Sean's Day 12 -- We have Internet Access!
Hi Y'all!
We haven't had Internet access for a few days (rural Kentucky) and I haven't been able to make Blackberry posts work, either. But here we are again, chatting about the trip. Yay!
First, the trip mileage update:
Ridden today (from the odomoter on my bike): 56.2 miles
Ridden, total: 589.11 miles
Driven, total: 60-70
So much has happened. First, let me give one last shout-out to Jon and Nancy Love of Madisonvonville, Ky. Thanks to them, my bike is so much more functional (among other things, having moved from trail to road, the new tires make a HUGE difference). Long time friends of mine and my family, they went way out of their way to help. Even more, they paid for the repairs and alterations themselves, to support the trip. Is that beyond cool, or what? Thanks again, Jon and Nancy!
Because of the repairs and some other things we had to do, Bret and I spent most of the day hanging out at my mom's house -- this meant lots of good food and time to do some work, but no bike time. We were finally able to leave late in the day (I had to finish writing an article for the Columbia Business Times), but I only got an hour or so of riding in, biking just over 10 miles.
Bret, by the way, was wonderful on Wednesday. I gave him the opportunity to have us blow off riding for the whole day, but he pushed back and said we should ride for whatever we could. He was right. The ten miles or so we rode (well, he drove) was not a lot, but it kept us both in the "moving forward, no matter what" frame of mind. Good job, Bret! Thanks for doing your part to keep us on track, as always.
I should tell you that we've completely changed our route. Because of better roads -- safer, more direct and faster -- we are heading up through Northern Kentucky and across Ohio to DC. Not sure yet if we will need to go through Pennsylvania or West Virginia or both to get to DC. I think we are on track to be on time, though. We'll see.
By the way, the really big news is that I had a minor injury today and had to quit riding after my 56.2 miles. I was taking a break on the side of the highway, about 30 miles from Louisville, when I slipped on some gravel and twisted my right ankle. I went ahead and rode another two miles, but it kept hurting worse, and was killing me the first time I hit a small hill that I should have been able to ride with ease. So I called Bret to pick me up -- my strong belief is that a night of rest and maybe a handful of Aleve will have me ready to ride at first light tomorrow morning.
Here's a funny story about my post-twisted-ankle trip, though. Bret, my fearless savior, hates me just a bit I think. Why do I think this? Because as I stood on the side of the road, trying to keep my weight on my left leg to avoid a nice bit of pain, I watched Bret blow on past me. No big deal. Could have easily happened to anyone. So, of course, I wasn't surprised to see him heading back from the direction in which he had just driven away from me. All excited, I stood by the side of the road with my bike, in the plainest of plain view.
But wait! Why is Bret pulling over the other side of the road? Is he really going to make me limp all the way over there? No, in fact, he's turning around and heading back the other way again! Driving away, again! And I was maybe 10 feet away from him, in plain view. Ugh.
So I texted him and he turned around to get me (obviously realizing that his duplicity might cost him in the long run). I spotted him coming toward me, and watched him pull over to the side of the road -- absolutely as far away from me as he could get and still camoflage what I can only believe is smoldering hatred. So I started limping toward the car, wondering why he was making no movement to help me in my injured state, and then I heard it. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" -- the 1983 ballad performed by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler. To the extent that it is possile, Bret was rocking out, unable to move or function outside the world of the song.
Finally, Bret tore himself away and helped me load my bike as tears from pain welled in my eyes.
Who knew that Bret could be so deeply entranced by 1980's chick songs? As with his addiction to the Soap Opera Channel, I'll leave it to you to figure it out.
Lord knows that's enough for tonight. See ya!
- sean
Sean Spence
MS Advocate
www.MissouriToManhattan.com
seanspence@earthlink.net
We haven't had Internet access for a few days (rural Kentucky) and I haven't been able to make Blackberry posts work, either. But here we are again, chatting about the trip. Yay!
First, the trip mileage update:
Ridden today (from the odomoter on my bike): 56.2 miles
Ridden, total: 589.11 miles
Driven, total: 60-70
So much has happened. First, let me give one last shout-out to Jon and Nancy Love of Madisonvonville, Ky. Thanks to them, my bike is so much more functional (among other things, having moved from trail to road, the new tires make a HUGE difference). Long time friends of mine and my family, they went way out of their way to help. Even more, they paid for the repairs and alterations themselves, to support the trip. Is that beyond cool, or what? Thanks again, Jon and Nancy!
Because of the repairs and some other things we had to do, Bret and I spent most of the day hanging out at my mom's house -- this meant lots of good food and time to do some work, but no bike time. We were finally able to leave late in the day (I had to finish writing an article for the Columbia Business Times), but I only got an hour or so of riding in, biking just over 10 miles.
Bret, by the way, was wonderful on Wednesday. I gave him the opportunity to have us blow off riding for the whole day, but he pushed back and said we should ride for whatever we could. He was right. The ten miles or so we rode (well, he drove) was not a lot, but it kept us both in the "moving forward, no matter what" frame of mind. Good job, Bret! Thanks for doing your part to keep us on track, as always.
I should tell you that we've completely changed our route. Because of better roads -- safer, more direct and faster -- we are heading up through Northern Kentucky and across Ohio to DC. Not sure yet if we will need to go through Pennsylvania or West Virginia or both to get to DC. I think we are on track to be on time, though. We'll see.
By the way, the really big news is that I had a minor injury today and had to quit riding after my 56.2 miles. I was taking a break on the side of the highway, about 30 miles from Louisville, when I slipped on some gravel and twisted my right ankle. I went ahead and rode another two miles, but it kept hurting worse, and was killing me the first time I hit a small hill that I should have been able to ride with ease. So I called Bret to pick me up -- my strong belief is that a night of rest and maybe a handful of Aleve will have me ready to ride at first light tomorrow morning.
Here's a funny story about my post-twisted-ankle trip, though. Bret, my fearless savior, hates me just a bit I think. Why do I think this? Because as I stood on the side of the road, trying to keep my weight on my left leg to avoid a nice bit of pain, I watched Bret blow on past me. No big deal. Could have easily happened to anyone. So, of course, I wasn't surprised to see him heading back from the direction in which he had just driven away from me. All excited, I stood by the side of the road with my bike, in the plainest of plain view.
But wait! Why is Bret pulling over the other side of the road? Is he really going to make me limp all the way over there? No, in fact, he's turning around and heading back the other way again! Driving away, again! And I was maybe 10 feet away from him, in plain view. Ugh.
So I texted him and he turned around to get me (obviously realizing that his duplicity might cost him in the long run). I spotted him coming toward me, and watched him pull over to the side of the road -- absolutely as far away from me as he could get and still camoflage what I can only believe is smoldering hatred. So I started limping toward the car, wondering why he was making no movement to help me in my injured state, and then I heard it. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" -- the 1983 ballad performed by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler. To the extent that it is possile, Bret was rocking out, unable to move or function outside the world of the song.
Finally, Bret tore himself away and helped me load my bike as tears from pain welled in my eyes.
Who knew that Bret could be so deeply entranced by 1980's chick songs? As with his addiction to the Soap Opera Channel, I'll leave it to you to figure it out.
Lord knows that's enough for tonight. See ya!
- sean
Sean Spence
MS Advocate
www.MissouriToManhattan.com
seanspence@earthlink.net
posted by Sean Spence at 7:11 PM
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