Monday August 31, 2009

LESSONS LEARNED – THE PATH TO SUCCESS

During this ride I have set goals, measured what works and does not work in meeting those goals and had the time to reflect and think about life.

One of the short term goals I have set is to be in a location on Sunday morning where I can attend church. In Nebraska, the Mormon churches are about 175 miles apart on the route that I am taking. And since I also take many detours to see historical sites, find food, water and camping sites, I usually ride at least 110% of the map distance. That means that in a week I can make a paltry 190 miles (average 32 miles per day) or aim for a respectable 390 miles (average 65 miles per day). This past week I went for the 390 mile mark. It’s hard to average 65 miles per day because some days are spent learning about history. Blogging, eating and bicycle maintenance and other tasks also take quite a bit of time.

I have finally got to the point where I can ride long and hard and cover 60+ miles in a good day or 30+ miles with a strong headwind. However, in the past I have always felt the pain with every mile and closely measured the distance to the next checkpoint. I sometimes got angry and frustrated with the constant headwinds and other problems that came up

This past week with the days of headwinds and flat tires I got behind schedule and needed a lot of help to catch up. I have always prayed for strength to help me ride but lately I have prayed for Heavenly Father to manage the results and improve my character. My attitude now is that I want to do what is right and follow his commandments but I turn over the actual production of the results to him. I commit to following whatever he tells me to do through the Holy Spirit and at the end of the day I see what has happened.

The difference is amazing. I do not feel the pain. I do not measure each mile and each checkpoint. I ride and communicate through prayer and receive information about what I should do. I still get flat tires and ride against headwinds but the results have been phenomenal. On Saturday I rode 95 miles to get to church and it seemed easy. I am happier and do not get angry and frustrated with disruptions of my plans. In fact I now welcome problems as the Lords way of helping me increase faith, strength and character growth. He has promised that he will never give you problems beyond what you can handle with his help. The harder the problems you encounter the stronger the Lord considers your character. It is like receiving an “Atta Boy, you are improving”.

Although I have applied this (turn everything over to God) principle to my own adventure I think that it would work even better when applied to a “Service Task” or a “Building the Kingdom of God” task. When you are in a position of serving others and you need capabilities far beyond your own, God will increase your physical, mental, and moral strength and abilities to meet the need of the current situation. And he lets you keep the increased strength and capabilities.

I had a great day at Church. I met interesting people who were fun to talk to. Unfortunately I slept through part of the meeting but the talks and lessons that I heard were to the point and applied directly to what I needed to hear. Bishop and Sister Taylor invited me for dinner. It was a fine meal combined with lots of interesting conversation and sharing of knowledge. They also invited another sister (Lisa) over for dinner. Bishop Taylor is a pediatrician and Lisa is a nurse so I learned much about the life of medical professionals. The Taylor’s have an outstanding young family of four girls and two boys. The oldest girl is 14 years and the youngest baby is 2 months old. The older children do a good job of helping with the younger children and carrying out home duties. Sister Taylor is a great cook and a great manager of family business and it was a pleasure to see a growing young family learning about what it takes to progress in life. If we have enough families like this then America will continue to be strong.

The rest of this week’s blog are a few pictures that I have not posted yet. I am in Scottsbluff Nebraska about 20+ miles from the Wyoming border. Today I will try to buy puncture resistant tires, get a Wyoming map and then continue on into Wyoming.

This is a shot of the North Platte River. The Platte and North Platte Rivers are wide and shallow and were extremely valuable to pioneers crossing the plains. They provided a flat, easy to traverse valley for wagons. Wildlife was plentiful and easy water available.

This is Chimney Rock looking directly south. The sun is setting to the west (my right). The camera did a good job compensating for bright sunlight.

Chimney Rock was one of the most important landmarks along the Mormon Trail, the Oregon Trail, and the California Trail. Mountain men, trappers, railroad builders and everyone crossing the plains used it to mark their progress.

This is another shot of Chimney Rock taken after I had passed it and was looking back. This view is looking east and the end of the day with the sun at my back. Chimney rock is about 4 miles away.

This is the end of the post for Monday 8/31/2009.

This blog was written on Thursday 8/27/2009 from North Platte Nebraska.

This is a quick narrative to explain what I am doing with the following pictures. I have reversed the order so that the first thing that you see is the first thing that I saw and captured. I had to blog the first last so you would see it first.

On monday 8/24 I went to an outstanding Historical Re-creation. It is named the "Stuhr Museum of the Prarie Pioneer" Site. I recommend seeing it if you get a chance. I combines in one easy to access location many accurate pictures, narratives and demonstrations about Pioneer Life. It is like a non mormon version of Nauvoo.

I have got to go now. I will write another blog later to tell what has been happening lately. This blog is mostly to present pictures.

This is an outside view of the Indian Earth Lodge. The picture does not adequately represent how big and high it is.

The following 8 - 10 pictures are views of the inside of the lodge.

The Stuhr Museum has many exhibit and demonstrations of historical life in Nebraska: Mormons, pioneers traveling to Oregon & California, farmers, cowboys, ranches, farms, old cars, old farm equipment, railroads, indians, etc. I have chosen to emphasize the Indians beliefs and life.

Blow this up and read it. It is very informative. It tells about indian beliefs and religion. There is some commonality to the plan of salvation.

This is the first of four narrative panels that I have included in the blog. The information about this ancient people is just so interesting to me that I had to try to get you excited about it as well.

Blow this up and read it. It is very informative. It tells about indian beliefs and religion. There is some commonality to the plan of salvation.

One interesting part of the narrative is: "The essential layout of the lodge is extremely old and widespread. It is the pattern of the Eskimo Igloo, of the Kiva of the Southwest, and of structures in Siberia".

Blow this up and read it. It is very informative. It tells about the Pawnee Indians in Nebraska.

Blow this up and read it. It is very informative. It tells about indian beliefs and religion. There is some commonality to the plan of salvation.

This is one of many pictures of the interior of the Indian Earth Lodge. The view is to the center pointing to the far wall.

This is one of many pictures I took of the interior of the Indian Earth Lodge. It is the center spot.

Although this is a hard picture to look at and comprehend it had to be included because it is an critical feature of the Earth Lodge. This is the fire hole or chimney. It is located in the center of the lodge and is about 18 feet high.

This is the last of the indian exhibits that I am posting to the blog. However I have many many more interesting pictures that show everyday indian life. If you want I would be happy to show them to you.

This is a very well done sculptor. The artist used members of his family for models.

This is the house that the movie star - Henry Fonda - was born in. His family did not actually own it but was renting when he was born. The house was originally located in Grand Island Nebraska but was moved a couple of miles south to the Stuhr Museum site.

The Stuhr Museum site is actually a very large tract of land that has many many interesting working demonstrations of Nebraska history. It also has traditional museum buildings with artifacts.

This is a part of a log cabin village at the Stuhr Museum site.

This sign marks the site of the Murdock Ruts. After this site was found and authenticated as a part of the mormon trail, Hall County Nebraska purchased it in order to preserve it. It is an interesting experience to see it but it is hard to find.

I camped on this spot next to the Mormon Trail. No one kicked me off but millions and millions of bugs tried to eat me.

When I first read about "wagon wheel ruts" I thought I was going to find the imprint of a wagon wheel sunk in the mud hardened to stone.

That is not even close to reality. What you really find is a path worn deep into the surrounding praire by thousands of wagon teams and people trekking along an unhardened dirt road. Over time the grasses have grown back over the trail. It is the same as a well used mountain trail worn deep by hundreds of people using it.

If you look close you can see the dip with both sides higher. It is lots easier to see in real life than it is in the picture. The light was not right to be able to see contour relief.

Blow this picture up and read the narrative. It gives a short account about a very interesting man. Joseph E Johnson was a mormon living among non mormons. Among other important pursuits he published a newspaper. I really got a kick out of the following:

"Johnson was a keen observer of the Nebraska scene which he discussed in a vigorous and breezy style suggested by his papers motto: "Independent in Everything, Neutral in Nothing".

He later migrated to Utah as per info on the plaque.

This Pony Express Station is in a public park in Gothenburg Nebraska. It is a free exhibit with interesting maps and history inside. There is a lady historian who will tell you everything about the Pony Express in Nebraska. She is a retired teacher and is very knowledgable.

The Pony Express Route was actually located a couple of miles south of here on the Platte River. This station was moved here from its original location.

I am changing the sequence that I enter pictures in the blog. This is the last picture of this part of the trip. I am entering it in the blog first so you will see it last.

Monday August 24, 2009

RIDE ACROSS NEBRASKA.

This blog entry will cover Wednesday August 19 through Monday August 24. Wednesday was a great day. Not a very good day for riding a bicycle because it rained all day. I just stayed in the “Mormon Trail Motel” and relaxed. Injuries incurred on my legs at Lake Powell needed time to heal anyway. I had time to plan the route and where I would attend Church on Sunday. I decided to go to Grand Island Nebraska. There are two wards there. It was about 160 miles away. I thought “no problem – I have three days, that is less than 60 miles per day”.

On the first day riding in Nebraska (Thursday 8/20) I did not encounter as many hills as I had in Iowa. However, there was a big problem: a 20 MPH headwind gusting to 30 MPH. A headwind makes a big difference. I was only able to ride between 7 – 8 MPH which means each mile takes 7 – 8 minutes of pain. My attitude suffered greatly because I was not able to see rapid progress as the miles passed so slowly. I rode 39 miles while expending more effort than 75 miles would normally take. I camped at a very nice “Fremont State Park Campground” that had a “Mormon Trail Historical Marker” nearby.

Friday 8/21 was more of the same. I fought really hard to ride 48 miles against a 20 MPH headwind blowing from the west. I camped at an abandoned Wal-Mart in Columbus, Nebraska. I did not arrive until after dark.

Saturday 8/22 I really had my work cut out for me. If I wanted to attend Church on Sunday I needed to ride 70 miles to Grand Island, Nebraska. Given my experience with the wind for the last two days it looked like a very hard day. However the wind died down and I was able to ride to Grand Island in time to take a shower and wash my clothes so I was all ready for Church. It was the easiest day of the past 3 days. Truck Stops are a great invention. The shower is expensive ($10.00) but you can wash your clothes while you shower and they usually have a restaurant so you can also eat while waiting for your clothes to wash and dry. It really saves a lot of time.

It is amazing how much a beautiful day – clear, sunny, cool, blue sky and no wind helps your attitude. It was fun to be outdoors riding a bicycle on Saturday. I watched the miles fly by at 4 minutes per mile. I helped a farmer catch a cow that had been wandering back and forth across the highway. The Platte River valley is absolutely flat. The little towns are about 10 miles apart. As soon as I left one town I could see the silos and water tower of the next town. It gave me a goal, something to ride to. The pioneers also made good progress through Nebraska.

The Nebraska Highways are in excellent shape. They are well maintained: no potholes, no cracks, no crumbling at the edges. But the most important thing is that they have a big wide shoulder for bicycles to ride on. Most of the shoulders are 6 foot wide. It is much safer for the bicyclist and for cars too. Cars do not have to cross over the centerline into oncoming traffic in order to pass a bicyclist without hitting him or scaring him.

Sunday August 23. I attended the Grand Island 2nd Ward at 9:00am. They had a great set of meetings. After church Bishop John Henderson and his wife Sylvia invited me to their house for dinner. They are an outstanding couple, fun to talk to with many family experiences and grandchild stories to relate. They also invited another interesting new ward member to dinner: Sister Jeanne Williams. We had a great dinner, a great discussion and even took a walk around the lake on their property. They have seven acres made to order for grandchild adventures. Sister Henderson related a number of extraordinary missionary experiences that her mother had as she strived to share the joy and happiness the gospel brings with friends and acquaintances. Everyone had interesting stories to tell. It was a pleasant, relaxing afternoon. They all seemed like family. I guess we are all brothers and sisters. Sunday night I stayed at the Comfort Inn so I could catch up on this blog.

Monday 8/24. I intend to go to the “Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer” and also find some 160 year old wagon ruts that have hardened in the mud.

This is the west side or rear of the Winter Quarters Temple.

This is the entrance to the Winter Quarters Temple. As you can see it is one of the new small Temples.

You might say that the light is not right for this picture. It was taken after 8:00 pm just as the sun was going down.

But I really like how the sun highlights the spire and the Angel Moroni.

This statue represents Parley P Pratt and his wife as they bury their baby son in the winter at this cemetery.

My picture does not adequately convey the emotional impact nor the quality of detail of this statue.

Entry gate to the Cemetery. The Winter Quarters Temple is located on the cemetery grounds. The next few pictures were taken in the cemetery

The light was not right to get the best picture but there are some really good statue representations of Pioneer activities here.

Part of the "Winter Quarters" town site is now a park in the middle of Florence Nebraska. Florence is a real neat place with lots of historical references and original sites, all of which are available.

Tuesday August 18, 2009

THE FAMILY LAKE POWELL VACATION WAS GREAT. I was able to explore Park City, hike, stay at the cabin, build big camp fires, go to Church, swim, water ski, jump off cliffs, eat good food and boat around Lake Powell with an outstanding group of people – my family. I have one son and four daughters. Each of them married really neat people. They have currently produced 13 of the cutest and funnest grandkids in the world.
THE RIDE IS BACK ON AGAIN. Monday I flew back to Omaha, Nebraska to continue the Bicycle Trip.
Tuesday I spent the whole day at Winter Quarters Nebraska (Florence or North Omaha to everyone but the Mormons). There is a lot to see and a lot to learn at the Mormon Trail Center, the Cemetery, and the old town site. However the highlight was that I was able to attend a temple session in the new Winter Quarters Temple. It was built in 2001 and is one of the small format temples. Although they do not rent temple clothes (I did not bring mine), they do have some extra for missionaries that they let me use.
Interesting information about the Council Bluffs Iowa / Omaha Nebraska area: The two are sister cities and are actually one big metropolitan area. They are basically separated by the Missouri River. However over the last hundred and fifty years the river has changed channels so part of Iowa is on the west side of the current river and is in Nebraska territory. There are many bicycle paths in the Council Bluffs / Omaha area and there is a beautiful suspended pedestrian bridge across the Missouri River so you can walk, run, bicycle or rollerblade between the two cities without fighting cars.
Brigham Young’s Pioneer Company left Nauvoo in February 1846 and originally intended to reach Deseret (Utah) before winter in 1846 but they had so much trouble with the mud and hills of southern Iowa that they did not reach the Missouri river until the fall of 1846. They decided to establish a camp for the winter and then proceed to Deseret the following spring. The decision was made to cross over the Missouri river in the late fall while the water was low so that they would not have to cross it with the high water “spring run off” next year. Brigham received permission to create “Winter Quarters” in the Indian Territory of Nebraska. He had to get approval from both the Indians and the U.S. Government. Negotiations over the 500 man enlistment in the Mormon Battalion played a part in the government’s approval. At that time there were 16,000 saints spread across Iowa and into Nebraska. They created a major settlement at Winter Quarters with over 500 log cabins and dug outs. They were laid out in organized wards with blocks for living and blocks for farming. Utah natives will be familiar with the street grid pattern used at Winter Quarters. Mormons migrating to Utah used Winter Quarters until at least 1852 and it may have been used until 1854.
A couple of the Apostles received a revelation that it was time for Brigham Young to be sustained as Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He had been leading the Church as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the two and one half years since the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed. After organizing the initial building and farming initiatives in Utah Brigham left and came back across the plains to Kanesville Iowa (Council Bluffs) and was sustained and set apart as the second President of the Church at a special Church conference on December 27, 1847. The big conference building has been reconstructed and there is a visitors center there now. It is in old town Council Bluffs.
In the future I will continue to blog about the trip across Nebraska and Wyoming and the fast descent into Utah.

This is the old townsite of Garden Grove Iowa. The grass outlines are where cabins once stood. Because the cabins were only temporary the pioneers did not lay a foundation of stones.

Present day Garden Grove is a short distance away. The people there are proud of the Mormon history. The high school is named "Mormon Trail High". I talked to the mayor and he told me all about finding the old cemetery and building a monument.

I took lots of other pictures but did not want to clutter up this blog. If you are interested I will show them to you.

There is a very good museum in Corydon Iowa that has a full life size diorama / statue that shows a husband/father leading an oxen through deep serious mud, a mother and baby riding on a wagon and a young boy prying a wagon wheel out of the mud. It is a very effective image but it did not photograph well (given the current state of the photographer's skill).

Other pictures and narrative follows.

This is one of many signs that tell you that the Mormon Trail crossed here.

In real life the scene is much more impressive.

Tharp Cemetary is close to the Locust Creek Campground and it has a big picture panel that tells the story about the Mormon Pioneers migration and how William Clayton came to write his famous hymn.

I took pictures of the panel but they do not show up well.

Although this looks like a lot of other places in Iowa, it is actually the location of Locust Creek Campground where William Clayton wrote the hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints". That hymn helped encourage others to continue the journey.

This dirt road is like all the other dirt roads that go to the Mormon pioneer sites.

Friday August 7, 2009

THE FAMILY VACATION IS A GO.
I successfully made it to Omaha, Nebraska in time to make the flight to Utah so it looks like I will be able to go on the FAMILY LAKE POWELL VACATION. I am sitting in the Airport reliving the past week through preparing this blog entry.

It has been a very interesting week and bicycle ride. And what a ride it was. I left Nauvoo late Friday afternoon (6:00 pm). The Mission President at the Nauvoo Visitors Center and Stephanie Fugal helped me figure out how and where to go to Church on Sunday. The Centerville branch was 111 miles away and met at 10:00 am. By riding as far and as fast as I possibly could on Friday, Saturday and Sunday Morning I made it. I was even 30 minutes early.
I met some of the best people at Church – Branch President Rodebush and his two councilors: Brother Bishop and Brother Bob White. Brother White was kind enough to feed me a Sunday afternoon meal and help me figure out how to get the Locust Creek Camp site where William Clayton wrote one of the most beloved Church Hymns “Come Come Ye Saints”. There were other interesting and very fine brothers and sisters at Church as well.

I also crossed paths with an outstanding young married couple that were also bicycling across the United States. Bill and Stephanie Brodegard live in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he is now attending Law School. They flew with their bicycles and equipment to Oregon, dipped their rear wheels in the Pacific Ocean and headed east where they will dip their front wheels in the Atlantic Ocean. They ride over 100 miles per day, one day covering 130 miles. They ride the same bicycle that I do – “Surly Long Haul Trucker”. They use the same 4 panniers – “ORTLIEB Waterproof Classic” and much of the same equipment that I use. They are also carrying a laptop. The only thing is that they are smart enough to ride together so they share the weight and each carry only 2 bags. They are very outgoing and make friends almost every night to stay with. They researched an internet group called “Warm Showers”. Those people are mostly cyclists themselves and have agreed to let cross country cyclists stay at their homes.

Bill linked me up with a great guy named Todd Smith in Council Bluffs Iowa who agreed to garage my bicycle and equipment while I travel to Utah. He fed me, let me sleep and shower at his house and brought me to the airport. He even showed me a bicycle path that will take me from his house to Winter Quarters Nebraska (a neighborhood of Omaha) after I return from Utah. Todd is a very accomplished and experienced bicyclist himself and was fun to talk to.
For the past 9 days I have ridden between 50 and 80 miles per day. I feel good about my cross country touring capabilities now. It is not 100 miles per day but there is a difference between 26 year old legs and 66 year old legs. 26 year old legs are better.

EXPERIENCE THE RIDE. There are no flat spots in southern Iowa. There is only up and down. Sometimes the ups and downs are steep and sometimes they are shallow but everything is either up or down. The ups can be difficult (when you pedal them) and they can also be relaxing (when you walk and push the bike up them). I pushed the bike up enough hills that I never really got a sore butt in Iowa. The downs can be exhilarating or they can be terrifying. You are going around 28 miles per hour trying to stay on a little white line with big trucks, cars and farm equipment whizzing past you on a road with lots of potholes and you are almost naked. There are no pants covering your knees and there are no shirt sleeves covering your elbows. Just imagine the road rash you would get in a spectacular crash at that speed. The upside is that you cover a lot of distance fast and it is very thrilling with the wind blowing through your hair and all your senses alert and in survival mode. Northern Iowa is flat because 20,000 years ago a glacier came through and scrapped the ground flat but it did not make it down to southern Iowa so erosion had longer to work there.
There is a reason that most cyclist cross the country from west to east. That reason is the trade winds. Almost every day I am riding into a headwind. It varies between 3 and 20 MPH but it is almost always there when you are headed west. Occasionally the wind blows out of the south so it only has a cross wind component. A couple of times I rode north to connect to another highway and had a tailwind. It was amazing. Instead of riding 15 MPH up a slight incline I was going 23 MPH and that was going up. I couldn’t believe it.

PIONEER PERSPECTIVE. No matter how hard I think I have had it the Pioneers had it 50 times harder – Serious Mud. On a bad day with rain, headwind and constant rolling hills I can travel 50 miles. I have a paved road with bridges over the streams. I have never encountered mud. On a bad day the Pioneers were only able to travel 1 mile. Sometimes the mud was so deep that wagon wheels would sink up to their axles. They had to cut roads through the trees. They had to ford rivers or build bridges. Often they built bridges for the benefit of those who were following.
When the first party of pioneers were crossing the Iowa territory it was not settled. No one lived here. Missouri to the south was settled. The first group of Mormon Pioneers traveled through southern Iowa because they did not have enough food. They would go into Missouri to trade for food. Later pioneers used a more northern route through Iowa that did not have as many hills and mud was not as much a problem.

The Mormon History aspect of the trip has been very enlightening. I have gained a major respect for those strong individuals. They were just ordinary people. They did not know then that later generations would venerate them as “PIONEERS”. I better understand the trials they endured, the mental, moral and physical strength they exhibited and the reasons behind the decisions that they made. They were always thinking about and preparing for those following. Garden Grove is a town that they built to grow food for later pioneers. Those pioneers were trying with everything they had to try to follow what they thought the Lord expected of them. When I got tired, I stopped and rested in my waterproof tent, warm sleeping bag and pulled goodies out of my bags that the bicycle carried for me. When I got hungry I stopped at a café in one of the small towns along the way. When I got wet and cold I would spend a night in a motel and take a warm shower. When the pioneers got wet, cold, tired, or hungry they kept going to the end of the day. In some cases they actually worked themselves to death.

All in all I have gotten everything that I hoped I would get out of this trip so far. I truly believe that the Lord has blessed me and I also believe that he blessed the pioneers so they could accomplish what they did.

This picture was taken in Nauvoo but it was after I had finished the blog so I am posting it from the Omaha Airport. The main reason for this picture is to show one of those silly prima donna bicyclists resplendant in his cute little lyra outfit.

However I can say that the stuff works. It keeps you dry which means that you are warmer when it is cold and because it helps evaporation, you are cooler when it is hot. And the padding helps prevent "sore butt", a bad cyclist disease.