Get Your Kicks on Route 66

June 1 - Day 17
Clovis, NM
Written By Viking

This entry will be brief. It has been a long day. We began our around 7:45am. Well, our travel, anyway. We played some catch for the second morning in a row, which is just fine with us.

The day began overcast in the 70's, but didn't stay that way for long. The clouds burned off and the sun moved overhead as we made our way to Amarillo. And there was wind. STRONG headwinds. For most of our travel today we were struggling to drive over 25 mph because the wind was battering us so badly. You may think we're crazy for going 37mph around the country, but I'm okay with that. It's when we get down to speeds that you can maintain on a bicycle that I begin to grow a little frustrated.

Lunch was in Amarillo. Brady and I haven't paid for a meal with our own money since South Carolina. The rest has been paid for through people we've met on the trip offering financial support. At lunch today our cash dropped below what we needed to buy our next meal, and God brought across our paths more financial support from people we didn't even know five minutes earlier. Brady and I have sort of moved beyond the hysterical laughing when God provides for us. Not because the joy has worn off, but because his provision has been so constant that it's awe-inspiring. and a little scary. It's been serving as a motivation to continue on, even in this somewhat grueling stretch of the trip.

The next several days will take us through some mountains as high as 12,000 feet. Pray for the scooters. Every little thing makes my heart skip. Today I was putting on some gloves to keep the sun off my hands and my scooter suddenly died. I thought, "Well, this is it. Wilberforce is done." We pulled off the road and Brady said, "You hit your kill switch." Sure enough, that's exactly what I did. I bumped it while trying to put on gloves while riding. Oops.

Another fun moment was when we missed an exit of sorts on a road. I quickly realized that we could still get to where we needed to go if we just dove through a median, skipped across a busy road, and hopped onto a road that wrapped us around to our destination. So we did that, and it was fun. With all these flat fields I was contstantly tempted to just ride across the plains, but we were already going slow enough.

And then there's the blog title. As we rode through Amarillo we were riding on a stretch of the historic route 66. For those who don't know what that road is, it is the first road that connected Chicago and Los Angeles. It has a lot of history, and a lot of character. Well, when I was in grade school I had a cd of Nat King Cole songs. One of them was a song about this Route 66. I liked it. Around this same time I had a poster of a 1960 Chevy Corvette convertible. So when I was in grade school still, this dream began.. I wanted to drive a convertible the entire length of historic route 66 and back in a convertible with a group of friends. On this trip I am with a close friend, I am riding the ultimate convertible, and our trip only touches parts of route 66, but our route and purpose far exceeds anything I could have imagined. God is very good.

I'm tired. We are in Clovis, New Mexico. Tomorrow we will go west. We have no idea where we will stay, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you also for your encouragement via Facebook, email, or blog postings. They are all read and enjoyed very much!

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen