oregon trail

lunchtime

God speaks to her.

danger ahead

washington finished.

August 2nd continued
Today was our biggest mileage day on the trip so far. Our friend Andre said that it was all down hill from centralia to portland. We trusted him and road our heart out. 90 miles in one day!!! It was indeed true, most of the ride was downhill. We travelled at about 20-35mph the whole way. Until we reached Oregon. We crossed the Colombia River Gorge bridge which was extremely dangerous. After crossing and riding about two miles I looked down at my handle bars and something looked odd. I kept riding then it hit me. I lost my japa beads! oh no! I used to keep my japa beads on my handle bars so whenever we stopped I could chant. While I rode would listen to my Ipod. Usually on flat ground I would listen to lectures, when it was a difficult hill I would put in some fast Aindra kirtan or some KC hip hop like Atma(at the speed of mind) and when I was stressed out I would put in some Karnamrita or some Mayapur Bhajans. So I immediately turned around knowing that they were somewhere near the bridge a few miles back. I back tracked in total anxiety. There they were, half way up the bridge at this huge bump. While going very fast down the bridge I hit a bump and the beads jumped out of their strap. I was absolutely grateful for the Lord allowing me to retrieve my beads. I was repenting for all my offenses again and again and again!

The rest of the ride was flat and had relatively no problems until the last five miles... We were going to Vrajakishore Prabhu's(RNS) place in Hillsboro near Portland. One has to be careful when you invite us to your house. Even if you live very far away and we have to ride our bicycles there we will end up on your door step at some time. Be warned. On our way to his house we did have one interesting incident. We often would sit out from of grocery stores and eat lunch. As we sat many people would ask who we were what we were doing etc. On this day one lady came out of the store with a big watermelon. With a large smile she said that the Lord told her to give this to us. We accepted. What a nice pure hearted lady. We gave some to our brother who was eating a raw dough pizza. We told him how he could get a cooked one for the same price at the deli. He was quite amazed not knowing such information and having eaten about ten so far like this. The last part of our trip had the most beautiful view of Mt St Helens which is a volcano! Every few hundred miles we had darshan of the most amazing mouintains. Mt Baker, Mt Raniear, Mt Helens and others. Each were snow covered peaks reaching into the clouds. Last but not least, last five miles were five miles up a most steep hill. All up hill switching back and fourth. I got thrown off the road once by a dump truck, it was dark and there were no side lanes. It took about an hour to ride up the hill. I think i walked atleast half of it. We made it home for evening prasadam, hot showers and playing with Braj lila the baby.