Change is always part of the road

Day 2 will see me departing from Amarillo early in the morning. I will take a detour as I leave Amarillo, to explore one of Ride Texas Magazine recommended routes. This should add about 60 miles to the day's ride, but from what I hear, it is well worth it. The rest of the day shall remain unplanned, except for the late afternoon arrival in Albany, TX.

A few days ago I started looking at the preparation that will be needed to deal with changing temperatures along the way. Thanks to the great variety of online weather information systems, I was able to plot the changes in maximum and minimum temperatures as a function of distance from Denver, the starting point.


With temperatures dipping into the 50s and 40s in the Denver and New Mexico areas, I am looking forward to the desert and to Texas after the first day.

While things feel pretty nice and balmy, for people like me, but more like really hot and humid for others, here in Houston, temperature will not be as nice at night or during early morning, at the beginning of the trip.

The ongoing preparation for this journey makes me continue to reflect on God's promise as He spoke to His people through Joshua: "It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled "(Joshua, 24:17). I know I have moved through life, always wanting to do things myself and my way. I have always been a planner and contemplated things from all angles, trying to predict all the pitfalls and all the bends on the road. I have always tried to be the owner of the journey. And the harder I worked at that, the harder my journey has become. In those times when I have now come to the realization that I can only be the project executor for Him, and not the project manager, I must confess that I have found great relief. I am to constantly be reminded that He has brought me so far; that He has reached down for me and did not concern Himself with where I was; that I all needed to do was reach for His hand. And while the temperatures may fluctuate wildly, the sun may shine, or the cross winds may hit us unpredictably, His hand is always there. What better fairing can we ask for. We have one that fits us better than any Italian engineered machine.