Stats and Strains

During our training in Minneapolis prior to starting the Refuge Ride, we noticed a theme of road side debris that surprised us: gloves! Who knew there were so many random, mostly single gloves strewn on the sides of roads?! We decided to track the number we saw along our journey, which often was a nice distraction during difficult or monotonous days. Total gloves we saw during the 97 days: 822! Other road side items of interest included: 1 ironing board, 1 unopened bag of marshmallows, 5 fly swatters, countless bottles of urine and enough clothing to supply a thrift store.

It has been an amazing journey! Highlights included meeting Ethel in Georgia on day 4 who continues to call and pray for us, meeting our guardian angel life saver Roy in Kansas on day 53, seeing the smiles on peoples faces as we rode by, attentive cows, enjoying a wide variety of scenery at 10 mph, the encouragement we received from family and friends, and the incredible generosity of restaurants, stores and hotels. Out of 97 nights we only paid for lodging 4 times!

The best part of our journey was interacting with people who got it. They would hear what we were doing and without hesitation would dig deep and give generously for the refugees. We noticed that those who would give like that were ones who did not necessarily appear super well-to-do. Often it seemed they might relate to what it is like to go without and be in need. In contrast, many people who would drive up in fancy cars and looked more put together would take our picture, excited, impressed and entertained, but all they would leave us with was a stinging, "Best of luck."

Besides uncaring people, the biggest struggle we encountered was wind. It didn't affect us often, but 3 days riding in 30-40 mph crosswinds in Kansas definitely topped our "bad day" chart! Other challenges included uncomfortable unicycle seats, the camber or angle of the road which caused us to lean the opposite way to stay on the unicycle and really strained our bodies, cold weather out west, snakes on the road and trail, spiders and webs across the road, and lack of sleep.  We were most surprised by a lack of personnel and organizational support, and the general public's ignorance about how to function normally when unicycles are around.

Katie found strength during tough rides by mentally quoting Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."  And He was with us! Every pedal of the way without a doubt! He is with Syrian refugees, too and we pray this Refuge Ride will help them know His love in tangible ways!    http://unishow.org/#/refuge-ride/donate

Roy from Bird City Kansas escorting us on narrow windy roads.

Cows were sometimes our biggest fans.

One of many hotels that generously donated rooms for us.  Thanks to all!