicknames for me, can't tell you why. I am certain that I have not heard the last of this one. :)

Thanks for your prayers and for all your support.

Dan