Days 65 & 66 - Tuesday & Wednesday, February 6 & 7 - More Wind

 Tuesday we went to a bicycle shop and I bought a replacement for the broken brake lever on my bike. I destroyed one of the grips so that I could remove the brake lever so I also had to buy new grips. The $38 for the used lever and new grips almost doubled my investment in the bike. We had a late lunch, or early supper, at the Golden Corral on our way back home.

Once back at the campground I installed the new lever and grips. By  the time I finished I had missed a good part of the Jam Session. Kathy was over working on a puzzle and I went over and helped on the puzzle while listening to the Jam Session performers. Today's group was pretty good. One lady sang a couple of songs, plus she sang duets with two different guys, was really good.

Then it was back to the coach and some bike riding. I managed 8.1 miles and then a 0.4 mile walk before dark.

After installing the new brake lever the brakes were dragging a little so I spent part of Wednesday morning getting them adjusted to the best of my ability. (The wheels don't run perfectly true, they aren't bad, but I'm not ready to start trying to start tweaking spokes to true the wheels.) I rode 2.3 miles and the brakes seem OK. It is another WINDY day and riding into the wind, as I did several laps around the campground was tough. The wind was supposed to have calmed down some at 6 PM, but it was still blowing a constant 22 mph with 33 mph gusts according to my weather app. At 10:30 PM it is now blowing 28 mph with 41 mph gusts.

Today's high was 73. It's amazing how cool 73 feels when the wind is blowing over 20 mph.

After lunch we ventured out and went over to see the Iwo Jima memorial at the Harlingen Marine Military Academy. It was a moving experience.

Kathy and I did get a kick out  of this sign. It says "Do Not Climb on or Attempt to Operate Weapons". We understood them not wanting kids climbing on them but thought the warning about attempting to operate them was a little overboard.

One of the 6 guys in the famous photo was from Weslaco, Texas, just down the road from Harlingen. Note the grove of trees.

These figures are supposed to be 32' tall. The level of detail is impressive. Three of the guys in this photo died on Iwo Jima.

Around the top of the base there is a list of US wars/conflicts. The list starts with the "Revolutionary War 1715-1783" and currently ends with "Afghanistan 2001- * Iraq 2003- ". 

Live oak trees are planted on 3 sides of the monument. Each tree has a small monument at the base. Most are dedicated to an individual soldier. The earliest ones that I saw were dated 1990. These trees are beautiful now and will be magnificent if allowed to grow for another 100 years. Last year we did a quick tour of the grounds around the Alamo in San Antonio. There is a live oak tree in an Alamo courtyard that was estimated to be 40 years old when a man transplanted it in 1912. That tree is now 39' tall, has a spread of 88' and a trunk base circumference of 12'9".

Most of us are familiar with the photo of the 6 soldiers raising the flag. What I didn't know was that this was the 2nd flag raising. For some reason the photo of it was the one that became so well know. Earlier that morning the 1st flag raising occurred. Those in charge thought the flag was to small and sent a 2nd group of soldiers up Mount Suribachi to raise a larger flag. 

During the initial 5 week battle 5,931 Marines died or were missing. Iwo Jima has an area of 11.5 square miles. There are 392 square miles inside Jefferson City city limits.

Did I mention it is windy here. I took this as I was leaving to go to the Cowboy  Church Bible Study.

Pastor Chris is started a new study tonight, on the power of the Blood of Jesus. Class officially starts at 6:30 but it was probably 7:00 by the time he started teaching, after praises and prayer time. It ended about 8:00. He covered a lot of ground, and referenced a lot of scripture. One lady asked if he taped the class because she needed to listen to him again to catch everything, so do I. He didn't tape tonights class but said he would try to start taping them next week. I sure hope he does because we will probably only be here for 3 more classes and I would like to be able to listen to the entire series.

I watched a movie last night, in the movie a man save the life of the dictator of a small nation. After the man returns home he learns that the dictator had given him several million dollars. This morning I started thinking about what I would do if I were gifted with a large amount of money. Rather than spend time making a mental list of how I would spend it I decided to catch up on my daily Bible reading, since I had sloughed off the past couple of days. I started reading II Timothy 1:5 I know that you sincerely trust the Lord, for you have the faith of your mother, Eunice, and your grandmother, Lois. 6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 8 So you must never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord.

1:9 It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began—to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus. 10 And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life through the Good News. 11 And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.

II Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. 17 It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.

God gave each of us gifts and along with the gifts He gave us access to His unlimited power. Rather than waste my time fantasizing about what I would do with a worldly windfall I should spend more time thinking about how to make use of the gifts He has given me, to show others the glory of my loving God.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.