Guest Post from Doug

As you read Doug's post, keep in mind he is a cyclist, conversing with another cyclist! Such a patchwork quilt this adventure is turning out to be.  

Rennie and Kathy, the McFlurrys, Paul, Atlas, Silas, and Leslie, Chris and Karla, The Rice Family, the lady at the North Carolina visitor center, Evalyn and her husband, and many more are part of our journey.  People who need a savior (and those who already know Him) are everywhere.  We hope we can be salt and light and SHOW LOVE everywhere we go!

Read on about our encounter with Louie from California.

Had an interesting experience yesterday crossing paths, quite literally, with a man who was cycling from Bakersfield, CA to Norfolk, VA.  We drove into the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Park at the same time he did.  Being interested in his obvious journey, I approached him and introduced myself and asked him about his trip.  He explained what he was doing, we made some small talk about the memorial we were at and we parted ways.  After we left the park, we saw him pedaling down the road.  As we passed him we honked our horn and waved at him.  

A few miles down the road a construction crew had stopped traffic to do some work and he caught up to us.  We rolled the window down and we chatted further about his ride and where he was going.  He said he was headed to Bardstown because he'd read there was a place to camp there.  Surprised, I responded that we were also going to Bardstown to camp, albeit in an RV.  I further explained that we were headed to My Old Kentucky Home State Park.  He said he'd have to pull out his map to determine which park he was planning on staying at.  At that point, the construction crew waved us through.  He took off, pumping his legs to get started, and we put the van in gear and surged forward.  Again we waved as we passed him by.  

Another 20 minutes down the road, nearly to our destination, we made a stop at a local grocery store in New Haven, KY (home of the Kentucky Railroad Museum if you were wondering) to pick up some necessities.  I waited in the van with the most of the kids while Stacy and a couple of the girls went inside to hunt and gather.  While we waited, guess who wheeled up next to us?  Yep, the cyclist from California!  He pulled up on our shady side so he could get a break from the merciless sun while we chatted and he consulted his map.  As he got his bearings, I showed him on our map where we were staying and he confirmed that he was planning on staying at the same park!  We discussed which roads we were going to take to get there and shared some strawberries with him that we bought from an Amish woman earlier in the day.  We chatted while I waited for Stacy and girls to return and then once again we were both off toward our campground.  

We finally arrived at My Old Kentucky Home State Park, set up camp, and began relaxing.  I was relaxing and playing guitar and we were singing worship songs and camp songs, attracting not a little bit of attention from the campers around us.  Just then, our cyclist friend pedaled up.  My whole family shouted out a welcome to him like the crew of the old Cheers TV show calling out "Norm!"  We invited him to join us for dinner, as it was almost ready.  He accepted and went off to the campground bathrooms to get cleaned up.  He returned, we had our dinner and we ensured that he kept getting refills on his food, since we figured he hadn't had a home-cooked meal for a while.  He ate heartily and it warmed our hearts to share our table with him.  

After dinner, one of our campground neighbors walked over to talk to us.  He offered us around 8 lbs of pork meat.  He explained that they were leaving in the morning and he didn't want to have to haul it back.  He was a farmer and had raised and butchered the hog himself.  He gave us 3 enormous ham steaks, 2 lbs of sausage, and 3 lbs of bacon!  He said, "I told my wife that you certainly had a crew that could finish this off!"  I thanked him profusely and he went back to get the meat.  

Our cycling friend explained that it was time to set up his tent and call it a night, so we walked him over to the tent camping area and parted ways after exchanging contact information.  This was just one of many, many personal connections we've made on this trip so far.  If you read through this entire story, I hope it gave you a little glimpse into one of our days.