Rain, a Flat Tire, and a Holy Cyclist Hostel

Content Advisory: This blog post is written and designed with children ten years old and younger in mind. Kids, you can go ahead and skip this paragraph and start reading. Adults, make sure you get permission from your child before reading. If you don't have a child, it's okay to get permission from your niece, nephew, 2nd cousin once removed, or that little girl who lives next doors who's always leaving her toys in your driveway (In all seriousness, I encourage all of you to share these blog posts with your children, maybe even read them to your children who are not yet able to read).

(Click here to find out what this ride is all about. I encourage all who are able to support the children of Ryves Youth Center with a donation. Click here to make a donation.)

**If your children have any questions or comments for me about my ride or about anything I've written, feel free to comment on my blog, and I will do my best to respond within 24 hours.

Today started out rainy and dreary, but it turned out much better than I had ever expected. I got a late start from my buddy Tim's house in Clarksville, Tennessee, because it was raining and I wanted to make sure all of my gear was waterproofed. I carry waterproof panner bags on my bicycle, but just in case any water gets in, I like to seal up all my clothing and most everything inside of the bags inside of freezer bags or other plastic bags. 

I started out my ride at around 9:45 a.m., which was much later than I'd wanted to start. I quickly crossed into the state of Kentucky (Tim's house is very close to the Kentucky border). I rode in the rain for the first few hours. It wasn't that bad, though, because I was wearing a poncho and the weather wasn't very cold. After a few hours, the rain stopped and it didn't rain for the rest of the day. I passed through a little town called Crofton to get some snacks and drinks, but I had to stay there longer than I expected because I got a flat tire on my back wheel! It's a good thing that I brought the extra tubes and the pump that I told you about yesterday. I figured out how I got the flat, though: There was a little, tiny piece of wire sticking through my tire! Thankfully, I found it and pulled it out before I put a new tube in; otherwise, it would have punctured the new tube as soon as I put it in! So I put in the new tube, aired it up, and got back on the road. Here are a few pictures that I took while I was in Crofton:  

I started back on the road and went as quickly as I could, because I wanted to get to my destination before the end of the day. I already had planned on stopping in Sebree, Kentucky, but I didn't know anything about the city other than the fact that around 1,500 people lived there. I was able to ride at a pretty fast speed for most of the day; I think the wind was at my back, which made it a lot easier. I rode through Madisonville, which is a medium-sized city in Kentucky, and at around 4:35 p.m. I arrived in Sebree. I wasn't sure where I would stay for the night. Usually when I get to a new town, I will go to the police station or the fire station and ask if they know of a place where I can lay out my sleeping bag and stay for the night. I found the city municipal building in Sebree where the volunteer fire department was, but I didn't see anyone there. Just then, I saw a man pulling up to the building in a pickup truck. I told him I was looking for a place to lay out a sleeping bag and stay for the night, and he said, "Well, I go to the First Baptist Church here in Sebree, and we have a place in the basement of the church for you cyclists to stay!" I thought that was rather odd, because most towns don't have a lot of people travelling through them by bicycle. But I followed his directions and found the church. Here was the sign that greeted me:

A "hostel" just means a place for people to stay at night, and a cyclist is a person who travels on a bicycle--so this was a hostel for cyclists. There was no one at the church, and the pastor who lived next door wasn't home, so I wasn't sure what to do. A man who lived across the street called me over. His name was Bob, and he used to be the pastor of the Sebree First Baptist Church, but he is retired now. Bob told me how to get into the hostel, and told me that there was another cyclist there name Stephen who would show me around. He also said that his wife Violet would have supper ready for us at 6:30 p.m.

I went into the hostel where I met Stephen, and I quickly found out why there is a cycling hostel in Sebree. There is a popular bicycle route called the Trans-America Bicycle Trail. It is a route that goes all the way across the United States from east to west, following a lot of major highways as it goes across. Hundreds of people right the Trans-America Bicycle Trail every year. That is how the church ended up starting a ministry to help cyclists. It was by chance that I happened to find this place, and I'm not going east or west like most of the cyclists who stop here; I'm going north.

I took a shower and changed my clothes, then Stephen and I headed over for dinner. We met Bob's wife Violet, and his grandson Drew. Violet fixed us a wonderful dinner and made sure that we were well fed. She had a wide variety of food available, and I ended up eating macaroni and cheese, pulled pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, tomatoes, ice cream, sweet tea, soda, orange juice, and some broccoli. That's a lot of food, isn't it? I usually don't eat that much food on normal days when I'm not riding a bicycle a lot, but when I have ridden 82 miles like I did today, it makes me very, very hungry.

Violet told me that she and her husband have been giving cyclists a warm meal and a place to stay for 37 years now, since 1980. She said that when Bob started out as pastor of the church in 1980, they didn't even know what the Trans-America trail was. But a lot of cyclists kept passing through and, whenever the city park was closed, they would knock on her door and ask for a place to camp for the night. I know that some people think that the way to serve God is to go out to some faraway place and find people to help, but Bob and Violet found a way to serve God just by helping the people who happened to knock on their own front door. They did so by giving them even more than what they asked for. The people asked for a place to camp outside, but Bob and Violet gave them a place to take a shower, a warm meal, and a bed to sleep on inside. Eventually, they dedicated a whole section of the church basement as a place for cyclists to shower, do laundry, and have a warm place to sleep. Even now, they help out a few hundred cyclists every year.

Two more cyclists joined us for dinner before I left, and Violet made sure that they, too, had plenty of food. I thanked Bob and Violet for their work, and told them that I would pray for them. They need someone to pray for them, because they do a very important work. Before I left to go back to the hostel in the church, Bob and Violet prayed with all of us. Violet showed us pictures and postcards from the cyclists she has met over the years, and said that she prays for the cyclists constantly, especially when there are storms or other weather than can make it hard to travel by bicycle. Not only do they pray for the cyclists, but they do what they can to help them, sometimes driving them to the closest bicycle shop if they need something fixed on their bicycle.

I have been to church a lot over the year. I've heard a lot of sermons about the love of Jesus--how Jesus loved us so much that He died on the Cross to forgive our sins. As a Christian, I think that's an important message. But that message shines even brighter when someone lives it out, when someone loves other people the way Jesus did. I want to be like Bob and Violet, who give of themselves to help other people, through prayers, through work, through loving care, and who never ask for any money or other reward in return for what they do. By helping the cyclists, they are showing the same love that Jesus did when He died on the cross. Jesus is doing His work in them and through them. Even though they don't preach a sermon to the cyclists who come through, I know that the message of Jesus' love is still ringing through clearly. He is using these two humble servants to help a lot of people. I'm blessed to have met them. Tonight I pray for the safe travels of the three cyclists with whom I had dinner this evening, and a special blessing on Bob, Violet, and their grandson Drew, as they continue to perform the work of God by helping other people.

I would ask all my readers to think about what you can do to help those whom you meet every day. What are some ways that you can give to others, without expecting anything in return? Giving to other people without getting any reward for yourself is a hard thing to do--it's something I need to work on, too.

This beautiful piece of artwork is on display at the cyclist hostel in Sebree, KY where I'm staying tonight