Day 21. Geneva, NE to Columbus, NE

77.2 miles
4:55 ST
15.7 avg

First, we want to express our sympathy for those who lost family and homes in Pilger, NE in yesterday's tornado. Their lives have been turned upside down and we pray that they will know the loving and healing hand of Jesus in the days to come.

Tomorrow we will be cycling to Norfolk which is just about 16-18 miles from Pilger. 

Today was a good day, not particularly eventful. We stepped out this morning at 6:30 to leave and it was like stepping into a "sa-una". Seriously, it was so muggy and humid. It was 72 degrees, much warmer than the 46 degrees at home in Montana.

We had a nice southeast tailwind as we turned our faces northward. The cloud cover was also welcome as we knew it was only going to get hotter as the day went on.

Straight north for 47 miles with that tailwind was great but we knew that the road would be taking a 90 degree turn. And THAT was not going to be as great.

See that wind sock? Blowing straight north. We are going straight east. When you "do the math", that means a very strong side wind. With our long profile, that's a lot of work for Gerry to keep the bike stable. We were thankful that it was only 13 miles.

Somewhere along here we lost the hi-vis cover that protected the trunk pack from rain. How it blew off is a mystery. The only thing we can figure is that I didn't get it completely on at our last break. We'll have to improvise if we run into rain sometime down the road.

When we turned north again, it was sweet!  We cruised 17 miles into Columbus, arriving at 12:30. It was hot here and still climbing - up to 97 this afternoon.

This is about 7 miles out of town. There's so much humidity that it looks like fog.

Before showering we walked over to the grocery store, then I have to confess.... I took another nap today. 

Gerry's shin splint is doing MUCH better today! Thank you so much for your prayer.

I finished my prescription for my ears this morning. There's some improvement though I still want to "pop" them a lot and the hearing is still a little muffled. We'll keep praying for complete healing.

We were asked when we'll be turning more westward. It would seem that we should be angling more that way. But, doing that would bring us through North Dakota at or near the Bakken oil fields. And that would not be wise or safe. At this point, our plan is to go north through/near Fargo and Grand Forks, cross the border then come back down and head west to home. We had thought we would go across Canada and come back down through Montana. We didn't realize that there are oil fields there in Canada, too, that we'd have to cross. Plus, it appears to be very sparsely populated along there. If someone reading this knows something we don't and can contribute some wisdom, please let us know.

My favorite names for today:
Camp Tekakwitha
Schlegelmilch Plumbing

There's a tornado warning tonight for the area north of us tonight, about 75+ miles from us. Should be cleared out by the time we leave in the morning.

We've been on the road for three weeks now. Three weeks of seeing God's protection, of being the recipients of so much love and prayer. We thank you so much.

Pat