Shawn, today's hero. Details below...
What a beautiful day. The hillsides of Pennsylvania are golden, and every shade of green and planting season is well underway.
This is Amish country. The fields are planted with mules pulling plows.(But not on Sunday) And horse and buggies are everywhere. The animals on the farms are so well taken care of. Lush green pastures with animals grazing contentedly. Farm yards with huge cows and horses and mules that look at you contentedly from barns that are clean and the animals stand in beautiful lots of green grass, not mud everywhere that I have seen in other parts of the country. The Amish genuinely care about the well being of their sheep, horses, cows, mules , horses, and chickens. No pics as they don't want photos taken.
the old mill stream
We climbed a few (read: dozens) tough hills. Dave rode and I followed.... a ways back. Stopped for Local Ice Cream at an artisan's shop in New London.
As we shared a well earned delicious pint of Cherry Vanilla , with giant whole cherries buried in the vanilla ice cream, Dave casually shared that he had run over a motor cyclist sprawled in the road!! You'll need to read his FB blog-David Madsen- to get the details.
After our culinary break we tackled more hills. Dave chugging up and Deb not so much.
Dave cruising along
up, up, up...
and up and up...
The photos never tell the real steep and long of the story. After a couple more hours of pedaling my exhausted legs and walking and pushing 75+lbs of bike and gear up these small mountains, I stood resting at the top of the hill looking at the climbing ribbon of road still ahead, knowing there was at least 10 miles to go, it's 4:00pm and I knew I was DONE, cooked, finished. I would never get to our Warm Showers hosts before midnight, long after dark. I was too tired to even care. Was scanning the sides of the road for possible tent sites, talking over my dilemma with my Father. And then what to my wondering eyes should appear but a tiny spec on the horizon that turned out to be Shawn, pedaling his way toward me, on his afternoon ride. He stopped, we chatted, he offered a 4 wheel vehicle lift to my destination, I demurred briefly (pride is a power deterrent), then accepted gratefully. He rode to his home, and returned with the most beautiful dust covered car I had ever seen. THANK YOU SHAWN!! He drove me and my bike to our hosts' home, and as I saw the hills I still had in front of me I knew I would never had made it on my own. God really does take care of His own. And His timing is perfect. As we turned onto the block of our hosts' home, there was brother Dave finishing up the last block also, under the power of his own 2 legs. So we arrived at precisely the same time. How does God do that?!!
Dave and Shawn sharing biking stories. Dave assuring Shawn he WAS a knight in shining armor!
The day ended at Lisa and Dave's home - the most amazing loving, welcoming, delightful people with a hot shower that was too wonderful, and delicious crab bisque at the Bullfrog. We had fun sharing stories and so much more. Maybe I could face getting back on that bike and facing more hills tomorrow...