Day 35: May 4, 2009

Day 35 - Gulf Shores, AL to Crestview, FL: Our last state - a total washout!!!!

Monday May 4, 2009, 100 miles (161 km) - Total so far: 2,619 miles (4,215 km)

Weather:. Temperatures 68-72, rain and thunderstorms, morning winds at 15-25 mph and gusty from the southwest. Today's ride started out very promising and ended in a washout. It was Bobby's day to drive SAG, along with Vern, so he lucked out in a way. As we left Gulf Shores, we had a nice strong quartering tailwind to push us along and an overcast sky to keep it cool. At the first rest stop, at mile 22, after all the others had stopped and gone, the van waited for almost an hour for Curt, Woody, and I. We didn't arrive. It turned out that Curt had broken a chain only a few miles into the ride. We had stopped to fix it and it broke again a little while later. Finally we had to stop at a bike shop - there just happened to be one on the route near Pensacola - and Curt got a new chain. To top it off, Curt had a flat tire. All that stopping put us about 30 miles behind the other riders. While the "lost riders" episode was taking place, the bottom dropped out of the heavens and we had torrential rain for about two and half hours. Tom, Will, and Anna stopped and called to get picked up by the van. They were over 60 miles into the ride at the time. Then Curt called and asked to be picked up. We made just over 40 miles. So they back-tracked and found the us enjoying Blizzards at the local DQ. Finally, Neil called to be picked up. He was fine with riding in the rain - after all, he was already soaked - but as he was climbing a little hill while standing up, one of his pedals broke and he went tumbling. He was OK and his bike was OK but he couldn't ride any further this day. So, after taking the others to the motel in the van, Will drove back and picked up Neil, about 20 miles from the end of the ride. Oh,, I can't forget about Larry and Pam. Larry and Pam rode the whole 100 miles, rain and all. Larry rides no matter what, even though a normal person would have just gotten in the van. Not sure why Pam rode through that down pour, bless her heart. Draw your own conclusions about that! And well as you can see Flat Stanley wore his rain gear and was dry as could be - he was so excited when he finally got in the van. Share bear rode in the van the whole day.

Well - until tomorrow

Uncle Barry, Flat Stanley, and Share Bear