Th: the end of the Ride

Photos: not in chronological order

- sunset at dinner Th night at Jamie's home. I couldn't see it all, but what was visible was very nice...

- Ben working on seconds (I found myself eating and snacking often on this trip, and Ben was usually there commenting that I'm eating again - so it was nice to see him going for seconds, thirds, ...)

- The welcome at the Wycliffe headquarters. Good scones and great visiting.

-Us by the sign here in FL.

- a shot from the greeting crew that was outside as we drove up.

-The first sighting of 'gators ... about 6-8 of them in the lake as we drove over.

- a shot of the very cool clouds that were about all day yesterday.

- a shot from the vehicle that came and picked us up as we drove through a strong rain, with the truck hauling the bikes visible through the window.

- Loading up the truck in the morning (late) so we could SAG to a point where we could ride to the finish.

- Two photos of the sun rise and clouds in the morning at Church on the Rock

Thursday started with out a solution on transportation. The options that had been tried were unsuccessful. As it turns out Doug's wife and oldest drove up a van and truck and picked us all up and the trailer too. We then SAG'd to a point on the route where we could finish the ride with the reduced time available. The total riding distance was ~27 miles.

I was able to speak with Jon's wife after he was out of surgery. He has 3 pins in his leg now. The surgery went well according to the Dr's. And he was up in the evening on crutches in his first PT session. He has a two story home, so there are some steps in the PT sessions - probably starting on Friday. We talked with him after getting here also and he's doing well.

I saw some 'gators finally. I was expecting to see some, so it was nice to. Unfortunately I was in a vehicle and not able to get a close up. I guess locals will still use lakes that are shard with alligators. After seeing them swimming...I wouldn't!

One of the neat highlights of the ride was stopping at a church that had a school. The kids came out and we were shaking hands and answering questions at a rate of about 1 every 4 seconds! It was FUN: why are your tires so small, what's in here, what's that on your helmet, why do you have lights, what are these, how much did it cost, ... It would be neat to visit more schools in future trips.

When we rode into the complex .. it was a barrel of mixed emotions. Once we hit the main center we could hear the cheering before we could see the people. That was kind of neat. Then when we made it inside we walked through the walkways pushing our bikes with people on both sides and up the stairs all applauding and cheering. Then we were allowed to go through the line first. We then hung around and visited with different people. Then ... they were gone and we were there alone again.

Hmmmm.... time to be praying about the post ride depression. This was an event that I have been preparing for for since late last year. If you've read some of the older posts here, you are aware of how the training has altered my life's routine. So, now to be done, ... I need to work through that. As one who needs to have a goal out there - I've already started toying with what is an appropriate next goal. Some candidates are: aiming for a fast century ride (5 hrs or less), doing my first marathon in the fall, ...??

Dinner was at a home - the first meal in a home since leaving home a week ago. That was nice. We also had a time for 'debriefing': or at least starting the process of the debriefing and collecting of information that can be used for future events and planning.

It was a late night, and that's why I wasn't able to update last night.

Being able to sleep in until 7 was nice this morning (Friday).

Today will be some visiting of the center here, boxing my bike and some more time together at meal times as a team.

I guess that's all for now. If you have questions or are interested in other things, please leave a question in the comments section. More to follow...