Sabbath was my rest day and I had a really good night’s sleep which put me in a good frame of mind for the day. I started the day with pancakes in the hotel restaurant. The poor waitresses were run off their feet and I felt quite sorry for them. The hotel seemed to have a policy of minimising the staff levels and forcing them to make do. I think that is absolutely reprehensible but in areas with high unemployment the employer is in a position of power.

Unusually, the local Seventh-Day Adventist church had an advertisement in the hotel—most churches keep their location and times a secret—so I knew where and when to go. It was a beautiful morning with a clear sky and no wind and I enjoyed my ride into Sterling to find the church.

I came upon it sooner than expected since the town followed the quaint American practice of incrementing the numbers by 100 per block. Thus, 708 was the seventh block. It was located amongst private houses and was a small church, very well kept. The members were very friendly, but mostly elderly. There were two people my age; and none under the age of 20. The sign of a church with little future …

They were extremely friendly and I had a good time. We watched a video of Morris Venden which was OK, but consisted mainly of a story which, while thought provoking, went on a bit long. Afterwards they had a pot luck lunch which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was great to have a selection of vegetarian food, which was not pizza! For desert they had a watermelon which was absolutely delicious. I haven’t had any this trip and since it was cold it was extra refreshing.

Only the ‘oldies’ stayed for lunch and I enjoyed talking with them. I reflected how names have changed—there was an Otis, a Gertrude and a Bertha. I don’t think very many people have these names today but at one stage they were fairly common. I learned a lot about local history and what it was like living through the depression. Very thought provoking and I’m thankful that I wasn’t around then.

As I left one of the ladies gave me a newsletter with a poem in it which she said was quite pertinant given what I was doing with this challenging cycle trip. This is what it said:

After lunch I cycled back to the hotel. On the way I stopped at the ‘Overland Museum’ which was absolutely fantastic. Seldom have I been to a museum that I have enjoyed as much. It was dedicated to the pioneers who followed the overland route towards the west. The main building was in the style of a fort and there was a series of outer buildings.

There were lots of photographs both of the town of Sterling over time but also of people, which I found very interesting. Most poignant were the photos of the sod houses that the early settlers lived in. When you consider that many of them had come from the eastern states and were what we would call ‘middle class’, I don’t know how they could have coped with such primitive conditions. The curator told me that the locals have an abundance of artefacts and are quite generous in leaving them to the museum; their main problem is having room to display them.

In addition to the main building they had moved a number of buildings onto the site. There was a Lutheran church; a rural school; a local grocery shop as well as a blacksmith’s shop. Each of them provided valuable insight into the life in eastern Colorado in the last century. The school was most memorable since it told how there were 9 grades and the teacher had to do 63 lessons per day! This was on top of cutting the wood for the heater and keeping the building clean.

In the blacksmith’s shop they had a series of branding irons that were used with cattle. In fact, it is the world’s largest collection. It was fascinating seeing the different designs and patterns that were used. There was also a barbed wire display which showed the different types of barbed wire used since it was first patented in the 1870’s. There was an incredible variety and I counted about 75 different types.