Day 74, October 14th 2007 (Bacavi,AZ to Keams Canyon,AZ)

Waking up in the morning at around 7 am, I was ready for the shower that I was told I could take at Jim and Roxane's house. I never knew when my next shower was going to be so when I was offered a place to take one, it was always an opportunity that I didn't want to pass up. I also felt that it would be much more appropriate for me to arrive inside of a church clean rather than dirty. I was able to have an incredible breakfast of eggs and toast to start the morning off and it was great to see everyone moving around on this Sunday morning. I was happy to be able to share this Sunday morning with this family because I could see that they were very moved by the spirit and I was thankful to be in their home. I was able to check a few things on the computer before the service started and to receive a good idea of what the weather was going to be like ahead of me. The weather always seemed to be a surprise to me on the road, but having a computer at my access it was nice to be one step ahead of the weather. When I arrived in the church I could see that it was a smaller congregation and it gave a feeling of being apart of another family for the morning. We were able to sing in both English and in the Hopi native language. The hymns followed with a sermon from Jim and another person in the congregation. It was a great service and I was thankful to have arrived where I had for the day. Following the great service, the congregation offered a potluck for lunch. Apparently they have a potluck every Sunday after the service and it made for a great time to get to know more of the people in the congregation and to have fellowship with them. The food was so good that I couldn't help myself from having a couple of helpings and I ended up staying in town until about 2 pm. I was so happy to have been able to get to know everyone in the congregation and it made it very hard to eventually have to leave. Before I left, the congregation followed me outside and prayed with me before I took off. I was able to have some of the children follow me to the stop sign just before going out of town and it was nice to have some company with me before I hit the road. It was such an incredible day that I had spent in the Hopi nation and I wasn't looking at travelling very far before calling it a night. I was told about a small park about 40 miles up the road and I was looking forward to ending my day there. I started out of town with a nice climb and then just as it was yesterday, back down and then back up and then back down. I was travelling through more mountains and this is what I was going to expect for probably the next week until I reached Texas. When I eventually reached the park and had a great ride with blue skies and fantastic weather, I was starting to get hungry again. I didn't think it was going to be possible to be hungry again after I had left the Bacavi village feast, but I was. I cooked up some pasta and set up camp for the night in the park. The park was directly across the street from market and it was a perfect set-up for getting the things that I needed. My legs had been given a great rest over the course of the day and I was looking forward to putting in some more miles tomorrow.
Daily mileage: 36.7 miles
Average speed: 12.9 mph
Total mileage: 4,363.5 miles