Home bound temporarily ...

We are driving home, and very thankful to be doing so. As we say in geezerville, "it's a good day when you wake up still looking down on the grass".

My fellow riders all seemed to be feeling better, the soreness will continue for a few days, but they are headed for Seattle, only one day late! THE RIDE WILL START ON TIME, My shoulder is feeling better also, and I still have lots of narcotics to dull the pain. I am already starting to think about getting back to the ride, and praying for a good report from the doctor in the morning. I hope I don't have to tell him when I will be able to ride again. Norm asked me if I was angry, sad, disappointed that I couldn't start the ride with the others, which is a question that I had been puzzling over. I think that I am just so thankful that nobody was seriously hurt, that it just doesn't matter that I will not be able to start with the whole way group.


   

It is still difficult for me to understand how we all walked away from this. Why do these things happen? Fuller Center had the van prepared with new tires, and the tire blew, and we are upside down. A small fire; what if the van used gas instead of diesel? What if we had a car or truck next to us? What if we had gone across the median and hit a vehicle head on? What if we had continued rolling a few times instead of just falling on our side and then onto the roof? What if we stop counting our blessings, or lose faith? The group prayer we had after the accident, suggested and led by a 22 year old, tells the real story of The Fuller Center for Affordable Housing. Praying to be able to continue so that we could keep helping people in need! And the young shall show us the way!

Peace

Location:County Road 202,Fort Bridger,United States

Life is good ...

And we are thankful to be alive, with only bruises and shaken up. Yesterday almost to Boise, ID, our van blew a tire, which caused our trailer to start whipping the van around until it fell on its side, and then onto its roof. The van and trailer were totaled, but all 8 of us were able to climb out and walk away. Only 4 of us needed to be taken to the hospital, and all were released after treatment. Thankfully I was the only one injuthat who will not be able to continue, and I am only suffering a separated shoulder. Painful, but treatable, hopefully quickly enough for me to join the ride as it passes thru Denver, if not sooner. I will see my ortho doc Friday morning and will have a better idea of severity and how soon I will be able to ride again.

I can't begin to describe how impressed I am with all 7 of my fellow riders. All of them were very calm and trying to help each other. We all kept counting to make sure all were out, and then counting to make sure all were not injured seriously, or in need of more care. A very impressive group of young caring souls.

Lois and our good friend Norm are on their way to get me and my bike. Norm will be able to then help transport some of the riders on to Boise where we were planing to stop for the night, and have friends to help.

Alternative plans are being finalized, and THE RIDE WILL HAPPEN.

There is a press release posted on www.fullercenter.org.

More later,

Peace

Location:S 600 W,Heyburn,United States

And we are off ...

The van and fellow riders arrived last night about 7:20. We had dinner ready for them and our neighbors that were supplying beds for the night. A big thanks to Norm & Judy, Jo & Erv, and Don & Judy for helping.

Up for a 5AM breakfast and we are off. A big thanks to Lois for all her hard work preparing and serving food and helping me get ready.

It is a pleasure getting to know such a fine group of young people. This is going to be a nice adventure! Not sure about one of our leaders who commented about 45 minutes into our ride, "I see why people like Colorado, the red rock reminds them of Georgia".

Had a bike fit yesterday. Only some minor changes, a little more comfortable for long rides day after day, also got my new bike shoes cleated in the proper position. Ready to roll!

190 lbs this morning if I read the scale correctly at 4:30 AM.

I made it to 69. Somehow this ride now seems like more of a challenge.

These kids from Georgia just saw and found out what antelope look like. One even asked me what the white stuff was. Of course, now they can't keep up, just a few hours into our trip.




Peace

And so the adventure begins ...

No more training, it is what it is. I had hoped to get more miles in, and more climbing, but it is what it is, and it will have to do. So, for the week it was 11 hours in the saddle, for 135 miles ridden. I was hoping to get multiple days of 75 miles, and a couple weeks over 300 miles. I guess I was just saving that for the ride. A total of 2,174 training miles since I started in March.

Not sure if I will get on my bike today or not. I have much to do to get ready to leave. In two days I take off for Seattle and the start of this adventure. The sag wagon for this ride will be passing thru Denver with 8 riders including our leader, and will stop at my house to eat, sleep, eat, and then take off with me and my bike for Seattle and our start.




Well I can get one photo here OK, but still can't get a link to work. Just made another Apple appointment for Tomorrow morning. This is a peregrine falcon, at The Raptor education Foundation.

It looks like I should have cut back on my training sooner. I lost 4 lbs this week and am now at 191 lbs. Still short of my goal of 185, but better than it has been looking when I gained a lb last week. My next weigh-in will be when I get back home about August 18 or so. Will I make it down to under 180 lbs? Maybe even 175 lbs. Maybe I should be worrying about gaining weight again with all the good food churches will be providing.

I have reached and surpassed my fund raising goal of $1.00 for each mile ridden. Thanks to all who have helped, but, please do not stop giving. It is not about my goal, rather the mission of The Fuller Center. And, David Snell, president of The Fuller Center, just announced its commitment to rebuilding McDonald Chapel, a small town just outside of Birmingham, Ala. that was devastated by an April tornado.

Future blogs will not be punctuation or grammar corrected by Lois, as she will not fit in my duffle bag. :-(

Peace

Donations ...

With all the negative press day after day I sometimes forget how nice and caring people are!

Yesterday I got a haircut at Thunderbird Barbers in Louisville and got to talking about this ride. When I tried to pay the stylist asked if she could donate the cost of my haircut to my ride. I accepted and instead of paying for my haircut, I sent the $15 to The Fuller Center in their name thru my donation page. It is never about how much, rather just about people caring about other people that they will never meet.

So then a couple hours later, I was at the Apple store in a One-to-One session trying to learn how to blog on my new iPad, and telling my trainer what and why I am blogging. A couple across from me overheard (I have a tendency to talk too loud) and started asking me questions about this ride, and the houses we are helping to build along the way. They were getting ready to leave and the lady looks at the man showing him her open wallet, he nods, and she pulls out a $50 bill and hands it to me to donate to my ride. Now this couple does not know me from the bad people on the nightly news, and they just give me $50. They did not want a tax deduction, they just wanted to anonymously help the people who need help, people who will never be able to thank them, but will be thankful for their generosity forever.

It's never too late to donate; see link to the right.

Peace

Location:W Flatiron Crossing Dr,Broomfield,United States

8 days until I leave for Seattle ...

Since Denver is between Georgia and Seattle the sag wagon van, new trailer, and 8 riders will be arriving at my house June 6 to sleep over and take me with them to Seattle. June 7, off we GO!!

I am a day late with this posting because we have been staying with our two grandkids while my son and wife have been on a much needed vacation. It was fun to spend time with them, but it hurt my training time. I only managed 4 days riding for 12 hours in the saddle and only 165 miles ridden. This week may not be much better with two days scheduled at the dentist, and I need to start packing to see if I can manage with only one duffle bag that can be no larger than 4,500 sq inches. It doesn't help that my dentist is 80 miles away. At least my bike maintenance is set for one of the days I'm at the dentist.

A day late on my weigh in, I am now at 195 lbs which means that I gained a lb, and makes me way too many lbs over my goal. Bummer!

I am trying to produce this blog using only my iPad, which is all I am planning to take with me on this ride. I think I'll need a session at Apple before leaving. I can't figure out how to get a picture, and Pages here is different from the full version; I'm using Pages for the rough draft before publishing.

Peace

Two weeks left to train ...

19 days to report for action in Seattle

Lost two days training to the rain, and a partial day when I got caught in a hail storm. It started to rain, so I stopped and went under a store front overhang; before I could even get my rain jacket out the hail came pounding down, and piled up, and stopped about 20 minutes later. The rain continued another half hour until the hail had been washed away. If the rain had not started for another 5 minutes I would have been out on the trail with no cover, and a very unhappy camper (rider).

I finally got two back-to-back 75 mile rides in yesterday and today. Now I only have to do that 6 days in a row to equal what our average will be for this ride. Total for the week is 279 miles, 23 hours in the saddle. Since I started in March I have now logged 1,875 miles trying to get ready for this ride. I think I need all the miles I can get in to try to keep up with these 20 year olds.

Only lost one lb this week, now at 194 lbs and 6 lbs over my goal. At this rate I will be lucky to get down to 190 lbs before I leave.

I caught up and passed another rider today north of Boulder. That does not happen very often, in fact, almost never. She was on a fixed speed Schwinn that she said she got as a 14 year old in 1940. :-)

This is my favorite picture of raptors. This is a Swainson's Hawk that I took on one of my rides a couple weeks ago.