Bykered

On completion of this journey we all hugged and thanked God. Since it was a nice shady spot we decided to have our lunch there. Ed wanted to see the Owen Sound so I directed him there. We had stopped there for information earlier. Then we hit the road heading south for the first time in over five weeks. It was a bright beautiful sunny day for traveling but on the cool side, 49 degrees.
Later Ed pulled into an A & W and to celebrate we all had Root Beer Floats. Miriam and I have not been in an A&W for perhaps forty years. We are all in a celebrative mood.
Much further south in the town of Caledonia we stopped at a nice little restaurant and had dinner. Earlier we had agreed that whenever we eat out we each pay our own. The Longeneckers insisted on paying ours this time as a thank you. Who should be thanking who? We are so blest to have had this opportunity to see so much more of God’s great universe and be with these two dear people. They insisted. Thanks Ed & Rhoda.
About eight we arrived at Maurice & Arlene Mellinger Yager’s lovely home near SelKirk, Ontario, about a mile from Lake Erie. It is a cold rainy evening but no match for the warmth of their friendship. Maurice helped us hook up the electric and then we had a lovely evening together. Yes, there were a lot of biking stories and laughs. Tired, we all hit the sack about 10:30. They offered us their beds but we all chose to stay in our MH beds again. There we have all our clothes etc.

Sunday 20. We were up at 6:45 to another cold, damp drizzly morning. We piled on the covers during the night. Arlene Had a delicious breakfast of more than any of us should have eaten.
We went with them to their little church, Rainham Mennonite. We made up 27 persons. It is one of the oldest congregations in Ontario but having a hard time. The farms grow larger and the population decreases and there have been struggles. It was a warm fellowship and the pastor had a good message.
During the announcement time before worship they had us sing our famous “I Owe The Lord A Morning Song.” I think we did it better this time than ever.
For Sunday school they had asked Ed and Rhoda and us to share our learnings from the bike trip. There was good interaction and interest with the 8-10 persons including the pastor.
For lunch the Yagers drove us through and by a lot of points of interest and finally to Port Dover some thirty miles west to a very nice restaurant where they treated, another part of the celebration. We and the Longeneckers agreed that there would be no better place for a celebration than with the Yagers. They know how to party.
On the way back we went past a huge power plant on Lake Erie where many freighter loads of coal daily arrive from Astubula, Ohio. We went through there about a week ago and saw many rail cars of coal and huge piles of coal. We did not know if the coal was coming in or going out.
Maurice took us to the farms he and his sons farm and also showed us the Maple Syrup operation his son Allen has. It is huge. We received delicious samples.
Back home Arlene showed her flower gardens. She is a master gardener and then some. I chatted with Maurice.
After a delicious snack and chatter catching up on old times we watched the DVD of Ed’s farewell Service at Landis Homes. What a joy it was, with a lot of good laughs. It was a cool rainy day and we went to bed about 10:30.

Monday 21. We were awake at our usual six. Again Arlene had a great breakfast of baked oatmeal with all the trimmings.
We got off at eight as planned on a beautiful sunny morning. Too bad it was not nice like that yesterday for Arlene to share her garden.
In about an hour and 15 minutes we crossed the Peace Bridge back into the USA again. US Customs only asked Ed a couple questions. We are not certain if they even saw Miriam or I. That was very smooth and we would not have needed out birth certificates. They did not even ask for our driver photo ID’s which we all had ready.
It was a beautiful day for traveling with the temperature staying in the high forties until we crossed the mountain south of Williamsport, then it began to warm up. The hills of New York State and northern Pennsylvania were so beautiful. Ed did need to stop at a DQ, a favorite that is hard for him to pass, especially when on the bike.
We pulled into Landis Homes at 5:10 and began sorting things out to unload. There were Azaleas, Rhododendren and other flowers booming which Ed and Rhoda walked around to see.
Again we warmly hugged and kissed goodbye. While it is nice to be home it was sad to see the motor home drive away. It had been our home for 40 days and 39 nights of a lot of fun and joy. How blest we have been to be allowed to have shared in the journey of these two delightful and faithful Christian friends.
While Miriam and I did nothing but sit and watch the scenery go by today we are more tired than we have been for a number of nights. It is a bit of a downer too for it all to have come to an end. But that is life. Ed and Rhoda agreed with us that Landis Homes is a beautiful place. We hope that some of these years they will be able to join us here.
Rhoda calculated that twelve nights we were not in campgrounds. Many time we parked in shopping mall parking lots. Other times we were at friends. Meeting people along the way was certainly one of the highlights.
What a big job it now is to go through the mail of the past 5 ½ weeks. It will take several days. Tomorrow we will need to go to Oregon Dairy to replenish our depleted food supply. We should have our own nice hot shower and be in bed by ten.
If I get the time and have the ambition I may try to do a summary of the trip.
Beginning mid June we are making a 5-6 week trip to the West Coast to attend Mennonite General Assembly and see the sights along the way. I may pick it up then. We’ll see.