today is sunday and we have finally hit humidity. i cannot believe how much it makes you sweat. thankfully the luthern church right next door found out about our group and have been unbelievably hospitable. they've let us sleep in the church which is air conditioned and have been freshly making so many baked goods and snacks. they also let us use the gym for peleton. one of the ladies even specially made bowls of popcorn and snacks for a small group of us who were watching a movie inside. there have been some great memories from the last couple days. doug and i were riding together (as we were both unbelievably late in leaving) and came across a little turtle that was sunbathing on the side of the road. at first it was scared but did eventually poke its head out and walk around a bit. we asked others who had left earlier if they had seen it but unfortunately there eagerness left them without this great experience :) Yesterday we also had the great opportunity to lace up the skates as we stayed at the YMCA in Fremont which has a rink which we were allowed to use...it was amazing how fast all of us canadian boys grabbed a pair of skates and got a game going. there was one american on the ice...erik stehouwer...and it was obvious lol. he had red legwarmers underneath his tiny running shorts, combined with a toque under his bike helmet...so funny, so awesome. there were also a couple guys who had just rode in after 154km, before anything else they laced up and jumped on the ice in their spandex shorts and jersey, complete with bike helmet. i sustained my worst injuries on the tour so far on the ice though. lawrence got the puck and shot it at the net, unfortunately i was in the way and he can't keep the puck on the ice. shin meet puck...oh well i wasn't the only one and it was all worth it. this week is going to be crazy...if you've looked ahead in the devotional you'll see we have 2 180k days and other long ones...and it will be hot and humid. i think i'm ready for anything now though and the biking is no longer really taking any tolls, i feel like i am as conditioned as i'll get. could start having a few problems though with my knees. etc. we've been passing through some funny named towns lately, Max, Funk, Waco, Wahoo, and even Gresham, who is one of the guys on the tour (elegible bachelor anyone?) k well i need to get a good nights sleep. i will do another picture upload sometime, with my bombproof camera, a while ago in the tour i was going to take a picture of a group of riders in front of me and i crossed lanes to get a good angle...i hit the middle rumble strip and dropped my camera at 30km/hr. it smashed on the pavement and skidded off the road and got a big dent in the casing...still works like a charm...great camera. enjoy...oh and lawrence fell again...love that guy.