Bicycle Museum of America

Me riding a big wheel.Thursday we spent a couple of hours at the Bicycle Museum of America. We saw a sign on I-75 advertising the museum and took a detour from our traveling. The museum is not right off the interstate like we had hoped, but we had a couple of hours free that we could spend there.

We were greeted by a friendly hostess. She shared with us some of the history of the museum and its pieces before we started talking about the bikes themselves. Much of the collection was bought individually at auction when the Schwinn family had to sell off their bikes.

There was a good 15 minute video that we watched to help get us started in the history of the bikes. Then we spent more time than we had available browsing through the collection. The hostess and a volunteer were there to answer our questions. They both seemed very knowledgeable and willing. When I asked about a specific bike brand (Bianchi, my bike) the hostess went into their warehouse to bring out a sample from them. The showroom does not have enough space for them to show all their bikes at once. Therefore they constantly rotate bikes in so there is a different group of bikes each time you go. The main ones are always on display, but many secondary bikes are rotated. We are talking about hundreds of bikes on display at once.

In the parking lot of the museum is an extra treat. The Erie Canal passed through this town and one of the locks is right there beside the parking area.

I did some recording at the museum. I have not had a chance to listen to it, but if it is any good I will share it here.

Round on each end and high in the middle

We have been criss-crossing the state of Ohio the last few days. We were in Michigan until last Thursday morning. We sauntered back to Ohio (we were here on our way from PA to MI) to land in Fremont for a couple of days. Fremont is in the north western part of the state very near Toledo.

In Fremont we got to spend time at a used book store. I also did a little geocaching and got in one cold run. Really we just needed a place to crash for a couple of days between meetings. We visited with an old pastor friend while staying in the missionary apartment at the church.

We went from Fremont to Dayton by way of Canton. For those of you who don’t know, Toledo is in the northwest corner and Dayton is almost in the southwest corner. Canton is in the middle eastern part of the state. We left Toledo/Fremont on Saturday afternoon to visit friends in Canton that evening. We enjoyed a great meal with them before heading back west to land in Dayton for the night. The group we visited in Canton was the group that painted our church last year.

I don’t know exactly what time we left Canton, but we ended up at our hotel in Dayton around 11:00 that night. We were not presenting our ministry in a church on Sunday morning, but we were scheduled to be in a church in Troy (north of Dayton) which was the home church of several of our friends. We met with them and had a great time at church and then after church we went to lunch together.

Sunday night we were still in Dayton so that I could preach at a different church. A college buddy took us out to dinner and we talked until the restaurant kicked us out at 10:00.

Monday and Tuesday we were stuck with no place to stay. Our next meeting was scheduled to be in the center of the state on Wednesday. By Sunday night though I was able to contact some friends with whom we worked in a previous ministry and they offered us a nice bed and some great fellowship. Before we left Dayton though, we spent a few hours at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

On Monday the church we were scheduled to be in for the Wednesday night service in Mansfield (center of the state) had to reschedule the meeting. That left us without a meeting for Wednesday. Our next landing area was my brother’s house in Indianapolis. But I called today and got us a meeting in Kenton, OH which is between Dayton and Toledo. We will be there on Wednesday night before heading to Indy on Thursday.

In a 7 day period we will have logged about 750 miles in the state. That is enough to drive from one side of the state and back 3.5 times. I don’t know if the state really is round on each end, but we have seen some rolling hills here in the center. So I guess it is a bit higher.

Itinerary from now til April 17, 2009

I have been wanting to get a post up about our travel schedule so that if I am going to be in the area of any of my Facebook or Twitter friends, I can let you buy me a diet coke or a cup of coffee. It could be either. I am pretty flexible. This is

  • March 19 to early on the 21st we will be in Fremont, OH.
  • March 21 we may be in Canton, OH visiting some friends before heading down to Dayton.
  • March 22 AM service will be at Troy Baptist Temple. I am not speaking, but will be visiting friends there.
  • March 22 PM service I will be speaking at Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Kettering, OH.
  • March 23-25 AM we are looking for a place to crash. Any offers? 2 somewhat cute kids in tow.
  • March 25-26. I am speaking at Mansfield Baptist Temple on the evening on the 25th.
  • March 26-28 we will be in Greenfield, IN just outside of Indianapolis.
  • March 28-31 still undetermined.
  • April 1-5 Ringgold, GA. We will be at the mission’s conference at Harvest Baptist Church.
  • April 6-11 I will fly to Guadalajara, Mexico.
  • Rest a few days in Pensacola, FL.
  • April 16-17 back to Indianapolis for the mission’s conference at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lawrence.

Nothing is set in stone from there until May 16th, but we will be spending the month of May in Texas in churches. Details should come later.

Two new Missionary Talks episodes

Actually, one has been up for a little more than a week, but I was not able to blog about it at the time.

Missionary Talks episode 65 was a conversation I had with Jonathan Reed. Jonathan and his wife are going to a remote area in northern Brazil to work with an indigenous tribe on the Amazon River. They will be leaving in April and are excited about the ministry the Lord has led them into.

Episode 66 is an interview with Bob Ingram who works with soldiers at Ft. Benning, GA. Bob does a great job in describing what he and his wife try to accomplish with these men in the short time they are able to minister to them. He also talks about what we can do to help his ministry or other serviceman’s centers around the country.

I was able to interview both these men at a conference I was at a few weeks ago.

Alumni Week

This has been a week of getting together with old college friends.

Wednesday
We rescheduled a meeting a couple of weeks ago and were needing a place to pass a couple of days in Pennsylvania. I called Dave, a college friend, who pastors in the area we wanted to be in to see if he had a missionary house/apartment at his church. We had trouble making the connection. When I finally got in touch with him and confirmed that he had a place we could crash for a few days we were only 15 minutes from the church. Dave has been at the church for 9 years as the pastor. He allowed us a chance to put up our display table and let me preach his Wednesday night service.

Sunday AM
Knowing that I would be in Michigan for a couple of other meetings I called a friend from college who pastors near one of my scheduled meetings. Unfortunately Mike was going to be gone the weekend we had free, but he allowed us to be in his church and present our work. Mike has only been at this church about 9 months. We will be seeing him later this week as we drive back through the area headed south.

Sunday PM
One of the meetings in Michigan we were most excited about was with our friend Bruce. He has been in this church about 6 years but we got to know him best when he was an associate pastor in Florida. Bruce’s wife and my wife were suite-mates in college. Bruce and I had several classes together and many mutual friends. It was great sitting and talking with him and his family after church tonight. We ate some great pizza and reminisced for a couple of hours.

There was a time in our ministry when we seldom ran into guys from our college days who were pastoring churches. I guess as they get older they move from being youth pastors and associate pastors into the driver’s seat. I am excited as I think about the many more meetings we will have in the future with former college friends.