HE MADE IT! He's in Vladivostok right now. Called me this morning. He was near the harbor and had bought himself an ice cream cone to celebrate. Now if we can get him out of there in the next couple days...

August 29

Well, the end is in sight. I just finished talking to Abe. He is at Spassk. Kostya, the director there, came and met Abe yesterday morning and biked with him the whole day. Abe has been praying for the villages and towns and people as he goes, but on the bike you can't do that together, so they stopped every time there was a sign for a village and prayed together. Obviously it slowed the trip down as there were about 25 or so villages and so they didn't arrive until 9:30 at night when it was quite dark already.
I can hear the weariness in Abe's voice even though he rested today. He said someone asked him if he was anxious to get home. He said THAT is an understatement. :) He is dropping his tent and a few things there as Kostya has made arrangements for him to stay with people. He has a two days' ride to Vladivostok and then still has to buy plane tickets home. So you can pray that he will get good connections. The importance of this still lies on his needing to be out of the country on time. I have a feeling he won't be wanting to look at a bike for a long time!

August 27

Since I last wrote Abe has had a couple of good days of travel. He actually made 140 K (85 miles) today, and he said he didn't know how he did it because the road is still bad.And he was really tired, and suffering some pain because of the accident the other day. Tomorrow he only has to go 120 K, if he can manage that. Then I think he said he'll be about 260 K (150 mile) from Vladivostok, so the end is in sight. Someone is arranging his lodging every night now with fellow believers. Yesterday he had passed into Primoria province, the final province. I don't know exactly where he is now, but tomorrow night he hopes to be in Spassk.

August 25

I have neglected this blog the last couple of days when I should have written because some of you do not receive the prayer updates. Things have been a little tense for the last 24 hours or so. Abe's bicycle was "hit" by a car. Abe thinks looking back on it that the guy probably had purposely driven up behind him and 'nudged' his bicycle to give him a scare, but the upshot was that Abe grabbed the car to steady himself, thinking that the car would pull over, and instead the guy sped up and drove off, causing Abe to fall because the back wheel had been bent out of shape. So, though he had made a lot of kilometers that day, he ended up bruised and scratched up and walking the last kilometers. He called yesterday to tell me what had happened.

I called him today and he said someone had driven him back to Khabarovsk to look for another wheel for his bike, most of which took all day, and by the time he paid for the wheel and the driver, cost over $200 US. He had only ridden 20 kilometers and was in his tent ready for bed when we spoke. He hadn't slept much the night before, probably a bit of the shock from it. He is concerned because the road ahead is not good, full of pot holes, so narrow in some places he said that trucks have a hard time staying in their lane, and the traffic is relatively heavy and fast. Add to that the high risk of DUI and safety is a major concern. He is trying to ride the white side line as it is not possible to ride on the shoulder. Often it is just gravel and very treacherous for a bicycle. He does have telephone contact with friends there. That was how he was able to get back to Khabarovsk. Actually Abe worked in this area clear back in 1989, and a couple of these men--who are now Training Center Directors--he has known all of this time.

He did get his registration documents but when they were brought to him he discovered that a couple of them are missing and the office can't find them. So, this week is proving to be one of the most difficult out of the whole trip even though he is on the home stretch. He said he has about another 620 kilometers (370 miles) to go, so the timing will be very tight with having lost a whole day of travel, and of course he is extremely concerned about the safety.

August 22--and moving right along!

I talked to Abe again today and he sounded MUCH better. Turns out he seemed to have some food poisoning yesterday, and even though it wasn't severe at all, it explains why he was feeling so lousy. Today he had had a full day, preaching in the morning, spending all afternoon with a couple who wanted to help him with his bike tire, speaking to the youth in the late afternoon giving his testimony, and talking to marrieds over shish kabobs (good protein!!!). He did not do this kind of thing on his other trips, but even though he had to give out I think he found it spiritually refreshing.

The couple who helped him with the bike had showed up at the church in the morning--even though they didn't belong to that church. They both are sports enthusiasts and were keen to help him get his tire problems sorted out, which took several hours because he has very large tires, and evidently that isn't popular there. The man said when he woke up in the morning he just felt like they should go to this church instead of their own :)

Abe also said he is grateful for all the blessings (and I'm sure he will be full of stories to tell when he returns), even the little ones that a person usually overlooks, like having the wind to your back.

He cannot get registered tomorrow as that office is not open, so will have to wait till Tues, but if they don't get it done in the morning he will have to go on anyway and sort out how to get his documents afterwards. He just needs the biking time. So we are praying that they will do the documents first thing so that he doesn't run into complications.

August 21

Abe is in Khabarovsk--but it was rough getting there and he is pretty tired. After I talked to him last, the mountains got worse, and the roads were bad for bicycles. Not really paved, just tar and gravel poured over, and most of it pretty rough stuff, so he had a flat, and his spare wasn't all that solid so he moved all his bags from the back of the bike to the front to make it as light as possible and then rode slowly, and made it, eventually.

So, he will be in Khabarovsk Sunday and then Monday will try to get his registration with the police, and another tire, and hopes to be on his way again Tuesday, Lord willing. I think he has about a 3 days ride until he reaches one of our training center directors. He will stay with them for several days and then hit the last stretch. It will be quite mountainous again and the roads that direction are....MMM....shall we say, not good.

He sounded weary. He's staying at an empty Bible school, there's no hot water. He hadn't eaten well the last couple days so his system is upset. But, I'm sure a couple days rest will put all to rights again.

August 18

And Wednesday it is! Talked to Abe a couple of hours ago. He sounded really good--probably because things are going good :) The anticipated mountains were not nearly as bad as the ones he started out with in Chita, even though several people had warned him about it.

The word seems to be passed along among believers that he is around so a couple times people have come and looked for him on the road and chatted for a bit, or in the case of today they picked him up and took him into town for a good breakfast and a sauna that was pre-arranged (okay it was a banya, but I'm not explaining that now) and had several people gathered to hear him speak. Even though that dropped 5 hours from his schedule he is ahead of what he had anticipated.

For those with map access he plans on being in Birobidzhan by tomorrow, and on the map that looks like just a couple hundred kilometers from Khabarovsk. The weather has also cleared. So overall he is pretty excited. The cell phone connection isn't bad although his voice tends to be blotted out for 5 or 10 seconds at a time which means I have to piece together the conversation. He was under a train bridge when I talked to him, and we also had to pause while a train passed by!

August 16

I talked to Abe a couple times this weekend as he had taken a break at a pastor's house. He said the positive thing about staying with people is that he sleeps better than in his tent. The negative thing is that people eat poorly, and he needs to maintain pretty high protein because of his energy output. It has also been raining off and on and was supposed to rain today, but he has (finally?) bought a rain coat and was going to go regardless, as he is well rested now, and needs to keep going to get in under the deadline. Right now if all goes well most likely he will be in Khabarovsk sometime on the 23rd, but he still has almost 500 miles to Vladivostok. And the very last date he can be in the country is Sept 4. Wednesday he said will be a difficult day because he will hit mountains again, so will have to do a lot of walking uphill.
Sunday was our anniversary. Certainly a far different day than we had on our 40th celebration last year! One of the men suggested that he just drive Abe and his bicycle to Khabarovsk. :) Obviously--he didn't get the idea. I would say at this point he is more into dogged determination than anything else. That would be symbolic of his approach to any task in life he takes on when the going gets rough.
The wonder is that we can talk regularly, although I probably will not talk to him again until Wednesday.

August 12

I thought this time I would put up a map of what is considered Far Eastern Russia.Where Abe started in Chita is about where you see the red and gray lines intersecting half way between Lake Baikal and the "hump" of China that intrudes into Russia. Abe is on the other side of the "hump" still north of Blagoveschensk. I talked to him yesterday and he was near Shimanovsk, this is about 500 miles from Khabarovsk. He hoped to travel to Belogorsk by tomorrow evening because it is a sizeable city.From yesterday he figured it would take him a maximum of 8 days travel to get to Khabarovsk, then he will be dropping south to Vladivostok which should be a bit under 500 miles. He had made contact with a student of his from 1994 and was staying at their apartment over night. He had had a lot of rain again which is miserable traveling on a bicycle. But he will most likely rest both Saturday and Sunday before continuing on again. Otherwise he sounded in good spirits.

August 11

My daughter has spurred me on to good works--meaning I should update this blog. I guess I'm still a bit jet lagged and dealing on a low key basis yet. Anyway, I did talk to Abe on Saturday and he was doing much better. He had had two days of rest and then gone some 40 miles or so to a personal contact with a pastor in the Amur province and was going to stay two nights there. The superintendent of that area was coming in also to meet with Abe so chances were that they would stay up all night and talk. He said the church meets in the pastor's home which looks more like a large shed than a home and is on the primitive side. I'm sure he was asked to share on Sunday, and I'm sure he laid some challenge before them. The need is so great and there is very little spiritual activity going on in that area.

I tried to call Abe again but he must be out of cell phone range. His legs were feeling better and the swelling had gone down in his ankles. He sounded much more upbeat and I'm sure it was a combination of rest and of being with people he could talk to. Especially about ministry!

August 5

I talked to Abe this morning but will keep this short as I am a bit jet lagged. Bottom line is that he has put in a pretty rough three days, two of them with a lot of gravel which is not only dangerous but also jarring, and yesterday with mostly uphill climb. He is feverish and showing a lot of stress on his legs and body so is taking a 4-day rest. Presumably he will start to descend and it should be easier going, but...there is descending and descending. He is halfway between Chita and Khabarovsk according to his calculations. I'll try to give more detail of exactly where he is next time.

July 31

Abe was able to call Esther again. Here's her commentary:

He sounded a bit more upbeat this time, although he’s had a wet few days. I think he found a good place to stay so that made him feel better. He has biked 680 kilometers [410 mile] so far. He could have done more today (Saturday) and gone over 700, but since he had found a decent place to stay and the locals advised not going further as there isn’t much for the next 150 k [90 mile], he decided to put up there for the next two nights. He is taking Sundays off, as is his habit, and it is much more refreshing when you have a roof over your head. Last Sunday he was just in his tent.

He got caught in a rainstorm two nights ago and woke up in the morning with about a liter of water in his tent and everything floating or drenched. There was nothing to do but pack up and go on, so he did and by early afternoon it was hot and sunny again so he stopped and laid everything over the guardrails which were burning hot, of course. He had just laid everything out when suddenly a cloud came over and it just opened up and poured rain! Naturally, all his stuff was drenched again, only worse. All his documents, his Bible, all his clothes, his shoes, everything was totally soaked. There was nothing to do but pack up so and go on, so he did. After a bit the rain lessened and so he stopped and wrung out his socks, went on for another 500 meters, stopped and wrung them out again and so on for a little while—his shoes were just that soaked! He was able to stop at a little café for dinner; but it was sunny and nice out and since he hadn’t made a lot of progress in the morning because of everything being so wet, so he decided to keep going for a few hours. It stays light till about 11pm.

He went about 20 kilometers (roughly two hours) and then it just got dark so quickly that he didn’t have time to stop and find a place for the night. He kept biking in the pitch black, but then had to get off and walk because he just couldn’t see anything. Suddenly the clouds opened and a bit of light came through and there was a bit of a turn off in the road and a bus shelter right there. He felt like the Lord guided him right to it. It was brand new and clean, no one had messed it up and it was enclosed on three sides as well as with a roof. He was able to set up his tent inside by anchoring it to the bench legs and there was just enough room for his tent. No sooner had he gotten it all set up than it began to pour down rain again and poured the whole night through. He said that there was gravel washed across the road in some places. All of his things were still wet, including his mattress and all his clothes. Thankfully his sleeping bag was dry and he has a reflective sheet/mat and blanket that he was able to use on top of the mattress and on top of the sleeping bag, which kept him dry and almost warm enough.

It took him extra long on Saturday morning to pack up, so he didn’t get started till about 11am and around 3pm he reached the little town where he is right now. After talking with some of the local truck drivers he decided to stay in the little hotel place that they have there. There is a banya (sauna type thing) in the room next to his, so there is a hot water pipe going through his room and it is really warm in there, so he is drying out everything he can.

Despite the adventures of the last few days he sounded more upbeat than earlier this week. He has biked one third of the way to Khabarovsk and one quarter of the way to Vladivostok, which he feels good about. He said the road is generally good. It is a three lane highway, always up and down so always a slow lane for trucks, which is good for him of course. It is built like a dam into the mountains. It is generally about one storey up and in some places two, three or once he even went across a place that was about four storeys above the mountainside. There is, thankfully, a guardrail along the side, but one night when he was walking with his bike in the dark he stepped over the guardrail—either to try to find a place to camp or just for safety in case a vehicle came and didn’t see him—unfortunately it was one of the places the road was built up quite steeply and he went sliding right down! His bike caught on the ledge at the top and he was able to hang on to that and climb back up, but he said that without that he didn’t know how he would have gotten back up.

The first few days it was difficult for him to eat very much, I’m sure partly because of the heat, but he said that his appetite has picked up now and he is hoping to be able to eat a little extra today and tomorrow as he is concerned that he hasn’t been eating enough. On top of that, the local drivers tell him that there are no cafés or anything for the next 150 k’s, which is over a day of riding, so he needs to be prepared on Monday and Tuesday for that. Also there is another stretch of gravel coming up. He has hit three or four gravel stretches so far, ranging from seven [4 1/2 mile] to over 20 kilometers [12 mile]. Thankfully he hasn’t fallen so far or injured himself in any other way although he does have blisters on his feet. His knees and feet are holding up pretty good. He is sore, but thinks it is probably from sunburn, although he has tried to use sunscreen as much as possible. His feet were swollen, but after he rested on Wednesday the swelling was completely gone, which he was thankful for.

He will come to the Yakutia Road in a few days and after that it things should slowly start to get easier. Well as far as terrain. He isn’t sure where the highest point of his ride is exactly, but thinks that once he is on the Yakutia road the terrain will gradually go down to the Amur River. It’ll still be uphill a lot, but hopefully less and less, which should make things a little easier for him.

He appreciates everyone’s prayers and said he is reading his Bible a lot and doing a lot of thinking.

As of July 28

Abe was able to call Esther again. I have not had any success in getting through to him although one time I could vaguely hear his voice! This is what Esther wrote:

He said a lot of places don’t seem to have connection. He is doing good. He’s been able to bike 100 k [60 miles] a day, which is what he had planned. So he has come about 400 k (240 miles) and is about half way through the Chita Oblast [province] and hopes to reach Amursk Oblast [province]Saturday evening. He took today off. The place he came to today was supposed to be really good and the café is, but the hotel wasn’t finished. Eventually they found a place for him to stay in a shed with one of the workmen, but he was a bit bummed cause they don’t have any running water or anything so he can’t really clean up or anything. It made it sound like maybe he didn’t take Sunday off.

He said the weather is still hot 35ish [95 Fahrenheit] during the days, but only like 13 [55 Fahrenheit] at night, so that is a huge drop. The area is really mountainous, but the roads are really good. Since they are brand new they are built to good standards (plus being brand new there is no frost damage yet), although he has come across several stretches where there is only gravel.

Overall he sounded good, like he wished he could get a hot shower, but like he felt like things were back on track and going well. He has a couple of days coming up where he isn’t sure what he’ll find for food, but so far he has been able to eat ok and is just pacing himself in his riding. He starts at about 8am and goes till maybe 7:30pm or so.

Whoops!

Esther sent this message to me today:

Dad called again this afternoon. He said it is so hot there that he can only ride for 15 minutes and then take a break. He said he only went 15 kilometers in two days, but I think he meant 150 cause he said it took them two and a half hours to drive back. A driver had misdirected him and he had somehow gotten on the wrong road and was heading south for the Chinese border, so he had to go all the way back to Chita to start over and is planning to do so tomorrow. Thankfully a truck driver was just leaving from that stop and had an empty load so took him and his bike back to Chita and showed him where he had gotten off on the wrong track and stuff.

He isn’t sure he’ll be able to ride much during the day though with this heat, esp. because it is so mountainous and the inclines are really steep—trucks are stalling out on them. He pushes his bike up for 15 minutes and then rests. Very slow going. He is concerned about how the heat will affect his progress and said that if he can’t get very far this trip he’ll just do what he can, store his bike there someplace and then go back and finish up next summer.
He sounded pretty good, but of course it is discouraging to labor so hard and then find out that you have been going in the wrong direction!

Contact

Abe telephoned Esther with his cell phone and she was able to phone him back, so at least he has initial contact with us. When she talked to him he was just waiting on his registration papers before leaving Chita. Unfortunately I have not been able to get a cell phone operating and since I'm on the road in the States will have to wait a few days yet to see if I can touch base with him.

Amur Highway

I have taken this quote from Wikipedia to give you an idea of Abe's trip:

"The most problematic stretch of the highway lies between Chita and Khabarovsk. The first section of this route, linking Belogorsk to Blagoveshchensk (124 km in length), was constructed by gulag inmates as early as 1949. Extended and updated between 1998 and 2001, this road forms part of the Asian route AH31 connecting Belogorsk to Dalian in China.

"The Chita-Khabarovsk road remained largely unfinished up until early 2004, when Russian President Vladimir Putin symbolically opened the Amur Highway, with great swaths of forest separating major portions from one another. Jim Oliver and Dennis ONeil rode motorcycles across Russia, along the Trans-Siberian Highway, during the last week of May and the first three weeks of June in 2004. As described in Jim Oliver's book, Lucille and The XXX Road, the section between Chita and Khabarovsk was an extremely challenging undertaking. Jim writes about the massive marsh, gravel, rock, mud, sand, washboard, pot-holes, stream fording, and detours of the elusive highway with a noticeable absence of pavement. Many motorcyclists have been injured or killed trying to "master" the Amur Highway. Even today, in some places, it is a modern paved highway with painted reflective lane-lines and in others, a single meandering, pockmarked, loose-gravel trail following the route of the early 20th-century Amur Cart Road. Completion of a 7-metre-wide highway between Chita and Khabarovsk is slated for 2010."

Abe talked to several men from this area earlier this summer, and they reported that this highway has been paved, which of course will make it MUCH easier. The total mileage on this trip is 1,700. Abe is hoping that with the completion of this road they are also "many" truck stops where he can get some hot food--and maybe even a hot shower!

Ride in 2004

In 2004 Abe rode from Novosibirsk to Chita--alone. That stretch was about 1,800 miles, and was barren and lonely. But he is keen to finish his goal of riding the rest of the way across Russia, despite the fact that the last time it took him 3 months to recuperate. :) This is a man with endurance and tenacity--trust me! Today he should be starting on a train journey to reach Chita which will be his starting point. I have not had contact with him since I came to the States, but am hoping to establish that with him next week. If I cannot, and his cell phone is working ok, then we will see if Esther can be in touch with him. Might make his journey just a little less lonely.

Past rides.

Just a bit of history. Abe has already done three bicycle rides. The first one was from Kiev west through Europe with our son Samuel. I think Sam was about 15 when they did that. If that's the case, then it was in 92.
A few years later he rode with Wayne Zschech, a young man who was working as a missionary in Ukraine (and continues to this day as a pastor!) and they went from Kiev east to Novosibirsk which is I believe over 2,000 miles.

A Beginning

Abe has been in Russia for several weeks already. He will be leaving Novosibirsk July 16 by train. He hopes to start his biking expedition on the 20th or 21st. He will be covering some 1500 miles,so expects it to take him from 4 to 6 weeks.