Sitting on a Bumble Bee

Do not Nurse it, Curse it, Rehearse it. Disperse it so that God can reverse it.

Unforgiveness means we desire to hurt the people who have wounded us. It's like the little boy who was sitting on a park bench in obvious agony. A man walking by asked him what was wrong. The boy answered, "I'm sitting on a bumble bee." "Then why don't you get up?" the man asked. The boy replied, "Because I figure that I am hurting him more than he is hurting me!"

The healing process begins when we get up off the park bench. God will only heal our wounds when we stop inflicting pain on the one who hurt us. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 43)


Colossians 3
¹²Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

May 14th to 16th - end of Trip - Kansas to Connecticut

Took 6 greyhound buses and 36 hours for me to get to Hartford, CT from Kansas. I passed through the cities of Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, and New York. It is not the same as being on a bicycle - I saw a lot less. Normally a 36 hour bus ride would irk me, but after spending hours on a bicycle each day, the bus ride really did not seem bad at all.

Reflecting on this trip, I have seen some really amazing sights in the Western US and met some really amazing strangers that God put in my path to help me along this journey. I have relearnt patience, relearnt how to enjoy the world he created for us - our planet, and our universe. Relearnt what true humility is about, and how to avoid temptation and bad situations. Relearnt that God is sovereign in our lives - when you ride through Rattlesnake country and put your faith daily in the hundreds of drivers who zoom past everyday in their vehicles - all one can have is faith.

Cycling is the best way to travel - you see every animal, hear every bird song. All the animals see you too. Every horse, cattle, sheep, fox, would stop to watch me as I cycled past, but they had no time for cars, and the cars had no time for them. A highlight of the trip was when a group of 6 horses pranced along with me as I cycled, completely in step, and they even turned at the same moment, like a starfleet. You see and notice things all these things you normally would not - the beautifully laid out flowers in cemeteries, the culture of the local townies,
the quality of the road, the rattling of snakes in the grass. I stopped to count the number of cars on a freight train in Kansas - it was carrying 100 carloads that stretched for at least 1 mile. Unfortunately, I was too lazy to take out my camera.

May13th (Garden City to Wichita)

I went to Enterprise in the morning to try to rent a car to drive to Wichita and take a Greyhound bus from there to Connecticut.

It turns out that they accept only credit cards, and I had left mine in a bikeshop in California. But by the grace of God, it turns out that the guy working at enterprise (whose name was Michael) was from Wichita, and was driving there in the afternoon (3 hour drive) to participate in a bike race over the weekend. So his car had a bike rack, and he offered to take me and my bike to Wichita!

It was incredibly generous of him and all throughout this trip, God has been putting me in the path of really nice people who go out of their way to help strangers.

I made it to Wichita in the evening - not in time for the 545pm bus, and had to wait till 3am for the next bus. I spent the time at the local public library, enjoying some hotdogs at a local festival that was going on called the River Fest, and at mcdonalds reading a Dragonlance Novel I had bought for the long busride I knew was coming.

May 12th (Tribune to Garden City)

After staying in Tribune an extra day because of bad weather, I left for Garden City today. Cycled a total of 85 miles over 9.5 hours. The first 46 miles were easy and took only 4 hours because I had a neutral wind. The second half of the journey took a lot longer because I was cycling into a headwind.

Lunch at Scott City was interesting - This 60+ year old man approached me at Wendys and invited me for a chat. His name was Robert Mulch. He's had an interesting life - told me how he's traveled all 52 states and been to 35 foreign countries. He had a cancer in his shoulder when he was in his 20s and promised himself that if he made it to 32 years old, he would go travel the world. So that's exactly what he did - for 8 years he traveled the world. He now took over the family business and is a farmer - and rents land to tenant farmers. His wife has a condition - neurosclerosis - and has been in and out of the hospital for years. He has 2 sons - 25 and 27, who work on several insurance agency businesses that they own.

He taught himself about hypnosis in 1976 and had some interesting stories - one was about a person who could recall past lives, another was about a fortune teller in india he met when he was traveling with a taiwanese lady, and the fortune teller told her her son and husband's names and ages, and even told her the name of the woman her husband was having an affair with at that exact moment (which she didn't believe until she caught him red-handed several months later)

In the evening, at the train station in Garden city, I met a retired US Naval Aviator who was 80 years old. His name was Larry Pearce. He flew planes for 40 years and was stationed in various places around the pacific. We talked about Kansas and what it was like when he was growing up - how there used to be thousands of pheasants but much fewer now. He has a Chinese son-in-law who is a doctor in LA.

Larry and I knocked it off almost immediately when we started talking about how beautiful California was and how we didn't understand how people could bring themselves to live in New York City. We got a picture together and I'll send him a copy.

It turns out that the Amtrak station does not allow bicycles onto the train - not from this small town so I have to make it to one of the larger towns - Wichita or Kansas City, which are 200-300 miles away. That would take a few days on a bicycle.

May 10th (Eads to Tribune)

Cycled 58 miles today over 7h 45 min. The temperature was 10-15 celcius with strong head winds of 15-25mph. I turned around at one point to see how fast I would be going if I was heading in the same direction as the wind - the wind blew me along at 6mph without pedaling!

Rode through Chivington, Brandon, Sheridan Lake, Towner and Horace before arriving at Tribune at 5pm. Could have gone further but the cold and the wind would make the night miserable. And I had a flat today that took an hour to fix.

Saw 2 dead eagles, several ground squirrels, one colorful rooster pheasant, and 2 cars stopped to offer help when I stopped to fix my flat.

May 8th and 9th (Ordwell to Eads)

The most amazing day of the journey so far. I cycled 62 miles today and it took me 7h 40 min cycling into a 20mph headwind.

I left Hotel Ordwell at 730am and headed to a local deli called "Bits and spurs" for breakfast. It's a favourite for the many cowboys that live in the colorado plains. There were 3 elderly distinguished Japanese American gentlemen who also came in for breakfast and they invited me to their table for breakfast. Their names were Henry, Kazu and Lucky. They are 70, 72 and 74 years old, are brothers, all retired schoolteachers and conversation and breakfast with them was very nice. They even bought me breakfast! Henry gave me a contact of his good friend in Eads - Doris Lessenden, who is supposed to love meeting new people.

Cycling from Ordwell to Arlington, I passed through Sugar City and spoke to April at the Snack Shack, who told me about the history of Sugar City. With a name like Sugar City, I just had to ask! So apparently there used to be a huge sugar beet processing plant in Sugar City and in the 1930s, Sugar City was as big as Pueblo. Unfortunately, the family that owned the factory - their child died of cancer and they realized that the process they used to make sugar was cancerous. Although they could have upgraded the plant, the grief was too much for them to bear and they demolished the plant and moved away. With the plant gone, the city also eventually declined. April proceeded to warn me about the numerous rattlesnakes in the region - the adult snakes can kill you in 1h 45 min, and the baby ones are even more venomous - their bite will kill in 35 minutes. They come out in the morning after a cold night to lie in the sun and warm up on the roads. The best strategy is to run straight over them FAST. When camping outdoors, lay a piece of rope around your tent - the snakes will think its another snake and won't go over.

Arlington is an odd little town with only 4 people living there. The retired doctor who lives there has put out a bench under a tree for cyclists passing through, and cyclists can leave messages there too. Nobody was there when I cycled through - too bad - no replenishment of food and water until the next town, Haswell.

I was exhausted by the time I got to Haswell but really glad to see a refrigerator stocked with cold drinks. It was an uphill battle all the way and I felt every pound of weight on my bike. The owners told me about their 4 sons and the youngest one now helps them run the Haswell Propane Store. Haswell has a population of 58.

The 21 miles to Eads from Haswell was mostly flat and downhill. I was surprised when I was 11 miles away from Eads a lady in a van pulled over and asked me if I was Mark from Singapore. There was Doris Lessenden! with peanut butter chocolate cookies and water. She was like an angel sent by God because I was starving and exhausted by then, at 430 pm. She told me about a bbq they were having at the hospital at 530pm and invited me to join. The next 11 miles to Eads the image of burgers and hotdogs gave me strength to keep pushing. I finally got into Eads at 6pm and Doris took me to the BBQ where we had potato salad, burgers, hot dogs, and watermelon.

Doris proceeded to give me a tour of the town and its history. Now, Eads is the county seed of Kiowa county (that's like the capital of the county). The Kiowa Indians still come back once a year and hold their festival in Eads, which is closest to the Sand Creek Massacre site. I was shown the houses where people lived, the elementary and high schools where Doris taught, and the pride of their community - Assisted Living (a home for people who're not ready for a nursing home, but could use some help with meals and cleaning). It is very nice for them to have something like that for the older folk in the town.

Doris let me stay in her guest room on the 8th and the 9th. I stayed the extra day on the 9th and Doris showed me the local art gallery where the locals put up their paintings and artwork for sale. She also showed me the local pond with geese, and introduced me to many other locals in Eads like Tom the Pharmacist who also loves cycling. Tom has one leg that is 6 inches shorter but he stands at his job all day long and loves cycling. Doris showed me the grain elevator and explained how at different times of the year, pyramids of different colors would form - golden, red, etc - depending on the crop being harvested. She even showed me some lots of land that were up for sale! I took a nap in the afternoon and helped her with some simple chores.

Here's a fantastic story of how Eads became the county seed - some guys in the 1800s left Sheridan Lake and took the documents with them, brought them to Eads and locked them up, and that's how Eads became the county seed. Fierce rivalry continues till this day between the schools because of this history.

I have not mentioned yet that Doris had polio when she was 12 and had spent a lot of her adult life on canes and is now in a wheelchair. It was really humbling for me to be driven around, shown such hospitality, and taken care of by a 72 year old woman who cannot really use her legs anymore. She is an angel and she lives every day with such a heart of service, and has dedicated her life to serving others. She made the town of Eads come alive for me - as she introduced me to its residents (most have been her students) and its history. The past 2 days have really re-opened my eyes and I think that I have found what I was searching for on this journey.

There is something amazing about teachers - everywhere I go, I have all sorts of teachers and educators showing me kindness and inspiring me. I continue to have a great respect for teachers. Jesus was also a teacher.

May 7th (Olney to Pueblo to Olney to Ordwell)

Edward drove me to Pueblo in the morning and I got my tire fixed and had breakfast at an amazing drive in called sonic. They converted every parking lot into an order station so there are no longer any queues or lines to drive through. It is 100% drive-in. Interesting concept.

Cycled 52.6 miles today from Pueblo to Ordway into a slight headwind. Stopped for a mushroom burger in Garcia's for lunch/dinner and also to thank Mary for the sandwiches she'd packed for me. She filled up my bottles with ice water before sending me on my way.

I think starting a travellers' lodge at home would be a really fantastic way to make a living - helping travellers experience the world, showing kindness, taking care of their needs and meeting amazing people and sharing stories at the same time.

I got tired at some point cycling to Olney and started walking uphill for a while. A really nice guy in an RV stopped to check if I was ok because he saw me walking. He is a cyclist and he knows that cyclists do not walk unless something is wrong. He gave me ice water, chocolate and freeze-dried bananas. Amazing. He had cycled the route 2 years ago with his wife driving a support vehicle behind.

I also met a fellow cyclist today from upstate New York who was going the other way. He cycles for about 2 weeks a year on the trail and was doing Kansas and Colorado this year. His wife was driving a car and trailer behind. He gave me good information about the road heading east, and told me many funny stories - how in Kentucky the silent dogs that run beside you are the most dangerous not the ones that bark a lot. He saw one running beside and deliberately jammed brakes - just in time because the dog leaped out and missed him. How in colorado drivers give cyclists 15 ft, Kentucky 5 ft and by the time you reach Virginia, it's 2 ft.

May 6th - returned car and started cycling again

I drove a total of 2569 miles on the car according to the odometer.

I returned the car at Pueblo Memorial airport at about noon, and spent an hour fixing a front flat (Thank you Shaowei for life-saving advice again). Patching it did not work too well and 2 more holes appeared after I fixed it. I cycled east about 20 miles to Boone and kept pumping the tire every 2 miles to keep it inflated. At Boone I purchased this miracle spray that sprays sticky yellow slime into your tire that's supposed to fix leaks and it worked very nicely for about 5 miles. After that my problems were magnified for the next 15 miles because the slime destroyed all my tire patches and stopping to inflate my tires did not work - it would stay inflated for only 1 minute max. I cycled with a full flat the next 15 miles, worrying all the time that I was destroying the bike.

I finally got into Olney Springs at 630pm, ready to collapse and when I saw the "Restaurant" sign I headed straight for it like a fly to a bright light. I almost collapsed when I saw "Closed" but the Garcia family was really kind and cooked me an amazing beef burrito even though they had already closed for the day. The Garcias have a guestbook that cyclists sign and I was lucky - was the first to sign it in 2009. (I am really early in the season) They even offered me their backyard to sleep in - I pitched my tent on very comfortable sand (that will become a swimming pool) that night under the stars.

After dinner I realized that I could not carry on cycling - my tube was beyond repair, my spare didn't work and I had lost my patches with the wind. The nearest bike shop was back in Pueblo, 40 miles back where I came from. God was really looking out for me because Edward Garcia happened to be heading into Pueblo the next morning, and was going to be driving a van because he had to pick up equipment. So he was very kind and gave me a ride back into Pueblo the next morning. Mary Garcia even packed lunch for me - turkey sandwiches, chips and an apple.

It is a real blessing that my tube failed here and not a further 50 miles out because there is no bike shop out to the east for another few hundred miles, and a real blessing that God let it happen right where a kind family was and where the man was heading back into town the next morning with a van.

Out in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire, miles away from a town, I felt despair creep into my heart many times throughout the day, and the experience is truly humbling because I could die out here without locals to help me. At times like these, the simple necessities in life again become so precious - a roof, food and water. Simple things that God has provided that is all we really need and can ask for. If we in the privileged world can keep working hard to provide these for the poor, we will be richly blessed by the joy that will light up in their faces.

I highly recommend that anyone cycling the colorado portion of the Transamerica Trail stop by garcia's retaurant in Olney Springs for some delicious homemade food and amazing hospitality and conversation.

May 3rd and 4th (Cedar City, UT to Pueblo, Co)

Drove from Cedar city to Grand Junction, Co and watched X-Men:Wolverine. Drove to Pueblo on the 4th via route 50 - the plan is to continue cycling from Pueblo eastwards.

May 2nd (Yellowstone to Cedar City) 584 miles

Today, I drove from Yellowstone, Wyoming, on US 20 and US 15 through Idaho, past Salt Lake City, down to Cedar city in Utah, where I spent the night.

I stopped at Goshen, Utah to take a few pictures to keep as a momento.

I do not remember much else about today - I was just driving a lot.

May 1st (Arco to Yellowstone)

This morning I visited the Craters of the Moon site. It is a large lava plain - black charred rock formations apparently created by lava that flowed out from a volcanic vent not too long ago. And the features apparently make it look like the surface of the moon. It is surrounded, however, by beautiful snow-capped mountains which I'm quite sure do not exist on the moon.



Idaho is an interesting place. The bits I've seen of it - a lot of farmland - sheep, cattle and horses. Lots of parks and forests, and snow-capped mopuntains this time of the year. The rivers are a very strange deep turquoise color that I have not seen before. they do not look like the pacific ocean or the atlantic ocean or the gulf of mexico. They do not look like the rivers of the Northeast USA or the tributaries in Europe.



From there it took me four hours to drive to Yellowstone National Park. I reached Yellowstone at 2pm and visited the Grizzly and Wolf center, where they had 6 gray wolves in captivity and 1 Grizzly. The wolves were sleeping and so well-camouflaged that I had to ask the ranger there to point them out to me. She knew where their favourite trees were so it took her almost no time to show me where the wolves were napping. The Grizzly in captivity was busy chasing birds. These animals were all born in captivity and given to the center from other enclosures. After 15minutes there I decided to head out to see the real stuff in the wild.

I drove through Yellowstone park for 4 hours. It is miles and miles of forest and valleys and rivers. I saw dozens of buffalo (bison) - they love walking along the roads. Dozens of elk, mule deer, antelopes, one black bear, and a few beavers. The lakes were still ice-capped and there was a large portion of the forest that was recovering from a fire about a decade ago and one could see charred remains and many new saplings on that side of the valley. It is surreal being in a National Geographic setting. I did not have binoculars, so mostly I did what a monkey would do - I drove around and when I saw a stopped car and people staring intently at something I would follow suit and ask them what they saw. That's how I saw the black bear.

I was warned that the bears are especially hungry in the Spring and dangerous because they've just woken up from hibernation. I decided to stay at Madison campground. It turns out that May 1st is the first day of the camping season, so it seemed pre-ordained that I was to sleep there. I tried pitching a tent but my tent spokes broke and it was also becoming sub-zero degrees outside. There was also a grizzly that was seen prowling the camp that morning, so I slept in my car instead, curled up in a sleeping bag i borrowed from the park administrators and sprinkled some peanuts outside (not allowed!), hoping a grizzly might visit and give me a photo opportunity.

April 30th (Austin, Nv to Craters of the Moon, Idaho)

Got pulled over by another cop from Austin to Eureka for going at 88mph, and paid $67 for a tour of the Eureka local justice office. There is no other way to get a nice tour of the building and use their restroom facilities. He was very friendly and showed me how to use cruise control on the Rav4, and told me which route through the desert was more scenic - more cactuses and hills.

I drove from eureka to Ely, then North on the 93 to Wells, Twin Falls in Idaho, and past craters of the Moon, ending at Arco for the night.

Apparently there is anuclear facility in Arco being built, and I had an Atomic burger with cheese at Pickles Place, the local burger joint, eating with farmers and football jocks. Bought a container of spices - not sure what I will do with it yet. someone who likes steaks is bound to like it.

29th April (Jackson to Carson City, NV)

I remember the phrase "Be the change you wish to see in the world" and I truly wish to see a more compassionate, c aring world that reaches out to the underdeveloped and underprivileged more. The Freeman family taught me that you can only change lives one at a time, and the importance of patience, because the seeds we sow do not always bear fruit immediately. Sometimes the thought may cross our mind that a certain person may not be deserving of such generosity, but who knows how God will eventually use each one of us to achieve his purpose and glory?

Luke 10:30 tells that that it is not who we are but what we do that matters. we should we as the good Samaritan, and help strangers whenever we can, however we can.

Luke 11:13 - If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

This morning at 8am I took the taxi up to Carson Pass and immediately I was glad I did not try to cycle up. I would have made it, but barely, and I would have been frozen all the way up. It was zero degrees and snow-covered on top. Cycling down the mountain from Carson Pass is one the most fun things anyone can do with 30 minutes of your life. It was 26 miles to minden, all downhill. Was going at 35mph for most of the ride and I felt like I was in a spaceship, and my handlebars felt like triggers I could squeeze to fire missles. It was freezing all the way down (especially at 35 mph_ and my arms were literally shaking. My hands were so cold I had to grip my brakes every once in a while to make sure I still had use of my fingers.

I stopped once to admire a blue mountain bird, and tried to feed it my pear core but it ignored me.

Unfortunately, my rear gears got stuck on the way down and i could not gear up so for 2 hours to minden I was cycling on very low inefficient gears. Finally made it to minden and found Big Daddy's Bikes (owner Shawn Scott) who fixed my gears for free. Minden is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen. It sits right between the Sierras and the valley to the east. Amazing!

Proceeded to Carson City and rented a Hertz Toyota Rav4 and drove it to Austin, Nv, where I spent the night. Was pulled over by a cop once for not having my headlights on in broad daylight.

Cycled a total of 35 miles today.

I am glad I did not cycle Nevada - the desert is hot and the US 50 is quite hilly.

28th April (Clements to Jackson) 25 miles

Woke up at 6 am today after a very cold night (5 deg celcius) I slept in a park called Stillman Magee Park near the 88 and 12 junction. It is closed after 6pm but who's checking? It reminds me of Wadsworth Falls near Wesleyan. Today I cycled along the 88, took 4 hours to get to Burger King in Jackons.

I was so happy to see a bakery and I had a bottle of starbucks coffee immediately which I gulped down in 10 seconds. For JCC buddies, this felt almost exactly like the hot sugared tea after we got out of chillhermit, before chillbone.

Today was only 25 miles but was exhausting because of the cold and also because I was climbing the whole day - I went from zero elevation to 1200 feet.

I realized that my camping equipment is completely insufficient for the cold since I started this trip too early in the year, and if I cycled any further, the next place to rest was almost 45 miles away, so my plan now is to take a taxi up to Carson Pass at 8573 ft (about 60 miles), and ride down the mountain all the way to Minden (26 miles) and Carson City (another 16 miles).

This journey has taught me the importance of patience, setting small goals (trying to get to the next road marker, one cycle at a time) - a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and is done one step at a time.

Shaowei sent me a great passage today Luke 10:1-19 about going out and ministering to people, wherever we are.

April 27th - Fairfield to Clements (63 miles)

Today I cycled from Suisun city in Fairfield, CA to Clements (between Lodi and Jackson). It took me 6 h 20min of riding, at an average speed of 10.3 mph

The first leg of highway 12 from suisun City to Rio Vista wasn't great. The road was narrow and I had to walk the bike several miles on the grass beside the road because it wouldn't be wide enough for the trucks and myself. I started walking after once I tried cycling up a hill at 6mph, looked behind me, and saw a long line of vehicles waiting because the truck behind me couldn't pass, and the driver was too nice to horn. It took me almost 3 hours to cover the first 20 miles.

The going after got a lot smoother with wider roads and road shoulders. I stopped at Lodi and got AAA maps at about 4pm, and proceeded to look for lodging along Cherokee Road and in lockerford, a B&B place which charged $140 (yikes) kindly gave me directions to a nearby park and even offered me an apple. I finally get to test my camping equipment.

Oh yes, just before Lodi, I met a ldy named victoria who was stumbling along the highway and trying to get to Sacramento. She was carrying a black jacket in her hand and looked in terrible shape, exhausted and lost. she had a healing scab on her forehead above her right eyebrow. She told me she got hit by a car 4 days ago, got evacuated to a hospital and I think she had to leave the hospital because she had no insurance. She sounded angry because she was adamant about having identification and them not accepting it, and how they wouldn't allow her to get her phone and other belongings from her clothes when she got hit. I lent her my phone and she called Gary, a friend but he refused to come help her. She did not even get to explain her predicament and got hung up on. She was so frustrated she said she really wanted to just give up. I gave her a bottle of my water, and she asked me if i knew anywhere to get something to eat. I knew she didn't have any money so I gave her $40 and she literally cried and said "God bless you". I have never bought myself that much happiness with $40.

Another interesting thing today was that I walked into a "Wienerschnitzel" fastfood chain for dinner, fully expecting to fulfill my dreams of tasting german food again, and instead all they had on the menu was chilli dogs and chilli burgers.

In the park, I set up the hammock but it got too cold (5 degrees celsius) and I could not fit my sleeping bag into the hammock. Even with the sleeping bag, sweater and pants, I was shivering all night in the tent and woke up exhausted the next day.

I was beside the river so the flow of the water was calming, and it was nice to hear the woodpeckers for a while but I think they went to sleep soon after it got dark and they woke me again in the morning with their rattling. I also heard some wolves.

First day of cycling

This morning, Shaowei, Jeremy, Emily and I had breakfast at a local place in Berkeley and the boys headed out cycling from Berkeley to Suisun city in Fairfield. We thought we would follow the 80 up and unfortunately this wasn't the jungle because in the jungle we could at least follow a straight line azimuth and bash our way.

Our journey was complicated by big white signboards with big bed crosses drawn over bicycles and monstrous steel animals zooming at 70 mph. We followed the bay up all the way to the bridge, crossed it, and then attempted to follow side paths along the 80. After bashing our way through small towns and strange nameless roads we saw an opening. An entrance into the 80 Freeway that did not have a huge white signboard with the word "bicycle" on it. This one said "no pedestrians". Aha luckily we're not pedestrians we thought. We entered the freeway and felt true freedom for the first time in 7 hours. We zoomed down the freeway at 35 mph (52kmh)
for almost 15 minutes and covered the same distance that had taken us previously one and a half hours).

Because my bike was the heaviest with the load, I was the fastest going downhill (and the slowest going up). Two steel animals with flashing lights and sirens pulled over in front of us after 15 minutes and a blue-uniformed human stepped out and yelled at us "what are you doing!?" Apparently, the freeway is for cars only, and they had gotten thousands of calls from motorists telling them they were 3 crazy cyclists on the freeway trying to get themselves killed.

We finished the day at Suisun city in Fairfield at 7pm and had a fantastic Mexican dinner. Shaowei and Jeremy caught the Amtrak back and I stayed the night at the Travis lodge.

Arrival and Preparation

The past week has been tremendous. I flew to SFO on 22nd April not knowing what to expect, what would happen, and in a short span of 4 days I have made new amazing friends, connected with old ones, and realized that perhaps the meaning of this journey is to see God for who he is and draw closer to him.

Met Shaowei for the first time in many years, since army days, met his girlfriend Cynthia, and her sis Enta (spelling right?), and also Shaowei's sister. Met Jeremy Chan, great guy who wll be returning home in a few weeks after graduation to work for JTC, and his friends Valerie, Serene at Dim Sum. Chengxi has been a fantastic host and logistics support (we'd call her S4 in the army). Great memories include Japanese dinner, scrabble, and home-baked chocolate cake and cookies.

There was a fantastic dinner at Chengxi's with her roommate Linh and her boyfriend Michi (spelt right?) - roast lamb and salad. mmmm

It's no coincidence that God brought me to San Francisco and put amazing people in my path who I had not even expected to meet here , people who remind me of the most amazing times in my life - Shaowei from the army, Emily and Chengxi from Wesleyan.

A big thank you to all my friends for their support and encouragement throughout this time!