Day 300
Sheridan Lake Bible Church
It felt quite a special day - 300 days since we dropped the keys through the letter box and left home, friends and family behind. We are missing the people so much but are loving the life we are living.
With the fickle finger of fate on our side, we had a tail wind and hoped for a big day. I had researched camp spots or motels at various points on route but today we were flying along and just eating up the miles.
A sign loomed ahead announcing Mountain Time Zone, and sure enough a few seconds after passing the sign, my clock went from 3.30pm to 2.30 pm. Day 300 was going to be 25 hours long! It inspired us to keep on turning those pedals.
Suddenly Tom called out, ‘look at that sign’ we were leaving Kansas and entering Colorado. Way to go! We’d crossed Kansas, with its endless plains, wind, big skies, and err wind! I had joked with a couple in a diner that surely the wind stopped at the border, unfortunately I can confirm that it doesn’t!
The first impressions of this part of Colorado were that it was struggling, the distance between towns is greater, many look almost deserted, life looks hard. At 71 miles we reached Tribune, but the RV park we had spotted on the map was no more, the taps sealed up, so after a brief rest we pushed on.
Growing tired, we headed for Sheridan Lake. We were hoping to wild camp by the said lake, but access was hard and the fierce tail wind, so helpful as we cycled, made it a poor camp spot. Tom had seen that there was a town park area and we rode off route to it. It was a simple piece of grass with a covered picnic bench and kids play area. We rode around, considering our options, and stopped outside the local church, Sheridan Lake Bible Church. A passing car pulled up, wound down his window and called out to us these beautiful words, ‘Pop your bikes in the porch, go inside and make yourselves at home and I will go tell the Pastor you are here’. As I clicked off the Garmin I saw that we had cycled exactly 100 miles. It felt another fickle finger moment.
By chance we had stumbled onto a cyclists’ sanctuary. The church doors are open 24/7. Weary cyclists are welcomed with a space to sleep, fully equipped kitchen, toilets but most important with friendship. The Pastor and his wife arrived. They told us that they often hosted cycle tourers, but we were the first arrivals in 2022. In the past they have had as many as 14 in one evening, in bad weather locals often pick up wind and hail-battered cyclists and bring them here. We were invited to rest for as many days as we needed, just to make ourselves at home. It was fantastic to be able to cook a hot meal - we hadn’t lit the stove for few days due to the fire risk. We were then invited to join some of the local congregation and watch a film, The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson. It is based on the writing of that time and shows in graphic detail the last few days of Christ’s life. It is a powerful and moving film, made all the more so by watching it in a Church on Good Friday. We sat after and chatted about our trip, our fickle finger of fate that had brought us to this place, or as the Pastor explained, God watches over us.
