Well, Ralph is back home and things have been busy the last two days. The end of the tour on Saturday was exciting. There was a huge crowd waiting on the shore as the cyclists got there. We said the Lord’s Prayer together and then with lots of hoopla they dipped their bikes into the Atlantic ocean.
Cyclists from Ralph's congregation at the "finish line" in New Jersey. Photo courtesy Gayle Harrison.
After lots of picture taking and hugs and kisses and meeting of friends and family, we were off to the highschool to pack up the van with the Ralph and Pieter’s belongings. We had a great supper at the Christian Reformed church and talked to some of the locals.
The celebration service was great with the Canadians being very noisy but that made it fun. Then all the final farewells, and that was sad for some—parting is always difficult. The group had bonded and some became close friends.
On Sunday we attended a Reformed church near our hotel. After they fed us lunch, we were off to New York City. We went up the Empire State Building. There were many tourists there so it took quite a while before we actually got to the top. Even up there it was crowded and we had to wait our turn to get a spot near the edge so we could look out over the city. An awsome sight though. We ran into Paul and Theresa Hoekstra (fellow cyclists) at the top.
After a lovely meal we were off to Ground Zero. There is a building going up there but it still really hits you when you are there that so many people lost their lives there. They were also restoring the outside of a building that had been damaged. It seems to me that all those tall building are vulnerable. After some more sightseeing we drove back to our hotel.
Monday we drove home, and it was a long drive, about 10 hours. Ralph is just fine and glad to be home and in his own quiet way getting used to being here again. He has taken his whole bike apart and is giving it a good cleaning. He does plan to keep up the biking.
On the home stretch. Photo from Dr26Last at Flikr.
Thanks once again for all the support and prayers—God certainly heard them. (Posted by Cora)
P.S. a new photo of Ralph, uncovered at a newspaper website by Art Mulder, is available here. And we added another from Gayle Harrison’s blog to the Aug. 22 entry below.
