Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/601524
Rumble in the Wind Riding into the sunset Living back east, most of our rides were heading west. Which meant, in the afternoons riding into the sun. It always seemed that at 4 pm we would hit the wall of exhaustion after a long day and many miles would hit us, and we would stop. Sometimes a Tootsie Roll and a soda would be enough, sometimes a rest stop to lay our head on the table. It always seemed the last 200 miles, or 3 hours was the longest, yet we were traveling at the same speed we had all day. But we would make it somehow, and after arriving at our motel, after a brief rest we always felt ready to go again. Secretly though, we were glad to be in for the night. It seemed our riding into the sunset at first was tortuous, every bone in the body hurt, the eyes burned from the sun, but we kept riding into it. We would ride into the sunset but never quite catch it over the horizon. It was always just there in front of us, and we only crossed paths with it when the sun went down. The dusk with its limited light was harder to ride in then the darkness that covered it. It always seemed the sun got bigger as it got lower, and close enough to touch at the same time but always unreachable. All the excitement of the day ridden squeezed in the last 200 miles; but only if heading west. From out west where we now live, we only seem to go east or north, and going east can be brutal especially in the mornings. You are fresh, but the brightness of the sun also is. It can take the same 200 miles - depending upon time of departure - to get the sun away from your eyes. Maybe that explains why we ride for breakfast, 100 miles, then stop and eat. We have a good start behind us, and after eating, the sun is higher, we are refreshed, and the rest of the day looks bright, no pun intended. Stephen Stills once sang, "don't look at my shadow it's behind me..." and although we seem to be riding towards the sun, we never can reach it. An outstretched arm seems to almost touch it, but yet it is elusive. And so it is as it has for cowboys and their ladies everywhere, we all ride into the sunset and once again we never reach it. And we have the night to dream about tomorrow and the next day's ride, another sunrise awaits and a new day calling. Psalm 90, talks of God from everlasting to everlasting: "Before the mountains were born Or before You had given birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are [the eternal] God." From vanishing point to vanishing point, from elusive sunset to sunset. He goes back before the beginning and goes past of the future. He is beyond time and space, before the sun coming up, and after it goes down. While we were asleep last night, He was wide-awake preparing the next day for us, planning our ride before we even hit the road. 56 GraceRiderMag.com November/December 2015