Frank Wagner's Daily Journal
Thursday, September 24, 2009
day 24
I know now already that this journal entry will fall far short of expressing the feelings and emotions of the day. It begins with the fact that by coming to Trinity Lutheran Seminary Martina and I were returning to the place where we began our marriage 28 years ago. In fact last night we slept in the married housing building, in the room that was located just underneath the room where we started our married life together. When we got up and went for breakfast we walked around the campus and said a hundred times "do you remember when.....?", "this is where we...".
At 10 AM they had a special worship service for all the returning alumni and retired faculty, and present students and faculty. The worship center was full. What I always loved was the singing in this chapel. The acoustics are fantastic, all stone, so when 250 people, mostly pastors, sing, the place "rocks"! We raised the roof. As part of the worship service, during the offering, they asked me to bring my bicycle forward signifying that this was a symbol of my offering to the seminary. After worship many people came forward and personally thanked me.
At 11:30 AM Martina and I were able to meet with my pastor and his wife (Pastor Ed Simonsen and his wife Sandy) for lunch. Pastor Ed is the pastor who was most influential during my teenage years and is the one who encouraged me to consider being a pastor when I was 16 years old.
At 3:30 PM the seminary hosted a reception for all the alumni. Even though only 6 of my classmates and their spouses attended it was very nice to gather with them and catch up on the last 25 years.
At 5:30 PM there was a banquet for all of the alumni and present faculty and staff. It was at this event that they really took the time to focus on our bicycle journey. They had a power point presentation of pictures and journals that was scrolling throughout the evening. They asked Martina and I to come forward and to speak about the journey and why we did it. Pastor Gary Sandberg announced that to this date $30,000 in gifts and pledges had been received. During and after the banquet many present students and faculty came up and thanked Martina and I for our efforts. We both felt very appreciated.
By 7:30 PM Martina and I were back on the road again, this time my bicycle was in the car and I was driving. We drove to Lexington, Kentucky and called it a night.
A wonderful day and an awesome journey has come to an end. To God be all the honor and glory. God is good, all the time.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
day 22
Centerville, OH – Beavercreek, OH (Peace Lutheran Church) – Xenia, OH (First Lutheran Church), 41 miles
Bike riding couldn’t have been any better than what I experienced today. The weather was dry, cloudy and in the mid 70s. I was able to ride most of the day on part of the Rails to Trails system, which means that they converted old railroad tracks into beautiful walk and biking paths. I rode most of my miles today in the woods or through fields of corn and peas, or past herds of cattle. Along the way I saw deer run across my path and for the very first time in my life I saw an albino squirrel. Of course I didn’t have a camera at the time.
When Martina and I arrived in Beavercreek at Peace Lutheran Church we had the joy of having lunch with Pastor Bob Brown, Associate in Ministry Linda Cole and their Intern Alex. It was a very special time as all of us reflected on our seminary education and experience. All of us attended Trinity Lutheran Seminary. Bob and I were classmates and the two ladies attended seminary at different times. We all loved our seminary experiences even though they were quite different. We also spent time sharing about the challenges of ministry as professional staff. I realized that no matter if you are in Ohio or Florida there are many things about ministry in the church that we all have in common.
| Tonight we have our camper set up in a church parking lot that is in the heart of town. I can look out our camper window and see seven fast food restaurants and three gas stations. The traffic noise is loud and constant. Ambulances and police go by regularly with sirens blaring. This place is hopping with activity. I don’t suppose they will stop at 10 PM when I go to bed! But, I got to take a shower, a hot one, in a real shower! God is good, all the time! |
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Monday, September 21, 2009
day 21
Crestview Hills, KY - Loveland, OH (Prince of Peace Lutheran Church ) - Centerville, OH, (Christ The King Lutheran Church), 73 miles
We left Kentucky behind us this morning and entered into our fifth and final state, Ohio! But we don't have a welcome to Ohio picture because the sign was hanging over a bridge as we crossed the Ohio River and traffic would not have appreciated it had we stopped our car on the middle of the bridge for a "Kodak moment". But before I go on I need to tell you two special facts about last night. Because it was raining so hard Pastors Vicki and Phil Garber invited us to stay in their guest bedroom. Certainly we appreciated their kindness and hospitality. But what made it extra special were two things. First, they have invited the bishop of the Indiana/Kentucky Synod to be their guest in the house before. So a bishop slept in the same bed I slept in last night. Whoa! But just think, the next time he sleeps in that bed he'll know that a "biker" slept in the bed before him! The second thing that made it special was the guest bedroom had a TV. This would be the first time that I could watch TV in 20 days. I knew there was going to be a great football game to watch, Dallas Cowboys against the New York Giants. I laid down in bed to watch and in 10 minutes I was asleep!
Today was a unique day full of new experiences. Instead of making the usual all day journey to our evening church stop, today we had a lunch invitation at Prince of Peace Lutheran in Loveland, OH and our overnight stay is at Christ the King Lutheran in Centerville, OH. At Prince of Peace in Loveland we had lunch with Pastor Jonathan Eilert and some of his staff and members. One of the members who ate lunch with us, Paul Leiter, is an avid bicyclist with years of hardcore biking experience, including a solo trip across the country from the west coast to the east coast in 60 days pulling a small trailer behind him! He did that when he was 60 years old. What an animal!
After lunch, Paul joined me for part of the ride to Christ the King Lutheran Church in Centerville, OH. He brought us to a most beautiful bicycle trail that is part of the Rails to Trails system in OH. We rode together for 30 miles on an exclusive walking and biking trail through the forest along the Little Miami River. Fall is just beginning to show itself here in Ohio, so many leaves had fallen and it was just gorgeous.
Martina and I arrived at Christ the King Lutheran around 5:30 PM, where we were greeted by Pastor Dona Johnson, her husband and the Church Council that were meeting later that evening. On the front doors of the church were signs hanging welcoming us to their church and inside on the church bulletin board was a large announcement that we were arriving tonight. Truly this congregation was aware and supportive of our journey. Because of the Council meeting Dona was not able to join us for dinner, but we had a wonderful evening with her husband Mike. Everyone has been so very kind and gracious to us.
God is good, all the time!
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Sunday, September 20, 2009
day 20
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Well Martina and I went to church twice today, how about you? In fact we worshipped in the morning at Faith Lutheran Church in Lexington with Pastor Ronald Luckey and Holly Shipley and in the evening we worshipped at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Crestview Hills with Pastor Vicki Garber. In between we pedaled a whole bunch of miles, but not as many as we hoped. Let me tell you about it. We woke up this Sunday morning at 6 AM glad for a dry evening finally, because it means we get to pack the camper away for the day dry. We have had rain for the past four out of five days so we were glad to have dry weather. But at 7 AM in the middle of breakfast we heard thunder, and Martina said with emphasis and haste breakfast is over lets close up! We rushed as the first drops started to fall, grabbing out of the camper what we needed for the day and throwing it in the car and then rushing to close up the camper before the rain came pouring down. We did it in record time. And then the sky opened up. Since we were already at church and had nothing else we could do we ended up getting to church 45 minutes early! |
| We could have been the greeters or part of the set up team for the morning! The people of Faith Lutheran were very gracious in welcoming us. When service let out they felt bad for us that we were now going to have to ride in the pouring rain.
Since it was pouring rain and we had to go through downtown Lexington we opted to drive out of town with the car and unload where it was safer. Maybe the rain would let up. And it did. We were fortunate that we could see up close and personal the magnificent thoroughbred horses and farms that Lexington is known for. Thousands of acres of manicured farms with the most beautiful horses. The barns the horses live in looked ten times better than many homes some people live in. The main homes were mansions. Somebody has to explain to me how people make money with these horses when it seems to cost so much to maintain them. |
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| For two hours it only sprinkled and we stopped to have lunch under a pavilion at Kincaid State Park to get out of the rain. After lunch it was still raining lightly and I told Martina that I'm already soaked so it doesn't matter lets keep riding. We stayed on all back roads and saw beautiful countryside consisting of more horse ranches, a herd of llamas, and lots of tobacco and corn. We were able to ride another 20 miles before the sky opened up again and it poured. By that time it was getting close to worship time at Gloria Dei and so we loaded up the bike and drove the rest of the way into Cresview Hills. |  |
| Gloria Dei has a beautiful campus. The people were very gracious and welcoming to us. Example, they noticed that we had no clue how Holy Communion worked so they came to our rescue and showed us where to go and what to do. They must have seen our confused look. After worship we enjoyed getting to know Pastor Vicki Garber and her husband Pastor Phil Garber over dinner. Once dinner was over and it was still pouring rain down outside they encouraged us to come and stay at their home for the night. They are experienced campers and know that it is challenging to set up a camper in the rain. God is good, all the time. |
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Saturday, September 19, 2009
Day 19
Finally a day without rain! But it remained cool and overcast so it was actually very comfortable bike riding weather. Unfortunately the primary road leading to Lexington, Hwy 27, had next to no shoulder, and the little bit of shoulder it might have had they put the rumble stripes in, so it was very uncomfortable to ride on. Usually Martina would find other back roads to ride on. But since we were in rural Kentucky there were very few north/south back roads. Fortunately, Hwy 27 didn't have too much traffic and I could ride on the street.
The Lexington, KY area is horse country. So we saw many beautiful horse farms. And it is true, the grass fields in Kentucky that we saw did have a blue tint to them, hence the statement that Kentucky is the blue grass state.
We did ride along the Kentucky River and Cumberland Lake, but I don't know how people get down to the water to enjoy it. There is a natural rock wall and ledge on all sides that are 100-200 feet high! You would kill yourself getting to them. There are designated areas that people have to go to in order to launch boats or swim.
This evening we had the opportunity to have dinner with Holly Shipley, the Associate In Ministry at Faith, Pastor Arnon Lundborg and his wife Marion, Pastor Barry Neese, campus chaplain at the University of Kentucky and Phyliss, a member of Faith. It was a wonderful evening. Our camper this evening is set up next to a home occupied by a bunch of students from the University of Kentucky and they are celebrating because UK won in football tonight. I think I can now sing the UK fight song!
God is good, all the time!
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Friday, September 18, 2009
day 18
So Martina and I opted to go routes off Hwy 27 as much as possible. The problem is, they are not as direct and the hills are much steeper and there are many more of them. I needed the "granny gear" three times today. And it almost happened today, but only almost, that "granny" wasn't enough. I thought we left the toughest hills behind us when we left Tennessee, but Kentucky has some killers too.
Pastor Jim Merkel of Redeemer Lutheran Church invited us to set up our camper at his home. He has a beautiful home high in the hills with a spectacular view of the Cumberland River and the Foot Hills. In addition to the view what was spectacular is that he provided us with a real shower, a delicious home cooked meal, a washer and drier to do our laundry and a TV so I could get caught up with the latest football scores. We felt like we were staying at the Hilton Hotel! Many thanks Pastor Jim.
God is good, all the time!
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
day 17
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Today is my birthday, and it was unlike any I have had so far. It started off at 6:44 AM with the best phone call of all. My 14 year old son Mark called. Mark is on the Junior Varsity football team at his school. "Hey dad, the varsity football team has a game tonight. All the football players, including the JV players have to wear a tie to school. I don't know how to tie a tie. Can you tell me how to do it." So with the help of modern technology Mark put a tie on at home and I put a tie on here in the camper in Oak Ridge, TN and I walked/talked him through it over the cell phone. I smiled all day long thinking about that one. I miss being at home with Mark, but he gave me the best gift for my birthday, he let me be his dad. 30 minutes later he called me from the van he was riding to school in and everybody in the van sang happy birthday to me, again over the cell phone. Folks, it doesn't get much better than that for a dad. |
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Through out the day I received birthday phone calls from my other three children, my mother, my brothers and my mother-in-law all the way from Switzerland. My whole day was filled with great conversations from people who love me. Then when I opened my email this evening I received over 100 emails from all the fantastic and loving members of my congregation wishing me happy birthday. JoAnn must have bribed or threatened everyone! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Tomorrow I will be on cloud nine and just float over the hills. By the way, I learned some history last night from the people of Grace Lutheran in Oak Ridge. It was in Oak Ridge that the atomic bomb was developed and assembled back in the 1940s. They brought in the great minds of science from all around the country to live in Oak Ridge and assemble the bomb. Lots of people had small tasks and no one knew what the other person was doing. No one knew what they were really working on. Because of how secretive this was the city of Oak Ridge was not even put on the map until the late 50s. During the Cold War years Oak Ridge was one of the cities on the Russians list of cities to be destroyed if they ever attacked the USA. There is still a lot of nuclear waste in Oak Ridge, so at night the city has a unique glow to it, so they joke. Today was the third day that Tennessee was completely covered with rain clouds. In the morning I was able to escape the rain and road thirty miles. But the second thirty miles this afternoon I road in the rain. The temperatures were in the 60s and I was completely wet, but I wasn't cold because you put out a tremendous amount of heat when you are pedaling over the hills. Martina found a dry spot for lunch. We ate under the front porch of an Assembly of God church in Elgin, TN. It is amazing to me that by the time this journey is over at least 30 churches will have played a very important role in our experience. The reason we are in a Methodist church this evening is because there are no Lutheran congregations around. Two interesting experiences happened here at this church. All day long we have been trying to reach someone from the church to remind that we were coming this evening. That is our standard operating procedure. But we couldn't reach anyone. So when we arrived at 4 PM there was no one here to show us where to set up, plug in, get water and give us a key to the restroom. What do we do. I walked around and found a door to the church open. I walked all through the building, but no one was here. I thought, did they just leave the door open for us and basically that was it, figure the rest out? Do I call the police and let them know so that they don't come assuming we are breaking in? Do I go and notify the neighbors so they know what we are doing set up our camper on church property? Or do we just skip it and find a hotel somewhere? We opted to stay and make ourselves at home. After doing this 16 times already we knew how to help ourselves. After we were all set up and made ourselves comfortable the contact person from the church dropped by and was surprised to see us here because we had never called him. It turns out the pastor had told him that I would call his cell phone number, which I never received. The contact person was convinced that God opened the doors to the church for us and he was glad we made ourselves at home. The next thing that was interesting is that on the church bulletin board was a news article from the head office of the United Methodist Church to all United Methodist Churches. "Just because the ELCA had voted to ordain gay clergy does not mean that the UMC was heading in that direction." The reason for this article was that the day before the ELCA Assembly had voted and approved ordaining homosexuals who are in life long monogamous relationships, the ELCA Assembly had voted to enter into full fellowship with the UMC. I thought it was interesting to read the reactions of the UMC. I think they wanted to calm their flock. The Girl Scouts of Oneida, TN have something new to talk about. When they came for their regular Thursday evening meeting at 6:30 PM at the First United Methodist Church there was a "strange man" taking a shower right in front of the church entrance! God is good, all the time! |
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009
day 16
There are many things about each day that are the same, but there are always a few things that make the day unique. This morning when we woke up at 5:30 AM the first thing I did was check the local weather radar. What I found out is that we would be under rain clouds the entire day and that the closer we got to our destination the more likely we would get rained on. So we decided to ride as much as we could, and as long as it didn't pour down, or lightening, or get too cold we would ride.
For those of you following the map we rode primarily up Hwy 27. What was so very nice today was that on the side of Hwy 27 they had included a bike lane that was at least 10ft wide. That allowed my friend Eddie and I to ride side by side and talk with each other for hours. Yes, it's true, men can talk with each other, without a TV in the room, as long as they don't have to look at each other. The hours and the miles passed quickly. We covered a lot of ground literally as well as solving most of the world's problems. We saved a few easy ones for the women to take care of.
While riding through a small town called Herriman suddenly a loud explosion came from behind me. It was Eddie's bike. He had run over some glass and it blew a big whole in his tube as well as a whole in his tire. Eddie changed out tube and tire and we were back on the road again.
Eventually we caught up to the rain just outside of Oak Ridge in a town called Dylann. The rain came down in buckets! Martina found a Baptist church that had a large carport and we stopped there to have lunch. They call this part of the country the "The Bible Belt" because there are small churches everywhere, most of them Baptist. Well we are very grateful to them because they have provided for many of our lunch stops along the way and quite often protection from the rain.
After lunch was over it was still pouring down rain so we used that as an opportunity to take Eddie into town to get a rental car because Eddie decided to head back home earlier than originally planned. He found out that his daughter was coming home from college with her boyfriend and Eddie wanted to spend some time with them. It was great to have Eddie along for the ride and to spend several wonderful days together getting caught up.
When we arrived at Grace Lutheran Church Pastor Steve Damos and AIM Paula Smith met us and shared with us the wonderful news that their church had a shower. That was great news after spending several hours being damp and cool. After a warm shower we joined the congregation for their delicious Wednesday evening dinner and they allowed me to share for a few minutes about the bicycle journey and Trinity Lutheran Seminary. I found out that Pastor Steve Damos is a graduate of Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC and Paula Smith is a graduate of Trinity Lutheran Seminary and she has a daughter studying at Trinity now. The people of Grace gave to a free will offering for Trinity after supper and their gift will be matched by Thrivent. God is good, all the time!
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009
day 15
Hixson, 48 miles, TN - Evensville, TN, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
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Last night it poured down rain while we slept, in buckets, and in the morning when my alarm went off at 5:30 AM it was still pouring. So much for leaving at 7 AM. By 7 AM the rain started to let up. I went on the internet and checked the weather radar and found out that the rain storm was moving in the same direction that we were suppose to ride in. I also saw on the radar that there was no storm behind us. So the plan was, we would leave when the storm let up and ride slow enough to allow the storm to stay ahead of us all day. That is exactly what happened. By 9 AM we left Hixson. |
| And as we road in a northeasterly direction the storm stayed in front of us. So the whole day was dark and overcast, but we stayed relatively dry, except for our own sweat. One time we got caught in the rain. So I told Martina to just pull over and wait for 15 minutes and give the storm front a chance to move on ahead of us again. And that worked. Everywhere we went it had just rained. I was glad for the cool temperatures because Eddie and I sure had to pedal hard. All day long, up and down hills. Before I left home I had asked Robbie, my bike repairman in Juno Beach, to build in an extra big low gear for the really tough hills. I call this gear my “Granny Gear”. It is suppose to make riding up the hills so easy that even Granny could get up the hill. But now that we were in the hills I was trying not to use it, rather save it for when I really really needed it. Throughout the whole journey so far I had not needed Granny yet. Well today I needed Granny twice. But I need to talk to Robbie when I get back, it was still very hard to get up the hill. No way could Granny have made it! |
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| We rode along the Tennessee River Valley, that is my strategy for avoiding the Cumberland Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. I think the strategy is working because all along the ride today I could see much higher mountains in the distance, and I was so grateful that we did not need to cross them. I just don’t know if we will be so fortunate when we have to head north to Lexington, KY. But I am not going to worry about that yet. After a very painful day of riding yesterday, Eddie felt much better today. His knee did not bother him enough to keep him from riding. One final note. I want to thank the people of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hixson for their gift to the “Ride For Future Church Leaders” fund. Even though both of their pastors are not alum of Trinity Lutheran Seminary, they still took a special collection for Trinity by passing around a bicycle helmet. The funds collected were matched by Thrivent and they are giving a gift of $500. God is good, all the time! |
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Monday, September 14, 2009
Day 14
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41 miles, Dalton, GA - Hixson, TN, Trinity Lutheran Church
Last night I wrote my journal about 9 PM in the evening from the day's experiences that concluded at Christ The King Lutheran Church in Dalton, GA. And as I wrote, the people and pastor of CTK were excellent hosts. Shortly after writing the journal Martina, Eddie and I went to bed. What a night it was.
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The church has a very bright parking lot light high on a pole that for some reason goes on and off throughout the night. Then about every 30 minutes, or so it seemed to us, the train would go rumbling through town crossing streets, and even though it was in the middle of the night they had to blow their horns. Then at about 4 AM until 6 AM the garbage truck went through the area emptying all the dumpsters. There must be 20 around CTK church. There is no way I can describe to you what that sounds like, but the loud smashing together of pots and pans would be a good beginning. My telling you this is not a complaint against the wonderful people of CTK because they can't do anything about the noises and light. I'm telling you because I want you to have a feel for the whole adventure for going on such a bicycle journey. So that should I choose to do something like this again in the future and you want to come along, then you have to know what you Today we left Georgia behind us and entered into Tennessee.
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Again, the expectation for today and the next five days in TN is that the hills would become mountains and that riding would be very challenging. For that reason we have cut our biking miles back to 40-50 per day. For those of you looking at a map, we are in Hixson this evening, just north of Chattanooga, TN and we will start riding tomorrow along the Tennessee River in the direction of Knoxville.are getting yourself into. Today when we left Dalton, we weren't on our bikes 15 minutes when Martina lead us over some hills that I would call "Widow makers"! They were short, but they were the worst we had experienced on the trip. And our muscles were hardly awake for the shock. Eddie asked me, "Did we do something to make Martina mad? Because if we did then we have to stop doing it right away!" For those of you who know anything about bike riding in hills, I had an especially large back sprocket (a granny gear) built into my gears for when I get into the worst hills. Up until this morning I had not used this largest gear. Well, I needed it. The good news, it worked for me, I got up both hills. But I still had to breathe like a steam engine to get to the top. Eddie on the other hand developed knee pains and he had to get off his bike and walk part of the hill. In fact his knee bothered him the rest of the day. By the way, there is no shame in walking. I may be joining Eddie the next few days in TN. When it was time for lunch it was raining, we couldn't set up our usual picnic, so we splurged and ate lunch at Five Guys. Eddie and I both felt like a big juicy hamburger and fries. Martina was kind enough to give in, AGAIN! Somebody needs to remind me when we get home that I owe her BIG TIME for this journey. |
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We arrived at Trinity Lutheran Church which is a 50 year old congregation served by Pastors Gary Schimmer and Pauline Pezzino. They have a magnificent campus that all pastors dream of having. The location is on a major intersection, not hidden back on some small neighborhood street. A large beautiful sanctuary with plenty of seating capacity in the round. A building dedicated for youth ministry. A preschool. A gymnasium. A professional restaurant kitchen that could feed many hundreds if not thousands. A chapel. A library and conference room. Multi purpose rooms. And so much more. And as I was lusting and coveting and being very jealous, Pastor Gary told me what the upkeep costs are and what a challenge it is to his congregation to stay on top of all the property issues of a 50 year old building. You can bet I tucked that lesson away into my memory banks. God is good, all the time! |
Sunday, September 13, 2009
day 13
You're probably reading this and wondering, why did they only ride 37 miles today? They usually ride twice that and more. Good question, I'm not totally sure what the answer is either. I have some ideas. I was planning this schedule several months ago at home in Juno Isles, FL. I had been told that the topography of north Georgia and Tennessee was very hilly to mountainous. I was being warned to keep the trips shorter until we reached Kentucky. I also knew that I wanted to worship with the congregation of Hope Lutheran in Ellijay and so I expected a late start. I also knew this would be Eddie's second day of riding and it was suppose to be very challenging. So, with all that being said, it seemed like we should keep the journey shorter today. I think we were all glad. It still took us four hours. We saved lunch for when we arrived here at Christ the King Lutheran. Once we arrived we found a big shady tree and had our lunch feast. I don't know how Martina manages every day to pull out all this delicious food. The great think about riding so much and burning so many calories is that you have to force yourself to eat enough. I haven't had that problem since I was a teenager running cross country track in high school! But somehow Martina manages to keep pulling out food from the van until Eddie and I are stuffed. Martina on the other hand has to watch us eat because she sits in the van all day driving and has the opposite problem of not burning up enough calories. Once we finished our lunch feast we called Pastor John Rossing and told him we had arrived. Within a few minutes he came riding up with his bicycle, turns out he likes to mountain bike in the area as well. Pastor John showed us around the church. Very interesting story, this congregation bought the church from the Catholics nine years ago. This was also the second church out of the 13 we have visited that has showers. Boy does a warm shower feel good, because as you get further north the water from the hose is getting colder and colder! All three of us enjoyed long showers. At 6PM the "angels" of Christ the King Lutheran Church showed up with a delicious supper and we ate together, shared stories and laughed a lot for 2 hours. We are so grateful to Frank and Peggy Adams and Glenda and Pastor John Rossing for their warmth and kindness and hospitality.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
day 12
Today was an amazing day of challenge, but made much easier by my good friend Eddie. Eddie Gwock and I have been friends since the 8th grade. We have shared much of our lives together. And even though life has taken us in many different directions we have stayed in touch and our friendship has remained strong. One reason for this is because Eddie, for some crazy reason, has joined me and Martina on our long distance bike rides. He has had no connection to the causes for which I ride, rather he rides to support Martina and I and to invest in our friendship. I appreciate him greatly. I have had 11 days of riding to prepare for the big challenge we faced today, the hills. Eddie started riding today and his muscles did not appreciate it. In fact he says his leg muscles are very mad at him.
But thank God for Eddie, because having him there made me push harder and longer. In the beginning when we first started riding in Suwanee it was relatively flat so Eddie and I could no a fair amount of talking. But when we hit the hills we stopped talking because we were breathing too hard.
We arrived in Ellijay around 5 PM after riding 82 miles at Hope Lutheran Church. Pastor Dave Smedley and his wife Janet and two members of the congregation (whom I have personal connection to back to my childhood in my home church in Miami) welcomed us. They waited for us to set up our camper and take showers and then off we went all together for Chinese dinner. Afterwards they drove us by their beautiful new church campus that they hope to move into in the next month.
God is good, all the time!
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Friday, September 11, 2009
day 11
If you look at a map and do the calculations you will quickly discover that there are a lot more miles between Macon and Suwanee than 47. No argument there. The problem is that half those miles cannot be ridden with a bicycle. Macon is a very large community with heavy traffic that extends for miles and the streets had no bike lanes to safely ride on. The same is true for Suwanee. In fact, Suwanee is one of hundreds of small communities that surround Atlanta and again the traffic is very congested and even though they are building new roads many of them are being built without bicycle lanes. So we drove by car at least 15 miles to get out of Macon traffic and then we drove 35 miles by car to get to Epiphany Lutheran Church in Suwanee. The traffic was so heavy I probably could have made better time with my bicycle!
Even though today was only 47 miles of bike riding distance they were each tough to come by because the hills are getting higher and longer. Remember when I said yesterday that I was averaging a speed of somewhere between 9-12 mph. Well that changed today. There were several hills that had me going a whole lot slower! Fortunately, when you go down those hills you reach speeds of 20-25 mph.
The best part of the day was arriving here at Epiphany Lutheran Church and having dinner with Pastor Rick Barger, his wife Harriet and their church musician Teri. Pastor Rick and his wife have only been here for 11 months but they bring an exciting vision and the enthusiasm and passion to make it happen.
This evening my very good friend Eddie Gwock and his wife Lisa met up with us. They live in Nashville, TN. Lisa is a Methodist minister. She will go back to work tomorrow. But Eddie is going to stay with us and ride with me for the next week. Eddie has joined me for each of my previous long distance bike rides. Eddie comes with fresh legs and I am afraid he is going to push me too hard.
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Thursday, September 10, 2009
Day 10
91 miles, Leesburg, GA - Macon, GA, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer
Today started off beautifully. The morning was cool, low70s with very little humidity. Martina had chartered a course that took us for the first 20 miles through beautiful neighborhoods along different lakes. We enjoyed the view, the peace and the ease of travel. But, things changed radically when we left the lake area and got back out into the farm country. We were heading north and there was a nice breeze coming out of the north. That is not a preferred combination when you are on a bicycle journey and have a long way to go. The farms were all some kind of bean, peanut or cotton; that means small plants of about36 inches or less. They did not block the breeze. So for the whole day I was pushing against the breeze. Usually I am averaging 12-14 mph in his hilly country side. But today it was more like 9-11 mph. Late in the morning we had a gentle rain, and that actually felt very good, because I was working up a lot of heat fighting the wind. Today I was also reminded why I can't use a fast light weight road bike with narrow tires that can go so much faster than my bike. Some of the streets were very rough and often had sand and gravel. But, by the end of the day Martina and I managed to get a lot of miles behind us and to celebrate I was able to take a real shower because this church, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer has showers! Praise God for the little things in life.
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Wednesday, September 9, 2009
day 9
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82 miles, Tallahassee, FL - Leesburg, GA I don't think I have said this yet in any of my journal entries or devotions, but Martina and I, as well as all of you who are reading this, are so blessed to be part of the church. I know of no other community, institution, or organization where you can come as complete strangers and the people will treat you with such welcoming and sincere loving kindness. |
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This evening we were received by our eighth congregation (not nine because we spend one night at our daughter's in Gainesville) and they were just as loving as could be. Pastor Connie Bramlet and the people of Lutheran Church of Our Savior not only opened up their beautiful church for us but they prepared a wonderful dinner meal and ate with us and even allowed me to share the story of our bicycle journey and Trinity Lutheran Seminary. Pastor Connie Bramlet is a graduate of LSTC in Chicago and she still let me talk about Trinity! My experience on this journey has reminded me how important true hospitality is to the stranger and that I really want to make sure we are "getting it right" when people come to visit us for whatever reason. |
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Today was the day we left Florida and arrived in Georgia. Thank goodness the other states aren't as large! It was a beautiful journey through miles and miles of pecan groves. And since I love pecan pie it had extra special significance for me. Pecan trees are very tall and the wood is quite soft, so I was curious how they harvest the individual pecans. I found out that they kill the grass under the trees, then they mow it very short. Next they have "tree shakers" that shake the branches and all the pecans fall to the ground. Then they have large vacuums that suck up the pecans off the ground. We also rode through cotton fields, it is still too early gather the cotton, but you could see it hanging on the plants. And of course the crop duster had to be spraying while I rode through so I got covered with this green stinky spray. But hey that's OK. Since getting sprayed by the sugarcane crop duster last week I haven't had dandruff or lice anymore! And the extra hand I have grown is quite handy (no pun intended) because it holds the water bottle for me when I need a drink and I can keep two hands on the handlebar. Tomorrow we are off to Macon, GA. |
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Tuesday, September 8, 2009
day 8
This morning when we woke up in Lake City all we knew is that we were now heading north and west and that we had a lot of miles to cover, in fact more than what we could really cover in one day. From the Shannon's home in Lake City to Grace Lutheran Church in Tallahassee was going to be 120 miles, more than what I can ride in only day light hours. Have you ever had one of those days when you wake up and before you even get started with your day you already know that you are not going to complete what you need to do? Very frustrating. But in my case, I have an easy solution, I just throw my bike on the bike carrier, I jump in the van and off we go. You see, I don't have to ride every mile to reach my end goal of raising money and awareness for Trinity Lutheran Seminary students. What is more important is that I keep my commitments with the people who are kind enough to host me and Martina and to meet with the people who are expecting us. So, the result was, that of the 120 mile distance that needed to be covered I was only able to ride 82 miles. The rest we did by car.
The day was absolutely beautiful. It began with our wonderful hosts, the Shannons making coffee for us before we even woke up. Then they really made my day when John told me that my Miami Hurricanes beat the Florida State Seminoles. Go Canes. It was a great weekend for the Wagner family, the Florida Gators won and The Canes won.!
Martina once again navigated a beautiful route through Florida that you will never see from the highway. When we left the Shannon's home it was 62 degrees outside, boy that felt good. We are definitely in north Florida. Our journey in the morning was mainly through pine tree groves. I learned that people who own lots of land plant huge groves of pine trees from little 12 inch seedlings. Each seedling only cost 10 cents. They plant the pine groves not so much for the money they make from selling the trees but rather for the much reduced property taxes and the sale of all the pine needles.
Then for lunch Martina found a beautiful swimming hole up by the intersection of I-75 and I-10 called Blue Springs. Gorgeous blue, 72 degree, crystal clear water that was about 30 feet deep with a jumping platform. Of course we put on our swim suits, jumped in several times and then ate lunch and off we went. For those of you looking on a map we traveled mainly on CR6 and CR 90.
I did have my first episode with an attacking dog. People out in the rural areas think it is ok to let their dogs run free. And since they aren't used to bicycle riders they must think it is fun to run after us barking in such a vicious way that I am convinced that all they want is to rip my leg off. Well this one was huge and he was much faster than I was. But I came prepared. I pulled out my pepper spray and pointed it in is direction and he stopped dead in his tracks. I didn't even have to spray him. I was somewhat disappointed. For the sake of future bike riders I wanted to teach him a lesson.
We made it to Grace Lutheran Church where Pastor Rick Eckard was waiting for us. Pastor Rick has been here at Grace for 27 years. He started the congregation and now they have a beautiful campus and congregation. You can tell that he has a deep love for his call here. Pastor Rick helped us get our camper set up and we had a chance to talk for about an hour before we met with my daughter Monique's boyfriend, Patrick, who is a medical student at Florida State University. It was a beautiful day full of wonderful experiences.
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Monday, September 7, 2009
day 7
We started this morning anticipating a 75 mile journey from Gainesville to Lake City, FL. But the kindness of some wonderful people (John and Susi Shannon) from Spirit Of Christ Lutheran Church in Lake City shortened the journey for us. I'll tell you more about that later. Today was a beautiful day of riding through central north Florida country. Martina has a book with great bike ride trails in Florida. It just happens that several of them are in the area we were traveling today. So we had ideal road conditions and very little traffic as we rode primarily through forests, horse ranches and cattle farms; very different than what you see out the car window in Palm Beach County. It is starting to get more comfortable riding because the temperatures are cooler up here, 82 degrees during the day. But the more comfortable temperatures are being balanced out by the hills that are starting to appear. My butt muscles were complaining that they were not ready to take on this change in topography. We rode into the area of Itchetucknee Springs by lunch time so we stopped there in the park had lunch and swam in the cool water. When we got back on the road we called the couple who offered to be the contact person (John and Susi Shannon) for Spirit of Christ Lutheran Church and told them that we would be arriving around 4 PM in their area. They told us that on the way to the church we would be passing right by their home. They invited us to stop by their home and join them for supper. When we arrived they told us that we still had 17 miles to go to reach the church. We had already ridden 58 miles and if we still had 17 to go we needed to hurry the supper or skip it so that we could reach our destination. The Shannons asked us where we were going tomorrow, and we told them Tallahassee. They said, that if we went to the church we were actually going further away from Tallahassee. They invited us to stay and spend the night with them and that would shorten our distance for tomorrow. I'm all for that! Pray for us, tomorrow is suppose to be a 100 mile day!
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Sunday, September 6, 2009
day 6
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This morning Martina and I had the joy of worshipping at Hope Lutheran Church in The Villages with Pastor Barry Hunteman and Pastor Jon-Marc MacLean. For you to appreciate our experience you need to understand the setting. Hope is one of our largest and fastest growing ELCA Lutheran congregations in the Florida-Bahamas Synod. The Villages is primarily a retirement community. Everything we saw appeared to be freshly manicured, beautifully landscaped, and in it's proper place. When we drove up to the church and saw it for the first time, WOW, IMPRESSIVE! |
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Everything about it said, this congregation is very fortunate. When we arrived a very kind gentleman stood outside waiting for us. The first of five weekend services had already begun and he wanted to make sure we knew where to park. The place he showed us was on their beautiful lawn right in the front of the church where hundreds of people walk by. I said to David, "Are you aware we are setting up our camper trailer right on this lawn where everyone will see us as they walk into church. I will be taking a hose shower, stripped down to a bathing suit. I feel like the Clampets of the Beverly Hillbillies. What will your people think? Are you sure you don't want to put us around the back of the building somewhere?" David said, "No, we'll just tell them we have started a new camping ministry and you are our first customers." The one problem, we could not move into our space because there were 10 golf carts parked there. That is the way about 20% of the congregation comes to church, driving their golf carts! Remember, I said 5 worship services, 2 on Saturday evening and 3 on Sunday morning. In the middle of the summer they worshipped 691 people! The interior of the facilities told me that they were designed by an interior decorator. Martina said to Pastor Hunteman, the building looks brand new. He corrected her and said, no it is 11 years old! The kitchen (to die for), bathrooms, hallways, offices, narthex, everything looked so attractive and inviting. We worshipped at the Sunday morning 8 AM service and there were about 150-200 worshipping with us. After we had toured the facilities I realized there was no nursery and no children's Sunday School. This congregation was able to focus all it's resources and efforts on the adult population. During worship Pastor Hunteman introduced us to the congregation and explained the nature of our bike journey. Afterwards 5 alum from Capital University, an ELCA school, located across the street from Trinity, came over and greeted us.
One of the joys of our bike journey has been the opportunity to visit so many different congregations of our church. Each is uniquely different and tells a different story of their history and purpose in the community. After worship Martina and I travelled to Gainesville to enjoy the rest of the day with our children and dear friends. |
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Saturday, September 5, 2009
Day 5
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Today was a wonderful reminder to me of why I am making this bicycle journey. Instead of getting on my bike and riding by 7 AM Martina and I were invited to the 8 AM Men's breakfast at Apostles Lutheran Church in Brandon. Pastor Vige offered us the opportunity to meet the men and share the story of our journey with them. Don't tell the Men's Group at our church, HSLC, but at the Apostles' Men's Group one of the men cooks a complete breakfast for all the men with coffee, juice, rolls, scrambled eggs, and sausage. But I'm not sure our men would go along with it since the Apostles' men throw $3 in the basket and our men only put a $1 in the basket. They asked me to share about our Men's Group because they were interested in seeing their group grow and for the men to become more involved in their church. |
| After that we talked about the bicycle journey and I thanked them for supporting one of the "daughters" of their congregation who is presently enrolled at Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC were her father also attended. We talked about the importance of congregational support so that students don't come out of seminary with huge debt. Following the seminary conversation we went into a Bible study. When our 90 minutes together were over I thought how wonderful it is to be part of the church. As Christ followers in the church we can travel all over and stop at any church and find that we are not among strangers. We have the same desires and challenges and needs, but we have the same Lord that we worship and who draws us all together into one body. | |
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After our morning breakfast/discussion we did not have time for bike riding because we had to quickly drive to Lutheran Church of the Cross in St. Petersburg. 18 years ago, when I was the pastor for Youth and Family Ministry at LCC there was a young man who drove a delivery truck for Pepsi. He asked if he could help out with youth ministry. Paul got involved with the youth and now 18 years later he was being ordained to be a pastor. Only God knew that He was going to lead Paul into pastoral ministry. During the service the congregation celebrated that this was their fifth ordination and that they had trained three interns. In the past seven years the congregation had given $180,000 in seminary financial support! If my bike riding efforts can help a man or woman to become a church leader than I'll keep pedaling.
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Following the ordination service and celebration we hurried to get to Hope Lutheran Church in The Villages, near Ocala. I'm afraid we may not get a whole lot of bike riding accomplished today. But something just as important we did accomplish, renewed enthusiasm. |
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Friday, September 4, 2009
Day 4
Brandon, 57 miles
Today was spent riding northeast, 57 miles, to Apostles Lutheran Church in Brandon, Pastor Handlee Vige, which is east of Tampa. The reason for the shorter distance is that today I was suppose to stop at a church in Sun City Center on the way to Brandon to gather with the pastor and some of his members for lunch. So we scheduled two hours time for that lunch. However, that didn't work out as planned because the pastor called to say they now have a funeral during that time and would not be able to meet with me.
So, we changed our route and decided to take our time and see some things we had not seen before. For lunch we rode to the Little Manatee River State Park and enjoyed a wonderful picnic among the pine groves. It is similar to Jonathan Dickinson State Park in our area back home. We saw some towns that I had never been through before, just saw their names on the green highway signs as we are speeding down I-75. Towns like Palmetto, Ellenton, Wimaumau and Balm. I rode my bike over a very high and long bridge and was grateful for all the times I trained by riding my bike over the Donald Ross bridge, the Indiantown bridge and the Blue Heron bridge back home.
I have added an addition to my bike. I found a bright red flag on a fiberglass stick laying in the grass on the side of the highway. Martina taped it sideways on my handlebars so that it sticks out on the traffic side of my bike. I didn't like how close some cars were riding next to me. This flag forces them to go wider around me. I'm sure it looks funny as I am riding, like a circus clown. But hey, what do I care, if it keeps somebody from running into me.
I heard from several sources that an e-mail went out to everyone in our congregation, Holy Spirit Lutheran Church to pray for me everyday at 2 PM. That is so cool. I look at my watch at 2PM and say just think, there are all these people now who are driving with their eyes closed! There are all these employees who should be working, but they're not, they're praying for me! There are all these students in school getting detentions, because it looks like they were sleeping in class! Oh well, God thinks it is a great idea and He'll take care of it somehow. But here is what I have decided to do as a return of thanks. I like your idea so much that I am going to take the HSLC church directory and divide it up over the remaining 20 days that I am riding so that I will be praying for everyone of our church families by name while I am riding my bike. Hey, I've got lots of time to pray!
Frank Wagner
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Thursday, September 3, 2009
day 3
46 miles biked from a total of 90 miles driven.
Have you ever had one of those days when things did not work out at all the way you had hoped for? Well today was one of those days for us. We were finished crossing the state from the east to the west coast and we were finally heading northwards, going from Ft. Meyers to Bradenton. I had expected that this would be a beautiful stretch of the southwestern coast of Florida and that in some cases we could ride along the beach and see parts of Florida that I was not real familiar with. What we discovered after riding the first 30 miles is that the main road that we were planning on taking had lots of traffic on it and either a very narrow "bike lane" or no bike lane at all. So several times, when it got just too dangerous to ride, we had to stop, put my bike on the rack and drive to better areas. Then, by around 11 AM, the thunder showers started. So back in the car. I looked on the internet and found that the next 200 miles north were under a massive rain cloud. This was not going to be a sun shower. We drove for about a half hour until there was a break in the rain and then I rode my bike again for a while. We were now in Sarasota. Martina found a beautiful park in downtown Sarasota on the water where we had lunch. We took advantage of the break in the weather to film the last part of our video greeting that we then sent by overnight FED EX to our church for this Sunday's worship. That was not easy. It is much easier for me to stand and speak in front of hundreds of people than to speak to a camera. Our next disappointment was that we missed the street that was to take us over to a causeway that connected a string of islands. We were going to ride on that for our final 30 miles. Instead we fought and dodged traffic all the way to Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bradenton. Pastor Greg Hager was here to greet us.
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Frank at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bradenton with Pastor Greg Hager |
I haven't seen Greg since our seminary days 25 years ago. So we spent some time catching up. I discovered once again that being around good people, taking a shower, even if it's cold, and having a good meal can put a smile on your face even after a disappointing day.
Frank Wagner
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Day 2
We got up this morning at 5:30 AM with every intention of leaving Faith Lutheran Church in Clewiston, Florida at 7 AM. Well, first it rained all night and it is a lot slower to pack up a wet camper. But that was not all, when I pumped up my bicycle tires, which I do every day before I ride, the one tube valve swelled up like a small balloon and exploded. So that means I had to change a flat tire. I wish it didn't happen, but if it is going to happen it is much better that it happen in a church parking lot early in the morning when it is cool then on the side of the road in the full sun. So we were on the road by 8 AM.
The challenge now was to make up the lost time. You see, my goal each day is to ride 50 miles before lunch. That is no problem if you get out by 7 AM. It just meant that I had to ride a little faster and take shorter breaks in between. We made it. After lunch we rode another 36 miles to reach our destination.
Let me tell you about the happenings along the way. Martina found roads through the center of Florida that I had no idea existed. CR835, CR833, CR850. These were great roads because I had the roads to myself. Along the way I saw crop duster planes. In fact I rode right through their spray a few times. So if I come home with an extra eyeball or orange hair you know why! Crop dusting is a very risky job because they fly just inches above the sugarcane stalks and then they have to shoot up in the last second to get over the power lines. Then there were these huge alligators. Probably so large because they are getting crop dusted all the time. I was glad these gators were on the other side of the canal or I could have ended up as lunch. Then the farming switched from sugarcane to cattle. It must have been my aroma when I rode by, but each time I rode by a herd of grazing cattle they would start running after me. I guess I smelled like them. Again I was glad there was a fence between us. The last bit of excitement from the wildlife was a big soft shell turtle that was walking down the side of the road. I decided he was moving too slow so I picked him up and tossed him into the canal.
One of the best parts of the whole day is where Martina and I ate lunch. She has a knack for finding beautiful places. All I want is shade and food. But today she found a public use hunters cabin tucked way back in the woods under the trees. The door was locked but there was a front porch that gave us more than enough space to set up our lounge chairs and eat our feast. (See picture below) For miles and miles we saw nothing but beautiful wilderness, but when it was time for lunch she finds a cabin. God and Martina are good, all the time!
Today we ended up at Lamb of God Lutheran/Episcopal Church with Pastor Walter Fohs and Pastor Becky Robbins-Penniman. A very unique situation where the two churches became one congregation meeting in one facility and sharing all aspects of ministry. I greatly appreciate their kindness and hospitality.
Tomorrow we are off to Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bradenton.
You can read my devotional that was written today based on my experiences on the road.
Frank Wagner
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Day 1
Today Martina and I began our awesome 23 day bicycle journey From Juno Beach, Florida to Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH. Even though Trinity is north of us we spent the whole day heading south and west. The reason being is that we are first visiting congregations that are on the southwest coast of Florida beginning in Ft. Meyers. The safest way to get across the state is going underneath Lake Okeechobee.
Martina and I rode away from our home this morning at 7:15 AM after sending my son Mark off to school, and saying good bye to our dear friends the Shaptons (daughter #3 Allison) and the Jeraulds. The hardest part of today's journey was avoiding all the traffic around our home. Martina, my pilot, steered me through Palm Beach Gardens and southwest through the Acreage. Then we headed west on Southern Blvd until we got to all the sugar cane fields. Martina found roads that went right through the sugar cane fields that had no traffic on them. As we were driving through I thought about the men who would work with machetes all day cutting the huge stalks. I can't imagine how physically demanding that was to work in that intense heat and humidity. For the final 20 mile leg of our journey we road along Lake Okeechobee through Belle Glade, South Bay and into Clewiston. There is a paved trail that runs along the top of the dike. So I had the beauty of the lake to my right and the sugar cane fields to my left and absolutely no traffic. By 3:30 this afternoon we arrived in Clewiston having ridden 81 miles today.
For those of you who are curious about the biking details, I average 15 miles per hour when I am riding. So 10 miles takes me about 45 minutes. Martina drives the van ahead of me and meets me every 10 miles and provides me with cold water towels to put over my head and neck, cold Gatorade to drink and something to eat. While I am riding my bike I drink two bottles of Gatorade every 10 miles. Then I ride again another 10 miles. By lunch time I have the first 50 miles behind me. We have a big lunch for about 30-45 minutes and then off we go.
This evening we are staying overnight in our camper which is parked in the parking lot at Faith Lutheran Church in Clewiston. Pastor Alan Koch was very gracious in making the arrangements for us. No sooner did we arrive then we got hit with a huge afternoon thunder shower. Made it just in time!
Some of you might think we are crazy for taking this trip. Why would we do it? Even after you hear my reasoning you may still not understand. Martina does it because she loves me and supports me, and figures this is a better way for me to work through my midlife crisis. The main reason I am doing this trip is that I have had 25 wonderful years in the ministry. My mother, in-laws and congregation paid the majority of my expenses so that I was able to graduate without any debt. Today attending seminary cost $30,000 a year for tuition and room and board. Many students graduate with $25,000 and more debt. On a pastor's salary that is very hard to pay back. This bike ride gives me the opportunity to raise money for student support at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, money that I could never give myself. The personal benefits I receive is that I get to enjoy lots of personal time with Martina, that is so hard to have when we are working, and the health benefits of training all year for this bike ride.
For those of you who are interested I will also write a personal devotion for each day that will be posted on the Trinity website.
God bless you all. Thank you for your support and prayers.
Pastor Frank