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.