Wednesday, June 4, 2003

Thanks John

Burns to Boise

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Hey gang, its time once again for an insight into the daily lives of the AAA boys as they ride across the USA.  It's sometimes hard to put into words how incredible this journey has become.  The sights and sounds, views of wildlife from the highways and of course all the wonderful people we meet along our trip.  It's also gratifying to know that you the readers anticipate these daily journals and we try through words and pictures to give you an insight into our days on the road.  Although it has only been 5 days, the boys are becoming hardened road warriors and increase their miles on the highways each day.  All of this would not be possible without all of the support from our sponsors, Ohio Willow Wood and HealthSouth Rehabilitation Centers.  And of course Joe Sapere whose functions include master planner, coordinator, web master and rider, support driver to name a few.  And last but not least our ace support drivers Trish and Cheryl.

At the risk of sounding redundant, each day brings more excitement and wonder than the last.  The scenery always leaves us in awe, and the boys are really coming together as a group.  We began our day in Burns/Hines Oregon and finished in Boise, Idaho.  Here you see Trish in the foreground preparing to ride with the boys at the start of the day.  Bruce is in the background performing his daily ritual of bullfrog sunscreen and bullfrog repellent before the ride.  Bruce is now known as "Froggy" as readers of previous posts will remember.  Mark is now known as "pizza man" for his unique ability to locate the best pizza places in town, and Jim has become "Wildman" for his daredevil feats along the highway. 

Here Trish takes the lead as the boys leave Burns/Hines early in the morning.  Our progress was watched carefully by wandering bovine, birds and groundhogs.  Our luck continues to hold and the weather was once again perfect for reading with clear skies and 80 degree weather.

Trish finished her ride so that Cheryl could take a turn on the asphalt.  The boys feel that their inane chatter also contributed to Trish's early retirement for the day.  With fair warning from Trish, Cheryl pedaled the guest bicycle, ignoring the mindless chatter from the other riders and concentrating on the beautiful scenery.  Here the entire gang give a salute to Joe in sign language (no its not the finger).  The hand symbol translates as "we love you man". 

By early afternoon the crew took a well deserved rest at a small town in western Oregon.  The restaurant known as the Oasis provided food and beverages for the boys in need.  Here Cheryl and Bruce pose with a snow globe for their daughter Elizabeth. 

After our rest stop at the Oasis, the boys continued through the high desert country of mesas and sagebrush to a high point on the highway.  We stopped for a few minutes to marvel at the vista which seemed to go on forever.  The boys continued their ride down a steep hill in an attempt to best their high speed record of 35 miles per hour (that's three five folks).  However, the wind gods were not favorable and the riders topped out at a measly 29 miles per hour.  We are, however, ever vigilant for future lofty hills to test our downhill abilities.  Hey folks it's not for the faint at heart.

At the bottom of the hill we stopped to regroup and rehydrate.  Bruce was suffering from a rather severe case of posterior soreness and switched seats in an effort to soothe his aching backside.  One would think that Bruce would be accustomed to sitting for long periods (he's a desk jockey).

Here Mark makes a request to Joe.  "Hey Joe, pull my finger".

We entered a valley of incredible beauty and rode for 10 or so miles before packing up the bicycles and heading for Boise.  The pictures here do not capture the wonder and beauty of our ride through this valley which featured high desert plant life and a swift running stream which ran alongside the highway for much of our ride.  It was tempting to ditch the bikes and jump into the stream.  But alas we had miles to go and topped 155 miles and so it was on to Boise, Idaho for our next adventure. 

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