"The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world." v. 1-4a
I thought if God can use something without a voice to speak to the world, how much more might He use me to speak??? After having this very deep moment, I set out to conquer South Pass. It's huge! The journey from Riverton to Rock Springs is about 140 miles.
Throw in a mountain and it feels like 300 miles! Expecting to have a difficult ride from Lander over the South Pass, I set out with excitement and motivation from the moment I had just spent with God. It was a beautiful day, few clouds, and the forest was beautiful. I approached the first climb of the pass so I stopped to have a couple of my energy packs.
As I did I heard these dogs barking at me and because I had been chased by dogs a couple of times already I quickly looked around to see where they were. They were in a fenced field across the highway so I didn't pay them any more attention. I finished my energy packs, snapped up my trailer bag, and got ready to "thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff." I was going to beat this beast! Right then I looked over and the dogs were gone. I thought, "That's strange, where did they go?" Then BAM! They popped up out of the ditch bank alongside the highway barking at me. I jumped up on my bike and pedaled as fast as I could. I thought, "I definitely don't want to get my ankles bit but I really don't want those dogs to get run over. I had a downhill that I had to go down before I started the climb and as I picked up a safe speed I looked back and I saw that the dogs had made it across the highway and were running towards me. I got far enough away that they stopped chasing me and then I prayed for them! "Please God get them back safely!"
Up and down, up and down, up and down I went as the pass continued. I climbed something like 20 miles and I pulled over on one of those side road turnoffs to take a break because there was a very steep climb ahead of me. As I waited, this semi-truck came speeding down the climb I was about to tackle and he had smoke billowing out from his tires. I thought, "What's going on with this guy? I think I'm probably ok being here on the other side of the road." I kept watching him and as he turned, he headed right for me. I thought, "What is he doing!?" Well, he crossed over both lanes of the highway going probably 50mph so I hurried out of the way and he came to a stop on the turnoff. I decided that I would ask him how much further the pass went. I rode over to him and asked and he pointed to the top of the climb I was about to go up and said, "That's probably the highest point right there, but it does a lot of this..." He made a wave gesture with his hand, meaning there were some hills after I got to that peak. I made it there, fighting strong winds the entire way up, but I was very excited because I figured I was done climbing.
I continued and I came around this corner to see another HUGE climb! I was thinking maybe he was just mistaken and maybe that this was the highest point of the pass. I saw a fireman on a turnoff on the other side of the road in a pickup and I thought "I should ask him about maybe getting a ride..." But, I kept on riding thinking that after this next climb it would most likely be mostly downhill. I was very, very surprised each time I would finish a climb and then see another one following it. There never was much of a downhill relief, just a plateau of the current climb. At one point the wind was blowing so bad that I had to get off and walk. Walking was faster than riding at that point. As I was walking, a white Astro van stopped on the other side of the highway and a guy yelled out, "Are you ok?" and I said, "Yeah, I'm good, the wind was just blowing too hard." He asked if I wanted a ride and I said, "No thanks," and he asked me if I needed any water and I said "No, I'm good, thanks though." He said ok and off he went. I figured I was about done in considering how many climbs I had already come across. I also thought that if I get a ride up the pass then I can't say that I did it on my own. But after a couple more big pushes I realized that it could go on for a while. I think God was providing for me, but my pride stopped me from accepting His provision. My hands were closed grasping on the image I wanted, not on dependent relationship God wanted. I started thinking that if another person was to stop and ask me if I wanted a ride I would say "YES!!!" without delay. Though, I had no such luck and forward I went. The thought just replayed over and over in my head and it was hard to not focus on how hard this pass was. At one point I had to stop to give my back a rest and I grabbed my backup water to refill my water bottle. I had one full bottle of water and so I thought, "This better end soon or I'll be in trouble..." I kept riding, sipping ever so lightly on my water and as I looked up this gentlemen in a white Honda Civic drove by and waved. I waved back and thought, "That was nice!" I looked back at him in my helmet mirror and watched him turn around! I was shocked and a little nervous. I watched him drive up right behind me so I pulled over and we talked. He said "Hey I know it might seem 'manly' to try and do this alone, but I'll tow you up the rest of this push if you want..." I said, "Yeah! Is that ok though?" We did it and it was very hard. It was windy still and try to steer as well as hold on to the car was difficult. We talked as he towed me up the climb and when we got to the top he asked if I would like to try and fit my bike and my gear in his car and he would drive me the rest of the way to Farson. I said "YEAH!!!" I was just thinking "If someone would ask me if I wanted a ride, I wouldn't turn them down." His trunk was full and he had a dog in the backseat. He got my bike to fit in the back seat and my trailer-bag had to be latched to the inside of the truck lid. I had to hold my folded trailer up front with me. We finished out the pass and to my surprise there were only two climbs left. Even if I would have finished it on my own, I would have had to battle strong winds on the valley that followed the pass. From the end of the pass to Farson was 20 miles, probably two hours of riding. I think it was around 4:30pm so I decided to push through to Rock Springs 40 miles away. I was making good time at the beginning but I soon slowed down to 10 to 12 mph. It took me a very long time but I beat the sunset (about 8:45pm). Pulling into town was great because it was all downhill! I think I was averaging 20mph for the last 10 miles! I took a couple of days off to hang out with my good friends in Rock Springs and to could give my body a little break.
I had pushed myself really hard to make it up the South Pass and used up what was left to make it to Rock Springs. These two days were very, very good! At one point my friend Kevin and I went to find a herd of wild horses that apparently lived in the area.
We drove and drove, but we didn't see any horses. We were both disappointed, but we figured that even if we had seen these wild horses, they would probably just be standing around eating like every other horse does. You know what, I have always had this image of wild horses running in this deep green pasture with an all out dedication, all headed in the same direction and flowing together as a river flows over the riverbed.
(This picture was not taken by me!)Just like in the movie "Hidalgo" at the very end when Frank lets Hidalgo ride free with the rest of the horses. I had to understand that this moment wouldn't deliver the satisfaction of experience that my mind envisions. Rock Springs was a great break. I really enjoyed staying at Kevin's place and seeing all that he does. It’s great to be with a good friend!
Coming tomorrow...
A Flaming Gorge, a rain storm, and uncorralled desire remembered. Stayed tuned for one of the most significant moments of the trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment