Lois Craven, left, of Grand Rapids, Mich., and Dora VanderWoude of Renfru, Ontario, Canada, climb the big hill west of Trenton. [Click to enlarge]

Members of "Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour" pedal through Southwest Nebraska on U.S. Highway 6-34 Wednesday, en route from Seattle to Jersey City, N.J., to bring awareness to severe poverty around the world. Alida vanDijk of St. Catherine, Ontario, and Lynn Verros of Pella, Iowa, took an afternoon break at Trails West at the top of the hill. Alida said, "The dew on our tents this morning was unbelievable. We packed up wet tents, we'll pitch them again tonight, and do it all over again." The heat, however, affects Alida more, she said, than the humidity. Lynn said she appreciates the breeze out of the south. "It takes a breeze for evaporative cooling to happen," she said. Neither said they could drink enough water in temperatures creeping toward 100. Alida said the cyclists ride on the shoulders when they're smooth, or, Lynn said, on the white line. "We say a little prayer when a big truck goes by," Lynn said; most are very courteous, she said. John Klesson of McCook, a member of the Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department, visits with a cyclist stopped in traffic near the scene of an three-car accident west of McCook Wednesday afternoon; no cyclist was involved. Another cyclist rides beside a truck on U.S. Highway 6-34. The bike tour is presented by the Christian Reformed Church and hopes to raise $1.5 million to help end the cycle of poverty, funding programs in job creation, education and health services. For more information, go to www.SeatoSea.org or call (888)-CRC-BIKE.