Friday,  July 11, 2003

Nashville, Tenn

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Today, we rode the rest of the way to the Nashville area. Joe calls it Nashville, but the locals call it Kingston Springs. We are some miles due west of Nashville. A pity, as we wanted to drop in and wish Dolly the best.

Rolling rolling rolling, keep those doggies rolling, rawhide!

What a day! Temp in the low to mid 80s. Humidity so low that the cloudless sky was truly blue. Shoulders so wide we sometimes rode three abreast. The uphills -- and there were a lot of them -- were mostly gentle. The downhills were reassuring. Altogether, a great day to ride. But then any day, Mark says, that is spent on two wheels is better than any other day.

Jim was down today because of a rough fitting socket. Bruce drove a support vehicle today so that his wife, Cheryl, and his daughter, Elizabeth, could get some miles in. Glen and Lane also rode today, as did Mark (protecting the honor of the Tour de Gimp).

It was great having Cheryl back with us. She's been sorely missed. Trish, in particular, had been somewhat stressed lately trying to keep the boys in line by herself -- she's very glad Cheryl and Elizabeth are with us, even if only for the weekend.

For some reason, we got a lot of cat calls from lovely young women today. Mark postulated that it was his slimmed down appearance. But if you've ever seen him from behind -- while he's in spandex -- the truth is patently obvious, as shown at left.

Thanks, Glen! We needed the attention. And to Glen's loving wife -- our pity, dear, we give to you.

Frequently on our travels, good things drop in on us unexpected, unforeseen, and accepted with gratitude. A bystander saw us sweating on the bikes today and brought us cold water to drink. This is Amanda and her beautiful daughter.

They do look tall in the saddle, don't they?

Even skydiving didn't put a smile this big on Bruce's face. Being a daddy of a beautiful, intelligent woman is a great thing. Elizabeth seems to get much of her demeanor from her dad, including a remarkably "sunny" disposition that becomes almost human by, say, 9 am.

Yet another friendly face, Susan, who provided directions to a restaurant for lunch. See how chipper Bruce looks? That's what air conditioned comfort does to a cyclist.

Mother and daughter, riding together. The secret to avoiding mother-daughter strife is to exercise hard enough together so that breathing is difficult, thus talking can be avoided quite easily.

The greatest gift today for Bruce was the surprise arrival of many family members, including his mother, sister Nancy, brother Al, nephew Dan. Unable to attend was his sister Karen, who was not invited by the other thoughtless siblings. Actually, there weren't plans before yesterday to get everyone together this weekend. At least that's their story, but they are sticking to it.

Meredy Fullen, our angel from Ohio Willow Wood arrived tonight to spend the next week with us. The boys have been pretty good in the past several days, perhaps planning an appropriate shenanigan in Meredy's honor. Only time will tell.

Without the support of OWW, our ride would not happen. Without the support of people like Meredy and Bruce's family, it is doubtful that any of us would complete this journey. Without the support of people like Keith and Glen, and other prosthetists we met along the way, our limbs would not survive the stress. Thanks, Glen, you'll be missed. Keith -- you will forever be a wienie unless you do a tandem jump soon.

Support is no trivial gift, and we are each grateful for that we have received. It  is to return the gifts we have received, to pay our debt forward, that put several of us in the bike all those long days.

To those of you who support us, our family and friends, strangers on the road, and others: thank you for the fuel that keeps us going. Thank you for the love and healing you helped us experience. It is a dept that we can never repay, no matter how many miles we ride, no matter how many people we visit.

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