We’re Off!

We left CoMo yesterday morning just before sunrise and headed west. Our goal is to make it to Washington by Friday so that I can begin the bike ride on Saturday. Travel conditions included a mixture of sunshine, rain and road construction. We were also able to make stops at Wall Drug and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

The highlight for our first day of travel was an unexpected spotting of Jerry and Janet Thorson just outside of Sioux City, IA on I-29. (The Thorsons are former members of Campus Lutheran and Janet served as our Office Assistant for four years.) After a quick phone call we met for lunch and had time reunite and catch up a little bit. Jerry and Janet are finishing a new house in the Black Hills near Sundance, WY. They were on their way to visit family, but offered us their place for the night. We made it to their picturesque new digs at about midnight. Thank you Thorsons!

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Special Gift Received

A BIG thank you to my friend Peter Zeidner who has given me a helmet camera to record videos of my bike ride across America!  Pete is a member of my former congregation in Ohio where I served as campus pastor at Kent State University.  Take a moment to check out Pete’s non-profit organization, Pedal-with-Pete, which he founded to help fund cerebral palsy research through bicycling.  Here’s a link to a video Pete made.

New Sponsor Joins the Ride

We are proud to welcome The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Office of National Mission as a sponsor of Pastor Kent Pierce and Lutheran Campus Mission Association’s Bike Ride Across America! Thanks so much! Would you like to support this event as a sponsor? Just send Lutheran Campus Mission Association an email!

The Countdown Begins…

The truck and camper are ready.  Pre-trip route revisions are almost complete.  I received a wonderful send-off from the great folks at Campus Lutheran Church this morning.  School will be out for Jen and the kids in just a couple of days.  Only a few more details to wrap up in CoMo before hitting the road for Washington on May 30th.  Many thanks to everyone who is providing encouragement and prayer support for this ride!  I appreciate all of you more than I’m able to express!!