You just thought you lost that lovin' feelin'

It clicked back in place tonight! I was out for a solo ride just returning to build base miles and I spotted friends along the way. Rode with a few then decided to climb Ft Roots. As I was climbing I thought to myself, "Man, when was the last time you were right here?" I thought for a moment and I think it was late May. I climbed on up and heard my name shouted. It was Paul Creel and the guys he rides with. Super nice folks. We all headed back down the hill together and they stopped at the skatepark for water bottle refills. We all rode together and it was awesome riding with these guys. It was pretty fast but it was fun. As we passed the golf course I saw Darrell and Robert and heard the words, "Tube". I told Paul and them I'd cover the flat and bidded them good evening. We got the flat fixed and just about the time we were about to roll again, Fast Girls came by. They were looking strong as usual. Got to talk a few moments with my bud JMar. He and his wife Allison are some of the nicest folks you'll ever met. I rode with Robert a few minutes then dropped off at my car and Robert rode on home to Maumelle.

When I stopped and loaded my bike I sat on the back of the SUV for a few moments. It was back. The feeling of having a good ride and having fun doing it. It wasn't my fastest or mega miles but it was just plain fun and that my friends was what got me started in the first place.

Keith called and left a message and asked if I was going to Tour de Oink on Saturday. Yes, it's the Great American Pig Out about an hour from here. Last year a tornado ripped through the community the night before the event and we rode through the mess at the end of the course. I plan to just go ride for fun. It's just a 40 miler but always was a fun little ride. It's gonna be a hot one too! Cooked bacon -- no doubt!! HA!!!

Laughed to hard!

Lunch quick hit:
The employee relations guru has an office just around the corner from mine. She stopped me as I was coming in from lunch just now and shared a funny happening with me...

She said, "I never look at the personals in the paper but this caught me eye yesterday and it's about ACH so I circled it and brought it to our VP's attention. Well there was a problem... I circled the wrong one. Look..."

She had indeed circled the wrong one! She circled the personal ad below the one she wanted to discuss with the VP. The Vp just said, "Well, ok?!" and handed the paper back to her.

The ad she circled was an ad for one of those "naughty toy" parties.

I laughed so hard my tummy still hurts.

There's nothing better than a Monday workplace laugh!

Out for a Sunday ride

I had been about 3 weeks since I've seen my folks so Em and I drove down to Benton for a visit. They hadn't eaten and Mom said Dad hadn't been out of the house in about 3 weeks so let's get him out. Mission on! He wanted to ride on Hwy 9 a little and Mom wanted to try the new Chik-fil-a (sp?). So we drove over and we had all forgotten that those are all closed on Sunday's. So we jumped the street and had Sonic in the monsoon. It was pouring! Food came and everyone got all settled in for the drive and off we go. I was funny because we had to drive right by their house again to get where we wanted to go. It's always weird to drive by their house and not pull in. Anyway we spent the afternoon together driving and laughing. He told me that he thought it was Monday when he first got up. Said it happens to him a lot. I told him I was going to come down every Sunday afternoon and get him out of the house even if it's just to wheel him around Home Depot. I had a great idea that I would build them a deck on the back of the house but he nixed the idea. He likes the front of the house better because where they live is on top of a hill and the driveway is really long. So he like to sit on the front porch and watch the world go by. So now I'm trying to figure a way to build a patio type area in front of the house. He'll probably nix it too... can't say I didn't try.

I did ride yesterday but not the ride I wa planning. I slept until 6:58. I woke and looked at the clock then looked again. I never sleep that late! River trail: the flood waters of the river have finally gone down to where you can cross the small bridge which means the river trail is wide open once again. It's been 4 weeks and there is one section that was flooded during the spring, finally cleared up then flooded again and is still knee deep. The floods softened the dirt so much that trees have fallen all over the place on it. A huge mess. The strange part is before this spring, it was very rare for that section of the trail to flood. Bet it has to do with Al Gore and the global warming.

Check out this site: www.lifechurch.tv
I'm really liking a lot of these comtemporary churches and their sites.

Oh yeah, Em brought me cinnamon bagels and hazelnut cream cheese from Panera while she was in Bentonville! OH YEAH!!!! Daddy's a happy camper!

Back to bloggerville

I know, it's been a week since I've blogged. If I go to sleep here in a bit I might get up and jump on the 7:15 ride that starts down the road from the house in the morning. I don't luck out and have too many group rides that start over here. They are training for HHH (Hotter'n'Hell 100) and plan to get 75 miles in. I'm back to square 2 or 3 so I don't have the conditioning to get 75 in the heat tomorrow. I plan to ride down and met them and ride out a little then back to the house.

Em was out of town last night so Terri and I tried the new Bonefish restaurant. Good eatin'!

Wanna watch something wild... Beat they never show this on the Food Channel
http://www.breitbart.tv/html/2789.html

More later...

The 3 weeks are over now

I did it. I got back on the bike today and boy did it feel different. Different because I was happy to be there and not on a scheduled training. I rode and looked around at rabbits, birds and even had to dodge a whole family of coons that waddled across the bike trail. They were really cute little things. Probably full of fleas and have rabies but hey, we all have our short comings huh?! HA! The river is still massive flooded. I wish those guys over in Oklahoma would turn off the water a moment.

Lots of folks are started to talk about the next big ride, Hotter'n'hell 100 in Wichta Falls, Tx. I rode it last year and they had record heat. It was a fun trip but I'm passing this year. I try to do different rides every year. Like I did "Ride for the Roses" in Austin then the next year was the Hotter ride. This year I want to ride the Big Dam Bridge ride. I helped put together a fun rest stop for BDB 100 last year. This year I want it to be my event ride. Next year is a Cajun ride in early spring.I'm also going to Jonesboro in ealry October to ride a ride I've done once called "A Ride For A Better Life". It benefits a counseling center outreach program for a Church of Christ there. Read about it here: http://www.betterlife.org/view/28

Since the internet was messed up I didn't get to download many photos from FL but check this out... Little girls grow up! The kiddo's senior year is about to begin in a couple more weeks.

Oh the Wal Mart story: Aww right, so Wal Mart is going to build a new suepercenter about a mile from the house but thank goodness our street is not the main street going to it. It was a Sherwood Good Ole Boys club property deal and boy did it cause an uproar! They have cleared a massive amount of land and were even blasting. A friend from the hopital lives in one of the neighbors that border it and she asked if I had seen the clearing. I had not. We drove by it this afternoon after work... Oh man... it's huge! I don't mean sort of huge but massive huge. Once it's all done it will be nice (I think). Yea, Ryan, I still still love ya man! HA

Speaking of Wal Mart, I scoped out the garden center at the Wal Mart in Navarre Beach last week. Ok Melissa, that was probably the last time I cried! Plants that I pay 30 bucks for here were huge and only 4.50... yep, 4 dollars and 50 cents. Next time I go, I'll leave the kids in the parking lot and load the car with plants and bring them back.

One of my favrite things to do is link off other bloggers sites and read who they know if it looks interesting. One of my favorite links is to the family of Suzanne & Joe. Why, well they are about to have quads. Yes, 4 babies! Ok, let me warn you it's sort of a chick site because you know those mom's to be tell the world all this birthing stuff and show photos of tummys and she is no different but it's been fun watching this with the rest of the world and I do mean the rest of the world. Look at her hit counter... over 200K hits. It was 174K last week. Anyway, she is almost about to have them... here's the link: http://www.thelifeofsuz.blogspot.com/ For those of you who pray, send one up for them... 4 babies at once... I'd move to Cayman!

Well the weekend is almost here... "everybody dance now....!"

Later friends and fam... Geo.

Hacked off!!!

Oh man! It's been a great day and then a sort of frightening one.

I'll do the bad news and get it over with... Our cable modem may have been hacked. I had never heard of this before but my son is IT type smart and the computer said it was connected and the modem said it was connected but we kept getting an error screen when it tried to open the internet. Here's what might have happened.... whenever we would log on someone was getting little bits and pieces of info then got enough to use our modem and block us. I sort of did the puppy-tilting-head-in-wonderment-look... huh?! He looked and ran this test and that test. Said take the box back to Comcast and get another with a different serial number because someone is using your IP for what they want to do...maybe. Ok so are you saying someone out there is going nuts and it's pointing back to my home office desk. Yep, Dad, and I'd watch for SWAT guys to bust through the windows welding uzi's any moment now. Not funny! So I'm running off the air card tonight. I thought firewalls and Mcafee (sp?) was supposed to stop all that.

Ok now for big news! I went to see Dr. D today and he wants to hook me with a cochlear implant! I was giddy! I will be able to hear out of my deaf ear for the first time in 6 years! We talked at length then he sat and looked at me without saying a word. Then he just smiled and noddled his head as a "Yep, let's do this". Here's another cool part. Cochlear implants have been around now for about 15 years and they just had a big breakthrough with a company called Advanced Bionics(http://www.advancedbionics.com/) and their product called Harmony. He said that it is supposed to be great for listening to music. He also gave me a word of caution. Said that when it gets turned on which is about a month after the surgery then I will hate it. Said the sound is nothing like what you hear because the brain will process it in a different matter (gray matter..get it? Cheesey, I know!). Anyway he said it will sound like a bunch of weird electronic buzzes and tones. Said after about 3 months I will start getting used to it then at around 6 months then something will suddenly click and it'll all come together. Said after that happens, I will hate my hearing aid and will want to get a cochlear in the other ear but he won't do it until my good ear goes down which he predicted will happen around 5 years. That's why he wants to go ahead with the deaf ear implant so when the other ear does go down it won't freak me out to get the implant in the left(good) ear. The ball is just started rolling so I hope to have it all done by Thanksgiving. The really nice thing is that while I heal for the surgery I will still have all my regular hearing. No loss of time at the office but a couple of days for the outpt surgery. Now how cool is that?!

It's been a really good day and I've changed some of my thought processes on how I view things. Part of it came from my long walks on the beach. I really had a lot of time to think about a lot of stuff last week. The vacation really couldn't have come at a better time mentally. I was exhausted. I was beating myself up over the "DNF" (Did Not Finish) mark beside my name on the River 2 River ride. Seriously it floored me. I really did finally come to the conclusion that it's OK. I've followed countless folks who have trained for epic events and something goes wrong along the way. I mean look at the Tour de France. A bizillion crashes last week. All the time those guys put into training just to be taken down in the first week. Yep, it stings but you live and life goes on. Get over it.

The other thought process came from a video we saw in our small group setting last night. For those of you that don't know, "Small group" or "community group" is just a breakout group of church friends who met at each others homes and enjoy each others company while doing church sort of stuff. We really enjoy it and it makes for a great way to make some really good close friends. You know those folks who you would call at 3am if something happened and they could call us at 3 as well. It's a security blanket of sorts. Anyway, that video was about thought process and looking at things just a little different. No drastic changes but just a little and see how it goes. Remember those WWJD bracelets? It's sort of like that but without the rubber bracelet.

Well once again...enough of this blah blah blah

Saturday 07.14.07

Nice to be back home. I always like walking into our house after being gone on a trip. You house how peoples homes how certain smells? Ours smells like some sort of candle. Not over powering but it's just a smell that signals "you're home!"

Sadie (the dog went completly nuts to see us as Emily, Sean and I were to see her! Got got all excited when she saw Em then the same with me then she spotted Sean, while she was out in the gargae thank goodness, and peed everywhere. It was funny. Sean seems to be her alpha male. He trained her a lot better than we did. I spoil the crud out of her and don't mind one bit! She protects Em and sleeps on her bed and Em is lost without her as we found out on vacation. This was the first time we had all gone away without her. Tyler stayed at the house and took care of her and thank goodness because we didn't want to put her in the kennel for the week. And it rained everyday so that wouldn't have taken her out to play which is 10 dollars more a day.

Yesp, we had sunny skies everyday while Little Rock had storms every day and boy could I tell it when I got home! The grass in the backyard grew a lot. I even found a wind chime out in the yard. It most have done some blowing too!

The beach was fun but I know I can't spend a week inland anymore. I have to stay on the beach or I'll just stay home. Just too much trouble to load and drive everytime. Some folks get up early and get going (me) and others take until 11 to do anything. I now know that Em can handle about 2 hours on the beach then she'll find some excuse to need to go back to the house. Sean kept getting a werid rash when he would go out in the water but he was a good sport about it and did he's best not to spoil the fun but you could tell it really bothered him. I finally called it on Thursday and we went inland for the afternoon. When you stay on the beach you can come and go as you wish. If we get to have the big family vacation next summer then we'll be right on the water.

I got up this morning and it was quite around the house. I made coffee and had bagel I bought yesterday at the Panera Bread in Spanish Fort. Someday maybe Little Rock will get one of those, and I'll be broke! We took Tyler's request and brought him back a bag full. He worked at Panera when he first went out to Denver for college. Now we are all hooked on them.

For the first time since the R2R ride I thought about going for a ride. I cleaned the bike up really good about mid morning and decided about 2 I would head out. Instead of the neighborhood I thought I'd go down to the river and see how the legs felts after a 2 week bike vacation. As I was heading over it began to rain, harder and harder. I keep it positive and told myself it was a pop up shower but it was raining at the bike trail and looks like it had been raining a while. Then I turned the corner to the parking lot I normally park in and whoa baby... everything is really flooded! There was a lane that went to the soccer fields but the bike trail was all underwater. Parts on down the way have been under for over a month now! All the rain from Oklahoma hits the Arkansas River plus all the local rain and that is a major over flow. I was really surprised it was that much. I'll be a week before it all goes back down then it will be slick mud for a few days and then stink of dried dead fish. I sighed and turned around and came back home.

Since I had me chores done I rent the Aztec Mel Gibson movie Apoli-something. I really liked it. Yes, it's hard to watch and it's bloody but it's good.

Also I got to see the Tour de France last night and the live stage this morning. Terri's folks have Dish so they don't get the VS channel. Today's stage was great! Love it love it love it!

Well enough blah blah blah... just catchin' ya up.

I'll try and ride somewhere tomorrow maybe.

Have a good weekend out there!
Geo.

Thank goodness for island time

Ahhh just another beautiful day on the gulf coast. We headed over to Destin this morning and spent the morning at the Silver Sands Outlet Mall. I was supposed to pick up some Dooney bags for folks but the ones they wanted were sold out. It was some purse that was ust inside the door to the left and it was 107 marked down from 375. Gone! I did load up on he 9.99 polo shirts! I walked out of Harry and David with a sack so full the clerk put it in a plastic bag then a thick bag sack. I wanted he Moose Mnch but it would have melted in the car. Oh well, all he more reason to go to Branson!

we did get to se Terri's brother's house which is down the first road to the left when you go over the Destin bridge. Yep, the back door opens to the sound. Really pretty! Sad thing was the wave runner stuff fell through so me and the kids went to the beach when we get back.

There were some black blobs in the water and Sean went out and took a small net and they were snails! Thousands of snails. I've never seen anything like that before. The water was sort of murky today anyway so glad we didn't plan a full day out there. We will be out there tomorrow. By the way, not sure I'm a fan of Destin as much anymore. It's gotten unreal crowded and the cowd is different. Seems southern manners have gone out the door. Nah, I would probably have loved it if I was actually staying in the town.

As we were leaving the beach late this afternoon they were setting up for a wedding. Beach weddings are the thing this year. I would love to see some of the photos! Here the bride and groom are standing and in the background is a middle aged woman with a dixie flag bikini and a hairy beer bellied guy! Oh yeah! HA!!! Note to Melissa: Yep, that's what will happen to Adam on Labor day! Y'all enjoy the laugh because ain't nothin' you can do 'bout it! HA!!!!

Well the sun is setting making the shadows of the palms long across the yard and southern breezes caress the leaves. The parrot calls from the top of the chair and Jimmy Buffett is singing. Yeah, life is good!

Monday 07.09.07

Woke this morning and headed down to the beach. A storm cloud was on the horizon and the water was murky from the breakers to the shoreline. Not too bad really. Em, Sean and I walked along the beach looking for shells and general goofing off. Not missing work for sure! HA! I did get an email that said they were have a really bad storm in LR though.

We came back to the house and had breakfast and waited around for everyone to get ready and finally got out the door heading to Ft Walton arund 11. Lord, they are slow pokes! We hung out at the mall and then over to touristy Fudpuckers for late lunch. 70 bucks for lunch! Yes, I was puckered alright!

Afterwards we went down the road to the Nautlus http://nautiluscondominium.com/ Condo's to check out some units that my sister had recommended for a huge family gathering next June 14-21. We looked at 3 different ones and all were nice. I hope it works out where the whole family can go down. We did it several years ago and it was a lot of fun. Our family is so big now, who knows.

We came back and heading down to the beach for the late afternoon. I did exactly what I said I was going to do before the trip and that as hit the beach, good book in hand and read. Terri and the kids found a million nice shells. Don't ask what we are going to do with all of them.

Tomorrow the kids are supposed to go over to Destin since Terri's brother Toby is off and he lives there. They are supposed to go ride wave runners. I'll probably go over and tinker around for several hours and then pick them up. Who knows. The plans change around here by the minute! HA!

The Moving House story

We were on our way to Florida and anyone who travels on 98 through Semme, AL knows it's a traffic nightmare on Saturday! All the folks heading into FL and all the folks leaving FL heading back to AR, OK, TN, MS, TX all go this way.

We had just rolled into Semme, which is just before you get to Mobile, and traffic stops. We are at the bottom of a small hill and you can't see what's on the other side. We notice several cars turning around at the top of the hill and coming back so I was preparing myself to sit a while. About 10 minutes pass and we see a police car coming over the hill and everyone is having to move off the run. What on earth is it? A race? The president? Nah man, it's a house! Yep. the busiest day of the year for that road with 4th of July travelers and everyone else and they block the road for a moving house.

Well, after we pass the house... actually, after the house passes us, we rolled on. We started counting the line of cars behind the house. Y'all ready for this??? 618 cars backed up and rolling at 5mph. Oh I bet there was some carrying on going on. Tired from the trip and ready to get home and it's sort of like a big flight delay. Just puts your panies in a wad!

Saturday 07.07.07

Welcome to Florida!

I'm not sure what this looks like on a regular cable upload but I just loaded this with dial up.

We left LR at 3:30 and at 4:15 I turned on he windshield wipers. They stayed on until almost 8. We went through some real rain and I was none to happy when it was over. From outside of Vicksbg on was a nice drive. Lots of Arkies, and Texas folks heading that way.

We stopped in Hattiesburg and stayed over night. The Super 8 was recommended and it was fine, just basic. It worked for what we needed.

Left about 8 and headed on down. Got to Mobile and holy smoke! These guys were driving really fast! I got in a groupo and looked down to see us pushing a tad over 90 mph!!! Everyone was going that fast. (Note to Wes: Do y'all really drive like that?)

Spent the afternoon on the beach. Came back to the inlaws house and had shrimp and fish dinner. Now we are going back for the sunset.

The water was like swimming pool clear!

More later... you have to hear the "moving the house down the road" story...

Thursday 07.05.07

Well howdy out there!
We have suitcases everywhere, plans and plots being made, packing and unpacking and repacking going on! Ahh, ya just gotta love the night before vacation starts! Tyler's going to watch the house and babysit the pup!

Here's the live cam to where I'll be!
www.navarrebeachlife.com

We will leave out and drive to Hattiesburg, MS tomorrow night and get there about 10 then drive on down to Terri's folks and I plan to get out of the car, drop the suitcase and park the butt on the beach for the next 6 days. I'll come in and eat and sleep. Don't call us, we'll call you! HA!

We had planned to not go until Saturday and drive all the we through but if it was up to Terri and Em we'd be throwing stuff in the car and leaving now! HA! I tried to find a hotel in MS but all were really high and only king bed room left. I needed a double and my buddy Gary was just there last week and told me the Super 8 was actually good. I'm a Country Inn and Suites sort of guy but if Gary says it's good then it's good. I was booking the room and just as I pushed the reserve button a screen came up and it said they would take 30 dollars off if I would chat live. I just laughed and started to click the red "no" X but thought oh way not. Sure enough I was asked a few questions and then was told a mail in rebait was coming. I didn't have to give any private info that would have raised a red flag. Just simple, "was the online reservation system is to use?" Questions like that. I got a room for 51 bucks! That made my day!

I said I wasn't going to take the bike but boy it sure is wanting to go! If I ride I'll have to do it at first light or it gets too hot and muggy going inland down there. By the way, yes, I feel fine.

We spent yesterday at my sisters house. She lives out on the Arkansas River and all the rain that they've had in OK and northwest Arkansas is coming down the river. An island floated by and all sorts of trees went by. We kept joking about dead bodies floating by. It's really moving fast and it has been for abut a month now. Sort of feel sorry for all the summer boaters that like to habg out on the big sand bar just off the bike trail. We've not seen it in a long time. There are always a lot of boats parked all the way around it and cookouts and beach volleyball going on.

Plan to see Transformers while I'm in FL. Maybe Sean and Em will let me go with them! Daddy on a date with the teens! Oh joy! HA!

I downloaded beach tunes for the gift card Tyler gave me from the ITune store. Endless Summer was a must! Love that music! I ran across Duran Duran's Rio and grabbed it too. I know... old school. That reminds me... I need a few more tunes! Gotta run!

Yep, I'll be broadcasting from the beach and even plan to load up some photos. I always say crap like that then something happens where I don't get to.

Later folks!
Geo.

Tuesday 07.03.07 Part II

I thought I would update at lunch but went out with Jason and Allison. Always a hoot with those two.

It's been a very nice week so far. I feel great and just kicking back. Serious, I can't really remember the last time I took a bike break. I know there was a time back in the winter a couple of years ago when I had a bad sinus infection but other than that... If the weather is bad I can spin. In fact, I'll be heading back to the fitness center at lunch a few days a week fro spin classes and core training.... after the beach next week.

Oh yeah, a correction from River 2 River stuff. I've been told it was Yale that had his hand on my back pushing me at the end and Jenn was on the other side. I know I said Jo and Keith and I'm sure they were right there as well. Yep, I guess I was really flipped out.

Y'all would not believe how many folks have now told me stories about a cousin or uncle who had a heat stroke and how many died. Awwright, I get the point! I'll be a lot more careful out there and I love y'all too!

Big Firecracker 5K in town tomorrow. My VP is running and she was joking this afternoon that she should do a lot better in this race because she got to move up to the next age group. Rance, the director of the Fitness Center is running it too. I'm sure there are a lot of others from ACH running it. We have a big runner group there.

Hey, race news... Rock and Republic won their race the other day! Rahsaan and the guys are really kickin' it out this year! Keep it up guys! Hey RB and Austin... y'all need to just go ahead an smoke 5 Star and put 'em in their place. Check out the story: http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=11295

Tuesday 07.03.07

Is this what OK and TX have been going through? Oh man, we got the rain. Actually very small in compared to those guys. We got a shot of rain about 5 yesterday then just as we were heading into rush hour the cloud bottomed out. Several local flooding places.

oops, got to run to work... more later...

Sunday 07.01.07

This is actually copied from my River 2 River blog. I'll be posting here again...

We did what we set out to do and that was raise money and awareness for kids with hearing disabilities. We got the word out that this area of a child's life needs attention. There are over 16 million folks like me called Baby Boomers who have a hearing loss. Some are born with it and others got it from rocking out to their Kiss and Fleetwood Mac 8-tracks. Some, like myself are probably both. Technology is really just kicking in on hearing aids because so many of us are striving to live regular ole daily lives but we get tired of not being able to hear so we pester the companies who make hearing aids and we pester out Audiologist. It's called being an advocate! Find a passion, a cause, a charity and be an advocate! Make a difference. Sometimes making a difference is as simple as a hello to someone and sometimes it's pushing your body until it breaks.

Saturday night our friends and my team mates Rebecca and Chris Irons stopped by our house to pick up a couple of things that had been in the team van. Em was off on a date and Terri and I were about to grill out. We talked them into staying and eating, which wasn't real hard to do! HA! After dinner the 4 of us drove over to Shakey's for "ice cream". It was then Chris and Rebecca unfolded the events that surrounded my struggle to get from Cook's Landing to the hospital. It was really hard to believe they were talking about me. Some things I remember in a foggy sort of way and some are clear, all were tough. I do remember someone pushing me as we climbed the BDB. I do remember a group of guys passing right through the group on the right (you know who you are). I remember the hill by Dillards Corp office that I knew I had to get over. I remember the kids by the hospital on their bikes. I remember a lot of faces from the stop. I remember Keith Moore and Jo Spencer being right beside me talking me through it. Those gave me strength!

The fog: I heard that I ran a red light, that I rode off from Cook's Landing with only Blake riding along while everyone was getting their water refilled. I heard I was tilted to the right. I heard I was almost expected to pass out and there were folks on each side in case I did. I rode the wrong way coming in and rode through a barricade with very little room. I remember Lori taking me to the ER. I remember the nurse was named Emily and always was smiling. I remember Yale being there in the restroom after I barfed.

I also have some very good memories!
There was no rain at the start in Ft Smith! It was 80% chance!
The guy that owns a very respectable bike shop (Champion Cycling) in NW Ark was there to lead us out of Ft Smith.
The funny stuff my family and teammates said on the way to Ft Smith.
Getting cracked up watching Yale taking photo after photo after photo.
The police escort in Ozark.
Talking to Kevin on the Point 94.1 while riding in Ozark. Finding out he played it on the radio.
People telling my teammates they were crazy to do this ride with me.
Friends telling me that if I had called them at 1 a.m. and said I was about to ride the rest, they would have come back out. Now that is true friendship at it's highest level.
People telling me that 1/2 the ride was a major deal.
Telling the team who jumped on outside of Russellville that they smelled good and listening to them laugh. The Ft Smith group was stanking by then! HA!
Hearing Jenn giving some long drawn out excuse why she wasn't allowed to bring her honking horn.
Hearing the same Jenn ask a camero at a stop light in Russellville if he wantd to race and when the light turned green it sounded like he lost his muffler. Brain laughed so hard I thought he's fall off his bike.
Seeing Tom (SoundStart) standing on the side of the road in Conway.
Seeing Erik and the Ride bike shop guys waiting for us in Conway.
Having Rob from Conway pull us into the headwind from Conway to Maumelle.

You see the good memories list is much much longer than the struggling memories.

So what happens now? That's the question a lot of folks want to know. I do know that I'll take a little break from the bike just because. Remember all the day after emails? Well, almost all the ones from riders say, "You've got to get back up on your bike." Oh friends, I plan to do that!

Are you going to ride it again? I don't know about the whole 300 but I will finish the ride. Riding from Burn's Park to Forrest City is only 103 miles. I think I can make it the next 37 to West Memphis. I'm pretty sure a group of us will put our jerseys on and head out some fall morning and knock it out. There are so many scheduled rides for everyone between now and fall that I doubt we could work it in before then. Who knows, we wanted to ride this ride so bad we could be crazy enough to try it again but we'll do it under the radar.

I wanted to leave you with some most awesome news that has come from doing this ride...
On June 28th there was a program named the "George Cobb Amplification Assistance Program"!!! It's a loaner program for kids who need hearing aids and FM devices to succeed in school and in life! So you see my friends, the ride was a success right where it was always meant to be.... all for the kids!