Day 26 - Mesquite to Mineola, TX

Today was a 76 mile day. I have a very weak signal so I will have no pictures tonight. An unwanted visitor showed up this morning in the form of a misting rain and 64 degrees. It misted off and on throughout the morning and then disappeared without getting us very wet, but it was a bit chilly. We also sampled some of the best of Texas' highways this week with some of the smoothest roads since beginning the trip and some of the worst roads we've ridden on as well. Today we had some bone-rattling roads that made it feel you were in France on some of the old cobblestone roads. It was a great test for our bikes' durability and our patience.

Some of today's highlights:

• Having lunch today in Grand Saline. Grand Saline is the home of one of the largest salt mines in the world owned by Morton Salt Company. They have a building called the Salt Palace where the exterior is built entirely of salt blocks.
• We went to a hardware store to have pie in Mineola. It's an old fashioned hardware store that also has a small restaurant in it. Peach cobbler a la mode has few calories in it when you ride 75 miles for it.
• The church we are spending the night in is Smith Chapel UMC about 5 miles out of Mineola. For a small church it is a very charming church with brand new pews and carpet in the sanctuary and a brand new Yamaha baby grand they've had for just one week. This is the church that when they added a fellowship hall several years ago they also built showers in their restrooms to specially accommodate The Wheels trips! Their youth department treated us to a brief handbell concert and then we moved to the sanctuary where one of their seniors entertained us with a wonderful informal concert on their new piano. He was a very impressive pianist who can play about anything.
• I almost forgot to mention that the ladies of the church put on a great dinner spread for us. None of us left hungry for sure!

Tomorrow we are riding 62 miles to Marshall where I will get to see some friends from Atlanta, TX where I pastored a small EFC church in the late 80s, also called Trinity EFC.

Devotional Thought:

Psalm 25:4,5 says "Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you." Yesterday when we were making our way through Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie and Dallas I was not overly confident that I was following the correct route. In fact I probably spent about half  the day being a Wondering Wheel instead of a Wandering Wheel. Then I came upon the Wheels painted road marker pointing out the right way and my uncertainty vanished. I had been on the right path all along but seeing the Wheels marker brought about great peace of mind. After reading this wonderful Psalm and combining it with this trip, I have a greater appreciation for the analogy the psalmist uses. "All day long I put my hope in you."