Short Stories

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This is a story for my sister Sharon...because only she understands
“ …...The Look...




Nearly 17 years (and three failed marriages) to the day upon being discharged from the Navy in 1965, I pedaled a bicycle approximately 4000 miles across the country, from Everett, Washington to Lynchburg Virginia. The ‘mission’ was to meet Jerry Falwell and hook up with his Thomas Road Baptist College and take classes in creative writing.
Lets back up a little…I was something like 11 or 12 years old when I “went forward” one Sunday morning at the Free Methodist Church in Sedro Woolley, Washington and became a Christian. But being so young I really didn’t understand what I did: However I was as serious about it as a boy that age can be.
It was many years later before I understood that it was the Spirit of God that was in me that had set me apart from most of the kids around me. All I knew without understanding why…was that I was ‘different’.
And then at the age of 37, March of 1981 I had a very real “Born Again” experience that changed my whole life and I finally realized who and why I was. However, even though I was no longer a child of this world I was certainly an itty-bitty freshly baptized baby Christian! With a whole lot to learn! The message that I received from the Almighty God himself was Seek the Kingdom of God...!
That was it! No instructions as to how or where to look, just seek the kingdom!
So I began the search by purchasing a Bible and began reading. It didn’t take long to discover that I didn’t fit in the Churches either because I just could not accept the answers I was getting to my many questions.


Was I just being stubborn, rebellious, a Rabble Rouser, or what? All I knew was that I felt that I understood what I was reading but it wasn’t agreeing in some cases, with what the preachers and Sunday school teachers were teaching!
So what was the problem? I was reading things like ‘Once you have consumed all the milk you can handle and start desiring a little meat…you no longer have need of a teacher, for the Spirit will guide you into all truth!’…or something like that.
Anyway by then I was into the search for over a year and still totally confused as to what God expected of me. I had been reading, doing word studies using the Strongs Concordance, listening to radio ministers, purchased and listened to dozens of tape cassettes, and asking questions of anyone who would listen without giving me The Look and still I hadn’t found the Kingdom of God!
And then I came upon a scripture in the book of Proverbs that reads something like: A mans’ heart desires his way but the Lord directs his steps.
Finally! Not as dramatic as the first message I got but I felt that the Lord was telling me to do or go any ol’ where I chose…as long as I trusted him to guide my way, and the idea that popped into my head was “Get on your bicycle and ride!” This was in the month of May 1982 and I was on a roll!
My brother Eugene agreed to go on this little adventure with me so he sold his car and bought himself a brand new 10 speed bicycle, and with our bags packed with stuff like flour, noodles and beans…a hatchet and a sauce pan and a few other odds and ends, off we went!!

MAY TO AUGUST 1982

(A cross country Bicycle Trip…the hard way)








My bicycle was a used Montgomery Ward Hawthorn 27 inch 10 spd. (I had to stop and change gears by hand because the shifting lever wasn’t working) I limited myself to 3 gears, the lowest for climbing hills, the highest for level, windless, and smooth pedaling days (of which there were very few!) and a middle range gear of which I was in at least 50% of the time). Eugene was riding a brand spanking new Javco 26 inch 10 spd. With a rack on the back. We split our load as evenly as possible with Eugene carrying most of the camping gear and I’m loaded down with food, water, a few extra changes of clothing etc. We were carrying about 75 pounds each…
Heading East on Highway no 2, we started for Stevens Pass and I learned very quickly just how out of shape I was! It took two days of walking and pushing our bikes to the top of the mountain! But what a ride down the other side!…Yaaaaa hoooo!! My bike was equipped with a mileage counter and speedometer and we were flying down the East side of Stevens Pass at over 40 miles and hour!!! Two days up one side and one hour down the other! And here is the first of many stories of how God Almighty had his hand on my shoulder for this entire trip.

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At the top of Stevens Pass I noticed that I had developed a bulge in my front tire, so I had a choice to make…Either continue walking down the mountain, fighting to keep from being pulled down or..What this trip was all about..TRUST GOD!
So…with the very real possibility of my front tire blowing out if I rode down the mountain, I simply looked up and said “Okay Lord, My life is in your hands!” and with a shout of “Praise God!” I pushed off and enjoyed one of the many thrills of a lifetime! And from that time forward the phrase Praise God came up from my heart and out of my mouth many, many times.
It took us five days to ride across Washington State (about 300 miles) and enter Idaho. I should mention at this point that Eugene was not comfortable with my constant Praising God for this and Praising God for that. He was more into grumble, grumble, grumble.
One day during our trek across Washington we were caught in a rainstorm and Eugene just grumbled, grumbled and grumbled. Cold, wet and miserable! Me? Heh…I had been hot and sweaty for days, so when it started raining…Praise God! A cool shower




that was nothing short of refreshing and wonderful “Hey Brother! Stop your grumbling and feel good!”… grumble, grumble, grumble and I think I heard “Crazy old man~~~”
And I was only turning 39 years old! Ha!

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I believe that a miracle is something that interferes with the natural (God created) laws of nature that could even be closely imitated by the science of man, given the chance. For example: Jesus Christ was performing laser and heat eye surgery, in healing blindness over 2000 years ago, with the simple touch of his hand, or maybe a little spit and mud now and then or just a word or two, depending on his mood at the time I guess, or what lesson he was trying to get across to us sheep….baaaaaa
So…What a lot of folks call miracles I simply believe is being in the right place at the right time, and our Lord Jesus certainly has a hand in that. Case in point…Here’s another story for you.

SOMEWHERE IN THE MOUNTAINS OF IDAHO


We were high in the mountains, the tent was set up, our gear organized, beans were cooking over a low fire and everything was fine. Well….there was this one little problem…we were so high that the fire would just not get hot enough to cook the beans!
Eugene was down over the bank trying to catch us a fish. I’m tending the fire and beans and every once in a while I would go and check on how the fishing was coming along…not so good! Go back up to the fire and taste a bean…not so good! And all of a sudden I found myself overwhelmed with doubts!
What in the world did I think I was doing? Who in the world do I think I am? Some kind of prophet or something? Up here in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to eat but a hand full of beans that won’t even cook! Have I finally just truly lost my mind? A walking mental case with not even enough sense to know it?
And just as I was beginning to lose it, with tears bursting out of my eyes, believing I was having a nervous breakdown, I threw back my head and cried out…!
“My God! Am I going Crazy?!”
And then just as calm as a whisper, not a sound…total silence…just a thought… “Peace…be still…be not of a doubtful mind…you are worth more than a sparrow and I feed them…”


And while these thoughts are fluttering around in my mind, here comes Eugene trudging up the hill with what I can only describe as a puzzled frown on his face and he says “I just had the strangest feeling!” and my whole body went slightly numb! Because I knew what he was going to say next…and he said it!
“Lee” he says “I think that if we go on down to the next lake, I’ll catch us a fish.”
I slowly and calmly began putting out the fire and said, “Brother, why don’t you go ahead and take down the tent and lets pack it up and move it on down the road.”
The next lake was about 10 miles, and all down hill! Piece of cake! Walk in the park! What else can I say? Nothing! Lets go catch a fish!
About an hour later I had us a fresh and hotter fire going because we were probably a thousand feet lower in elevation. The tent was set up behind me and I was just sitting and watching my brother yank one perch after another out of the water, all from one single bug that he had found under a rock!
The last of our beans were just boiling and bubbling away. We used up all our flour and butter so we boiled some and stuffed it all into an empty can we had, wrapped in water soaked rags.
That night we laid back fat and lazy, roasting fish on a stick like hot dogs and Eugene asked me if I would start reading my Bible out loud. (A silent heartfelt praise God)
We munched on fish snacks for the next three days and I pedaled along in a semi-daze for a week~! And I asked myself again who I thought I was, and the answer? Nobody…really…maybe a little crazy, but that’s okay…

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All Jesus ever promised his people was what it takes to have life! The basics would be bread, water and some kind of shelter from the elements (which in our case was a tent). And it could all become wine, steak, and a house, depending on how grateful you are with what you have been given.
So now we are in the mountains of Montana and also by now we are pedaling up the hill, instead of walking and pushing, but it is slow, hard, and makes your legs feel as if they are on fire! It is very important to keep your head down and just watch the little rocks in the asphalt pass under your front tire. Do not look up to see how far it is to the top! Because if you do, chances are good that you will let out a long moan of despair, roll


it on over in the ditch, crying out “I want my ma ma!” and don’t try to talk! You need that next breath for another down-stroke!
This is the 3rd day now of this grueling pace, averaging maybe a mile and hour. All is still and quiet with the only sound the faint splash and hiss of sweat hitting the hot pavement. Or was that a tear? I know that enough pain will make the strongest of us weep! And then suddenly out of this silence I hear a voice!!
All the pain, sweat and tears are forgotten and I am at instant attention! “Hey Lee”…there it was again! I look over and there was Gene pulling up along side of me and he was talking! What was he doing talking? Didn’t he need his next breath for pedaling as much as I did?…… “Yeah?” I answered just a little frustrated. And the following discussion went something like this….
“Huff puff what do puff we have to eat?”
“Puff, puff, puff, we still have a few beans, flour and a box of puff, mac and cheese puff pant puff” (No big surprise there! That’s what we have been eating for the past 3 days. The fish went bad on us before we could finish it but it was sure good while it lasted!
Silence again……and then again “Hey Lee”
“Huff Yeah? Puff”
“Huff puuuff pant puff, wouldn’t a huff batch of biscuits and gravy taste good about now?”
“Well huuuuuuuff puff!!” but we had better just be content with what we have, know what I mean?”
“Yeah, yeah I know, I was just thinking.”
“Well now my mouth is watering along with the rest of my body! So think about something else would ya?”
Another hour passes and I feel like I’m going to die! And then Praise God!! “Heh Gene!” I gasped, “I just spotted water down there in those trees!”
And it was time to pack it in for the day. Not only water but also a picnic table and fire pit and wonder of wonders on the picnic table sits a 2-quart carton of milk! It had been left there recently because it was still cool but whoever left it didn’t want it because “Heh..Its got an egg shell in it!”
“Well Lordy Be, throw away the egg shell!” Gene made the gravy, I made the bread and called it ‘biscuits’ and there we were!!
“Hey Brother?”
“Yeah?”
“Next time you get to thinking, how about some steak and eggs? Not that I’m un- grateful you understand…just thinking.”
“Good night Brother.






Somewhere in the beginning of June, we put the mountains behind us. It took two days just to get through the Yellowstone Park, and now at the top of the last mountain pass and gazing out at a whole ‘nother world! All the sparkling, cool, and fresh water a person could possibly need was behind us, replaced with windmills; surrounded and guarded by herds of some pretty wild, and mean looking beasts!
The road stretched out in front of us for as far as you could see. Straight as an arrow and rolling up and over a continuous stream of hills until disappearing in a point on the horizon. The vastness of it all was mind-boggling!
“How far do you suppose it is to that point?”
“I don’t know, maybe a hundred miles?” (probably about 10 miles, but it sure looked like a thousand miles to me!)
My bulging tire had been re-placed by this time but the bankroll from the sale of Gene’s car was gone and I was getting the feeling that things were going to change.
Okay!….from where we are standing it looks to be maybe five miles of down hill so lets roll! And let the wind blow away all the sweat and tears of the past weeks. So with a whoop and a holler off we went and actually rolled up at least half the next hill! And that’s the way the highway stretches across the entire country! Not a single straight and level stretch anywhere!!

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The city park in Douglass Wyoming has a small river running through it, lots of green grass and seemed like a nice place to hang out for a while to see what we could see. We needed at least a day of work in order to replenish our supplies so while I’m laying out our campsite, Gene cast his line in the river, while we began discussing our plans…….and then…..along comes a Game Warden…ooops!
No fishing license and no excuse and my brother Gene gets tossed into jail with the choice of serving six months or paying the $300 fine!



Well now! This is what you call a pickle, or maybe in this case a fine kettle of fish! All we need is 10 bucks, but 300 dollars?!!
Okay…so to shorten the next two weeks into two sentences, I managed to convince the judge to waive the fine with our agreement to just “Get out of town!”
The problem turned out to be that there were some politicians and other ‘dignitaries’ scheduled to visit this little town so the bums and vagrants were being quietly rounded up and put out of sight, being the unsightly creatures we are!
So we left Douglas Wyoming with our food bags empty and not a dime to our name and once again did our pumping up one hill and rolling down the next and the hours just moved along, until finally we were just too tired and hungry to pump the pedals and got off the bikes and began pushing them up the hill.
“So Brother?” Gene asked, “What are we going to do? Were out of food, out of money, and 50 miles from the nearest town.”
“Trust God Brother!” He’s brought us this far and we’ve been tired and hungry before. Food, water and shelter are a promise…Right?”
“Yeah..right! So what’s he going to do? Turn some rocks into bread?”
“Nah…I don’t think so. I think he uses people to help people ya know?”
“Maybe so but there sure ain’t no people out here!”
We’ve been at it now for about 10 hours and the ‘ol bellies are rumbling and the ‘ol legs are getting tired, so we started thinking about watching for some place to hang it up for the day. The top of this hill has a bit of a turn-out so lets take a little break.
I’m sitting and staring out over the valley, watching the deer and antelope play, while Gene stepped back into the bushes to take care of a little personal business. I’m just sitting and thinking ‘bout things when once again I hear a kind of muffled and quiet…
“Heh Lee…”
“Heh, yeah?”
“You will never guess what I’ve got behind my back!”
I look back over my shoulder and of course there stands my brother with his hands behind his back, with a kind of dumb founded look on his face.
“Okay, I give up. Whatcha got?”
“I got us a bucket of spuds Man!”
And there in his hands is a one-gallon plastic bucket, with a handle and sealed lid (which turned out to be a mighty handy addition to our camping supplies) filled with mashed potatoes!!
On the side of it were stamped in black letters, ‘Good until June 12, 1982’, which just happened to be tomorrow, so I said, “Better eat ‘em up!”



Well believe it or not I had been sitting and staring at a tree without really seeing what I was seeing for quite a while.
Just one itty bitty little problem…. there was this herd of beasts out there! We stood there with our bucket of spuds for a minute until Gene says, “Lets go for it!”
So we lifted our bikes up and over the fence and started pushing for the tree. It turned out the beasts weren’t as ferocious as I had thought. They kept their distance but they followed us to the tree, which turned out to be a grouping of four small trees with a small stream bubbling through it all. Sort of an oasis in the middle of a prairie, I mean was this a campsite or what?
So while I pitched the tent, Gene got us a small fire going and lo and behold, I came up with a bit of pan-cake mix and well, just let your imagination run wild!
So anyway we had ourselves a mashed potato feast while the beasts, which I’m going to start looking at as simply curious cattle surrounded us and just stood out there watching us watching them.
A little later the sun set, and the stars came out by the billions…we’re kicked back roasting these little potato, dough balls we had stuck on sticks and Gene says..
“Heh Lee..”
“Yeah brother, what’s on your mind?”
“Could you find that story about how God turned some rocks into bread?”
Some time during the night the cattle had disappeared: A storm rolled over us and with the sound of the rain pitter-pattering on the tent…we slept the sleep of the just.

On the road again the next day found us in a small town (I don’t remember the names of all the small towns we went through) but this one had a fair grounds, where we spent the day, shoveling out horse stalls and repairing fences: Earned ourselves 20 bucks, had the gears repaired on my bike, Praise God! Refilled our bags and movin’ on out!!

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We are about half way across Wyoming now and it is beginning to get “HOT!”..by hot I’m talking 100 degrees plus or minus one beating down upon our heads. Gene had found himself what looked as if it started life as a diaper and fashioned an Arab type Kefehya headgear. We still had $12.00 so I figured to buy myself a straw hat of some kind in one of these small towns we kept coming to every two to three hours.
Okay! Its’ been three days now and we’ve been through I don’t know how many little towns. All I have seen so far are 10-gallon cowboy hats that were just not going to work out! Not rolling down hills at 30 miles an hour on a bicycle!


It’s HOT! What I’m trying to say is its’ HOT! And I’m starting to get dizzy..I am starting to worry about Heat Stroke! I am in trouble!
We are on our way out of another little town and I get to thinking. Ya know? There sure seems to be a lot of I this and I that in my way of thinking these past few days!
“Okay Lord!” I says to myself…I’ve done all I can do and I give up! Either you fix this problem or I am simply going to fall off this bicycle, and shrivel up in the sun! and instead of thinking, I start singing!….Just belting out as loud as I could, my favorite song….How Great Thou Art!…The sweat just pouring off my brow, dripping off my nose and running down my back-bone! “OH LORD! HOW GREAT THOU ART!” The sweat began mixing with tears, when all of sudden….There it was!! My straw hat just lying there in the ditch! Low crown, narrow brim, with a built in sun visor and a shoestring attached to tie under my chin!
Is it starting to sound as if I’m making this stuff up? Well if I am…I missed my calling and should have been a storyteller HUH? Because here comes another one!

June 29th 1982, its’ my birthday! 39 years! And what people see is a bum, a wandering vagrant on a bicycle! Well I know who I am and its’ my birthday and we are going to celebrate because we still have the 12 bucks and there is another little town up the road.
Now we are sitting in a coffee shop enjoying a hot cup of coffee and checking out the menu. The waitress steps up to our table with her little writing pad and I just sort of blurted out with “Hi! Its’ my birthday!” “Well now!” she says “Happy Birthday! the coffee is on the house!” “Thank ya ‘mam” says I.
She leaves and comes back with what must have been a 20-inch cherry topped cheesecake pie!! And again she says “Happy Birthday!”
So we had our celebration, we used the 12 bucks to re-fill our bags with more mac & cheese, beans, peanut butter, ready mix flour and what have ya’, and now we are on the road again and praising the Lord!
With our food bags full and good to go for another week or so, our new plan is to try and build up another bankroll. So were’ going to check out the first town we come to across the Nebraska state line.

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Well…! We haven’t been in this town for five minutes and have already been politely told by the local cop to just keep right on movin’ along. I guess we do look pretty weird. Gene looks like he should be riding a camel and I’ve got three different kinds of feathers stuck in my hat, the latest being a 12 inch pheasant feather. But I’m thinking it was the peacock feather that got his attention! And we both have un-cultivated wild and un-kempt scraggly beards.
Oh well…Better luck somewhere else I guess…Buuuuut….On our way out of town we come across this Ace hardware store with a sign in the window ‘Help wanted’……?!
Now is this what we came into town for or what? I mean were’ not looking for some permanent 9-5 but we could sure offer a little temporary help!
Okay!…Here’s the deal! The manager of this place just happens to be a good friend of the Mayor who just happens to have authority over the police and so arrangements are being made to waive a city ordinance, allowing us to pitch our tent in the city park tonight. We will discuss wages and details in the morning upon reporting for work. Sure sounds like a good deal to us so now we are heading for the park where we will spend the rest of this day just kicked back in the shade………..Whoa!! This park has a swimming pool!!…..I wonder…….Yep! Since we don’t have the 2 dollar fee….we can use the pool if we agree to stick around ‘till closing time and help cover it up!
Early the next morning we show up at the Hardware Store and we are put to work, just generally cleaning up, stacking lumber and pretty much just piddle paddling around. Well we must be pretty good piddle paddlers because here is how this day ended!
First of all we are sent to a Coffee shop with no limit on the menu…just told to help ourselves!! Can you just imagine what kind of feast that turned out to be? And then its’ back to the hardware store and we are told to help ourselves to whatever we felt we could use on our trip! Can you believe this? Now we have sleeping bags, air mattresses, a bicycle pump, extra tubes and a small coffee pot!
And as if this wasn’t enough he hands us $70.00 in cash and says “Thank-you!”
Well…Our first five minutes in this town and we are told to leave and now about 24 hours later, we are doing just that!
Now we are about 10 miles down the road with our bellies full, a $70 dollar bankroll, and this mattress feels like a cloud!………..”Praise God!”



Well…This is a sad day! We had just gone through the most barren and strangest looking country I have ever seen. It looked as…. if you left the road for any reason, you would be chemically eaten alive! And we had just entered the state of Kansas.
Six weeks on the road together…Some fun times…Some hard times…Some strange times…Some weird times…And now No times…
I’m having a real hard time trying to understand what is happening but Heh…I’ve already been married threes times so I must not be the easiest guy to live with.
The last I heard Gene wound up in Louisiana, working on a shrimp boat.

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Well things have really changed now and the trip has lost its adventure spirit and has become a Lets just get it done.
I’m about half way across Kansas now and I’ve been thinking about trying to find those relative’s of Mom’s in Chanute.
I’m really sorry Sharon, but the rest of this trip is just not going to be as much fun to write about.


I forgot what this Lady’s name is (Maxine?) but Mom sure knows who it is!! Tomorrow I’ll be heading into the hills of Missouri…See ya there!


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I have always skirted around the larger cities because its’ just too much hassle getting around all the traffic and noise, but not this time…I’ve been sitting on this highway now for over eight hours trying to hitch a ride into Springfield.
When Gene and I split up a couple of weeks ago we divided our gear as fair as possible and now here I sit with a flat tire, no pump and 50 miles from the nearest town.
I not only have a flat, I have no money, my food is low, and my water jug is near empty and well…..you get the picture. I have a bit of a problem here. And the problem is getting worse by the minute! The few cars that go by every few minutes couldn’t help anyway….I need someone in a pick-up! So why am I sitting here waving my thumb around in the air like an idiot? The Lord sees me sitting here and knows what the situation is so I need to just relax and let happen what happens, and I feel like I’m starting to ramble here, its hot and I’m getting dizzy from the heat and WHOA!! What’s this? A truck just pulled over! Praise God!!
Okay! Here we go! After struggling for five minutes getting this 75 pound load of metal, pot & pans, with flat tire etc. (A little help would have been nice but Heh! Whos complaining?) loaded into the back, I get into the truck and turned to thank the man for stopping, but before a word came out my mouth, without even looking at me he said, “I take it your going to Springfield, I’ll drop you off at the city limits sign and I don’t talk!”….
“O….kay…” I says and not another word was spoken for over an hour!
True to his word, as soon as we came up on the city limits sign he pulls over, and again without even turning to look at me he says “I don’t pick up hitch-hikers! Never have and never will again! And I don’t know why I picked you up! Now get out!”
This guy was weird to the point of getting a little scary. He was definitely up-set and I sure didn’t want to say or do anything that just might flip him over the edge of whatever he was standing on! As calmly as I could and very quietly I asked him if I could please have a minute to get my bike out the back. He just stares over the steering wheel and says nothing. Hoping that that meant “yes” I carefully got out and silently praying that he would just sit still for a minute, started tugging my stuff out of the back.
No sooner had my tires hit the ground, the guy throws the truck in gear, drops the clutch and just whipped rocks and gravel all over me getting out of there. Blew the hat right off my head, practically destroying my pheasant feather and disappeared down the road! I shouted after him as loud as I could “Well…Thanks for the ride and have a nice day!!”
Now I’m standing there on the sidewalk and began trembling and shaking! It must be over a hundred degrees so I’m sure not cold. I must have been plumb scared to death and didn’t even know it, and coming down off an adrenaline rush! Well thank
God that’s over but I’m still a mile from town and I still have a bit of a problem here!



Have you ever tried pushing a bicycle with a flat front tire in 100 degree heat, with about 75 pounds of weight tied to it? Fun.fun..fun!

What I’ve been doing now for the past few weeks, that has worked out a few times, is find a Church, and since I’m a brother in Christ I should be welcomed with open arms of Love and compassion…right?…..wrong! Most of the time I am treated pretty much in accordance to my appearance, which as you know is a bum and wandering vagrant. I mean these folks have some pretty valuable stuff in these churches and I could be a thief! A murderer, a pedophile or a whatever! I mean lets face it! I do look a little scary! But it still doesn’t make it any less frustrating!
So anyway, now I’m just pushing on down the sidewalk looking for a Church and its’ hot! And I’m tired, and thirsty and the sweat is running like a river…and then without thinking about anything, just kind of re-acting to how I was feeling, I threw back my head and just shouted up at the sky! “Oh Lord!! I could sure use a cold beer about now!”
And then I hear a shout from someone else! “Hey Buddy!!”
I look toward the voice and there driving slowly by is a car with an arm sticking out the back window, and in the hand is a can of Budweiser!!
“You look like you could use a cold one!” shouts the arm.
I dropped the bike, grabbed the beer with a quick thanks’, the car drives on and here I sit on the sidewalk drinking a cold beer, freaking out a little but praising God!! Now I must admit that I’ve drank a few beers in my lifetime but let me say that that was the best tasting and the most refreshing beer that I had ever had!
All right, that was great, thank you very much, but I still have a problem here.

Finally! After about another hour of pushing and sweating I came across a Church and that must be the preachers’ house right next to it!
Okay! Here we go! I lean my bike up against a post and knock on the door.
A lady answers and she doesn’t look scared so I launch into my spiel…
“Hi, my name is Lee Frank, I’m a brother in Christ Jesus our Lord and I need a little help. I have come from Washington State and on my way to Lynchburg, Virginia to meet Jerry Falwell”. (Oh Oh… Here comes The Look but I press on)
“What I need is ten dollars to buy a tire and tube for my bicycle and a safe place to pitch my tent where I can build a small cooking fire.”
“In return I offer you a full day of honest hard work doing anything at all that has been needing done around here. Praise God!”



I’m beginning to wonder if she thinks I’m selling encyclopedias or something and hoping she doesn’t smell the beer on my breath.
At least 99 percent of the churches I’ve ever been to, teaches that alcohol of any kind is an absolutely sinful no-no, that will send you straight to hell! And anyone who drinks a beer and claims to be a Christian, is if not a liar, a Christian living in sin: one of the many reasons I don’t get along too well with most Christians. A very sad and ‘un-Christian’ situation but there you have it! And anyway as far as I’m concerned we are ALL living in sin in one way or another, and will be until we get our new bodies! So GIVE ME A BREAK!
Anyway…back to the lady at the door!
“I’m sorry” she says, “You must be looking for the preacher and he lives out of town.”…. and….I don’t know what happened but God help me I just lost it!! Hot…tired…hungry…thirsty…and I just almost screamed “How about a glass of water? Or would that just be too much trouble?”
But I didn’t. Instead I just very quietly (and sarcastically) said “Yeah, right! I understand: the preacher doesn’t want to be bothered, and must protect himself from the likes of me. I mean even the pope has a bulletproof golf cart, and he’s supposed to be ‘infallible’?
“Never mind, I’ll go find the Police Station, maybe they will help!” and I turned, grabbed my bike, and stomped off in a very ‘Christian’ like self-righteous little huff!
Now going to the police for anything at all in the condition I’m in is very risky. At the very least they could simply toss me in jail overnight as a vagrant. For example you do not just pitch a tent in a city park without some kind of permission. (In writing!)
So here I am again pushing this load up the side of a very busy street a couple hours later, without a clue where I am, when a car pulls up behind me blasting his horn and liked to sent me flying for the clouds! A man is jumping out of the car, waving something in the air at me and shouting, “Hey!…I’ve been looking all over for you! A fellow came by who owed me some money!” and he hands me this ten dollar bill he’s been waving around, jumps back into his car and takes off!?
I’m standing there in the road staring at this ten dollar bill….Have I just been humbled or what?
Well….Praise God! I can stop looking for the police (not a good idea anyway) but its’ getting a little late to look for a place that sells bicycle tires, so I better start looking for a place to hang out for the night.
Finding a place to sleep has become a real challenge once I left the mountains. No more trees, fresh water and fire pits. It has now become abandoned buildings, wrecked cars, or just anything that looks like protection from the weather or weirdos.
(Kind of like a preacher protecting himself from me!) Ha!


Forgive me Lord! Sometimes I just can’t help myself!

And again I’m pushing and sweating, however in a much better mood, and keeping my eyes open for some place to lay down and sleep, when I come up on this little ice-cream joint.
Milk shakes for 99 cents! I can’t resist! With a little help from my friend, by now I’m sure that everything is going to be just fine and I’ll get a tire on sale somewhere. So now my rig is leaned up against the building where I can keep an eye on it and I’m kicked back, resting and sipping on a cool chocolate shake when in walks this little girl.
She looks to be about 8 to 10 years old and just boldly walks up to me, showing not an ounce of fear (how refreshing, but dangerous!) “Is that your bicycle?” she asks.
“Yep, it sure is”
And she wants to know where I’m from and where I’m going and just stood there and listened to me rattle for a good five minutes or so. Finally I warned her that what she was doing was very dangerous and she really shouldn’t be talking to strangers like this!
“Oh that’s alright” she says, “My Mom is right there (pointing to a car parked out side) and she’s watching you. Anyway, Here! She told me to give you this if you were nice.” And she hands me a five-dollar bill, turns and walks out, getting into the car with her Mom. They both wave as they drive away and I didn’t even ask her name!!
Some times I just feel like a Jerk! A LOT OF TIMES I FEEL LIKE A JERK!!
I have met a lot of people on this trip that I would sure like to meet again some day…. and I will…. But probably not in this world.
It was after dark before I discovered an abandoned school bus to hole up in for the night and munched on soda crackers and peanut butter.
Early the next morning found me sitting in the parking lot of a K-Mart, waiting for them to open and now here I am with Springfield about 30 miles behind me and I’m heading for the spot on the map where Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee all meet.








I would like to make mention that before I ever started this trip my Grandma Petty had shown me how to make Indian style pan bread, and one thing I have always made sure I had on hand was a bag of Krustez, Wheat and honey pancake mix. Just add a little water and make pan fried bread, a little more water and make a pan-cake, a little less water and make a biscuit. Its’ pretty handy flour to have if your living over a camp-fire!
Bread, beans and Macaroni and cheese had been my main dinning fare these past weeks but as you have seen, every once in a while I get these little surprise feasts!
This is definitely taking living one day at a time to the extreme!!

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The river that Mark Twain made famous with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn will be coming up in a couple of days.

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This trip is beginning to come to a close now. A friend of mine from Tennessee just gave me a 400 plus mile ride into Virginia and this is where everything just started turning weird and spooky.

To start with I hadn’t been on the road for ten minutes when I met a husband and wife on bicycles doing their own touring and we had just agreed to meet up at a campsite, to spend some time swapping stories.
The meeting never took place because just moments later, the last thing I remembered was rolling into a spread of pea gravel that stretched all the way across the road! And I rolled into it at over 30 miles an hour!
The next thing I remember is sitting along side the road with blood all over the place wondering what was happening. I heard someone saying that an ambulance was on the way and it was for me!
I asked someone where I was and they said Virginia, and I remember saying “Virginia? What I am I doing in Virginia?”



The next thing I remember is being in some sort of hospital and someone asking me what my name was and I didn’t know! I remember thinking that was strange. Why didn’t I know my name?
It all started coming back after a few hours……I was in a Seventh Day Adventist Hospital. Twenty stitches across the top of my right eyebrow, (a silly little millimeter from losing my eye!) A sizable piece of flesh scrapped out of my inner thigh, and a good chunk out of my right ankle!
The fine folks at the hospital did a great job patching me up but I looked like I had been in a bar fight! And that’s how I presented myself to Jerry Falwell, but that was a bit later…Let me back up a little.

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I’ve decided to just not put in writing what I experienced over the next several days. Suffice it to say that I showed up in pretty sad shape and was not treated with a whole lot of respect. I was left with the impression that the whole thing is set up for the Christian tourists and there is not a doubt in my mind that had I showed up wearing a suit and tie with verification of a nice bank account, I would have been dealt with much differently.
Simply because that’s the way of the world and a Church run as a business for profit is no different than any other business.

Have you ever looked real close at the eyes of a shark? No pupil, black, cold, emotionless, no expression of any kind, just evaluating. I have only seen eyes like that two times in my life. One was a man who had recently been released from prison (A boy-friend of an ex-wife) and the other was Jerry Falwell’s personal secretary!

What I learned? Jesus our Lord is good for his word and can be trusted…!

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This story was written 25 years after the fact…Had I known I would be putting it all down in writing, I would have taken notes and recalled the names of the people I met and the small towns I visited. I did send letters home to my Mother but they were all lost in my constant moving and wandering around.

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