Hearing Christmas

Saturday I spent the day in Benton visiting with my folks and working around their house. It's part of my life now and I do this every weekend. I don't mind because I think of what all they gave up for me so it's the least I can do.

But this past weekend turned into something very special for me. My mom got into the Christmas decorating spirit and I got to haul fall stuff out to the shop and bring in some of the Christmas stuff. It also involved hanging the outside lights. We got the tree upright and ready to bend out the limbs and I started singing White Christmas. I sang about 5 words then stopped and while sitting on the floor turned to look at my Dad in his chair and said, "You're supposed to be singing this while we are fixing the tree." He said, "No, you go ahead you're doing good." To that I replied, "No Dad, it's a Cobb tradition that you sing White Christmas and Jingle Bells while we put up the tree. You always have." Then my froggy voiced Dad began to sing the most beautiful crystal clear version of White Christmas I've ever heard. I couldn't even look at him but pretended to keep working on the tree limbs... with a tear or two finding it's way down my cheek. It came out straight from his heart and there is not a price tag for that. My mom clapped from another room. Something tells me she may have shed a tear or two as well.

Life is good... when Daddy sings White Christmas.

The comfort of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

In all the sadness of the past couple of days since loosing Sadie, a sweet little pup I call "LBD" for little black dog whose real name is Brooklyn. We are babysitting for Zack until they get their yard fenced in. LBD is a sweet black lab pup who fell out of the back of a pickup in Fayetteville. Long story short, my daughter was keeping him so the boys wouldn't get in trouble for having her in the dorm and what was supposed to be a 1 week keep has become a month. Sadie loved having LBD around and when she and Em would leave to go home Sadie would fall in the floor and sleep off the "I had to play with the puppy" exhaustion.

LBD has been at my side since the passing of Sadie. It seems she knows I need a dog friend right now to hold and remember good times and to get passed this sad time. Right now she is alseep at my feet...snoring! HA!

Thank you Brook... you're a true little sweetheart.

Losing Sadie

Sadie

My day after Thanksgiving started out fun and adventurous. Went out to shoot some frosty photos and had nabbed a couple of good shots that I was happy with.

Got home about 8:30am from the shoot and made coffee with caramel. Then the task of bringing down the Christmas decorations. Was finishing that up around 12 and the girls were heading out for some shopping. I decided to take a break and heat up some leftovers and watch a few minutes of TV. Zack's lab pup was sitting on the sofa beside me and Sadie was wandering around then sat by my feet. A few moments later I noticed I was feeling a draft and got up to see if a window was cracked open or something. As I walked around to the kitchen the door was wide open. The breeze had pushed it open and I had not pulled it closed all the way when I came in. My first thought was oh no the dog is out in the front yard. I walked out and looked around and didn't see her then came back in. I thought she'll be back in just a moment but I ditched the thought and went back out and called her fully expecting her to run around from the side yard. Nothing. I walked to the end of the drive then at that moment my world went into a haze. She was in the middle of the road and had been hit. No car or truck around. I could tell from her wound it was a quick death, which as sad as I am was thankful. I kneeled down beside her in the middle of the road and began to cry. I knew I had to remove her and placed her gently in a pile of leaves in our yard and texted the girls to come home, then went into the house and completely lost it.

I lost it again when the girls came in. It was a very sad moment for all of us. I called my mom and asked if I could bury the dog at the back of their land, in the woods. It was a numbing but well needed time alone. After the burial I sat in the woods crying yet again. I never realized how painful it could be to become this attached to a dog and loose her so suddenly.

I remember the day we got her, the little ball of fur. She always greeted us when we got home and loved to get on our bed when we were gone and nudge all the pillows off the bed. I remember how she slept on the end of our daughters bed every night and even after she left for college she still slept in there. I remember how she would get so excited when Tyler would come over that she would wet. She would go crazy when Terri came in from the store because she always knew one of those white plastic bags had a treat in it for her. She was a happy dog, a loved dog... and will be missed oh so much.

Life will be good again... she would want that.

Pre-Thanksgiving

The weather seems to have turned it's frosty late fall self. I was wondering a few times because it would be cold then warm then cold the warm for a while. Looking at the forecast, the cold is rolling in for real this week. By cold I'm talking 30 for the lows and 50 for the highs.

I've got my heart set on shooting some good photos over the next 5 days. Some will be unique portraiture, some will be urban and some holiday. The holiday is going to be some long exposure Christmas lights I'm sure.

Got to head over to the office tomorrow but hoping for a light day since so many folks have taken the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off. Traffic will be a breeze going in and after work will be terrible because there is always a wreck on the afternoon before a holiday. Just seems to work out that way.

Hey ordered something very cool today! I got a Razorback cover for my cochlear implant magnet cover. Check this out:
http://www.skinit.com/details.php?resourceId=5483&partentcat=collegiate/colleges/university_of_arkansas_fayetteville/.
Oh yeah baby!! PIG EAR!! I'm loving it. Can't wait for it to arrive. Check out skin it... cool stuff.

Had a light bulb come on tonight about music and my implant. Going to run over and bug the Audi for a piece of AB equipment that's not a standard piece and mess around with it over the weekend. I'll tell you more if it works. No not as cool as Howard's Ipod headphones but still.

Listening to the new Switchfoot for the millionth time. Just a great CD! Go to Itunes and download that puppy! It's called Hello Hurricane.

Oh and there's a bike in the mix for the weekend! Yep, going to wrap-up in warm cycling clothes and take it out for a roll. Wish me luck on that. Got my second invite for a bike event for next spring already. Competitive on the bike fundraising front these days.

Life is good!

Still having CI moments 2 years later

Beautiful sunrise here in central Arkansas on the late fall morning. Most of the leaves have fallen allowing extra sun to fill the house with it's warming welcome. There's a comic strip called Hi and Lois that has been around a long time and in the strip there is a little baby named Trixie and she always has a sunbeam that she sits in and talks to it. I'm almost the same way. Sunshine in the morning or anytime is good for the soul.

It's been a good weekend so far. Spent the day in Benton at my folks home watching the Arkansas Razorbacks whip Mississippi State. Always good to have some time with Dad. He walks less and less these days. It makes me sad to see him like that. Always been an on-the-go sort of fellow. I'm not much of a fan of old age and what it does to people. But anyway, like I was saying, it was fun to spend time with him. Mom usually takes advantage of my being their to get out of the house for a few hours and shop. I laughed when she pulled up into the carport yesterday because she hit up Walmart big. The whole inside of the truck was full as well as some heavier things in the back. Actually I sort of expected it since I knew she would be loading up to feed the whole herd as we gather for Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. I raked and burned a massive amount of leaves yesterday and even after driving the 30 minute drive home I still could smell the burn. Going to the "country", watching football, and burning leaves, i can only smile!

It's cool after 2 years (11.27.07) of having a Cochlear Implant (www.advancedbionics.com) I still have what recipients call CI Moments. Friday night I as sitting in the home office also called the Man Den (my family is laughing) and I kept hearing a squeaking noise. It was making me crazy. I walked around and it was as if I was playing "You're getting warmer, you're getting colder". I finally found the squeak, a ceiling fan at the other end of the house. Amazing!

CI Moment #2 happening yesterday. While at my parents I could have swore I was hearing ducks. I looked up at the skies but none were flying over and if you're not from Arkansas, we have a massive amount of ducks that come through this time of the year. Duck season started yesterday. Famous people come to AR to hunt. It's that good. I looked and looked but never saw them. I went back to raking and maybe a half hour later there was the sound again. It was really making me crazy because I knew I was hearing ducks! I just stopped and stood still and starting slowly doing a 360. I spotted it! It was a neighbor of my parents, actually several guys standing my their trucks playing with their duck calls. Ok let me set this up better for you. I am on top of a hill probably 2 football fields away and I'm hearing duck calls. There are cars and trucks going down the highway, their is a leaf blower going the next house over which is about a football field away, not to mention I was raking and I still can pick out a duck call!! Thank you Advanced! I know that was like an infomercial wasn't it? HA! But I have to give a shout out to those guys who make a product that makes my hearing beyond real again ... 2 years later!

Life is good!

Advanced Bionics -- Part 2

So like I was saying I got down stairs and loaded a plate full of great food and found an open spot at a table. The first folks I met were Brain, Susan and their very cute daughter Lilly and Granddad Eric. Super nice folks from Nebraska. Lilly has bilateral implants and I didn't even notice them. I kept wondering who in the family had the CI. As the weekend rolled on it was clear that Lilly would steal the show at every meal. What a beautiful and happy little girl she.

During desert I moved over to another table with Edie, our AB rep, Matt, James, and Patty, another AB guru and Ellyn who has a child with a CI. I could tell it was going to be a fun weekend. A little later some guy in a suit walks in. I just assumed he was another CI guy and lived nearby. Come to find out it was Jerry who is over Marketing. I think he does a lot of other duties as well but marketing seems to be the big one. He ended up on our table and is a generally nice guy.

As the first dinner begins to wind down we began leaving and I walk out to the front of the hotel and the AB building across the street is really lit up in nice lighting. I find Matt and let him know I was going to shoot, he joins me. We get some nice shots.

Day 2:
Up way way too early. I'm still on central time zone but living in pacific. I wake around 6 every morning but this was 4am! I can't go back to sleep so I'm up watching TV and dozing off and on. Lucky for me breakfast opens at 6:30. Huge omelets and fruit! The rest of the day was spent touring the AB plant which was real nice and working with different discussion groups. I made sure I told several employees thanks for what they do.

We head over to Sicily for dinner and I sat with Tine, Jill (AB), Kim and Pam and someone else who's name I can not remember. The food was good. We had a choice after dinner to shop for a couple of hours or head back to the hotel. After the full day and the 4am wake up I was ready to call it and crash on the sofa and zone out.

Day 3:
Aww crud, up again too early. A full packed Saturday with discussion groups and more new friendships. The day ended great and the last dinner was really good. Everyone began saying good bys due to the fact that some were leaving that night and some were leaving super early the next morning. I opted to fly out at 11:35 Sunday morning. For a hearing impaired gut that was nice because if I would have had to be up at 5:30 I'm sure I would have done it but I would not have slept well at all having the thought of over sleeping going on.

Departure day:
Once again another great breakfast then over to the business center to print out my boarding passes to head home. The folks flying US Airways were unable to print theirs. Bummer. 9:25 rolls around and I met Kim and Matt in the lobby for the ride to the airport. Ah yes, the black Mercedes again! I love it. I picked up Dan Brown's "Lost Code" book for the flight home. Great book if you like the others he has written. The trip home was uneventful except that there was some westler on the plane a few rolls in front. The guy was huge and had a bleached mohawk.

So there you have it... that was sort of like looking at Uncle Bobs slides from his middle east trip huh? HA!

In all seriousness, I want to thank Advanced Bionics for all they did and especially Linda out there for setting it all up for us. I made some friendships that will last a lifetime and I hope that someday I can return for a reunion.

Life is good!

Advanced Bionics

Advanced Bionics new building at night

Thursday, 11:25a (LIT) Little Rock National Airport.
Sitting happy in my single row seat on American ready to fly up into the crystal clear blue sky on my way to Burbank with a DFW stop and plane change. Little bit of a tension due to short time frame to change at DFW. Take off was beautiful and we fly and bank right over the top of my house 8 miles away. Love it! For the next hour I think of life as a cochlear implant user and enjoy the beauty of the Arkansas into Texas landscape. As we descend toward DFW I'm surprised to see so many neighborhoods that were started and never finished. They look like an Arkansas neighborhood after a tornado clean. Nothing but slaps of concrete.

12:35 -- Good afternoon ladies and gentleman and welcome to Dallas-Fort Worth. Matt and I easily find the Skylink and roar over to the terminal to grab the next flight to Burbank. Made it so easy over there and with minutes to spare we grab mini pizzas and wolf them down just as they began calling groups to board. My row this time was 14D. Yes, another aisle seat. There were three seats on this row and the middle was empty. The girl sitting closest to the window and myself were happy to have an open between us. Makes for a nice flight. She was on her way home to celebrate her mom's birthday in Pasadena. She grew up around he Tournament of Roses Parade. I told her my wife and I have that on our bucket list.

A couple hours into the flight I notice outside everything is miles of brown... it's a desert. Soon we fly upon a mountains and I'm in awe of the way they look. Different from tree covered Arkansas mountains. I can't stopped looking out the window. Beautiful yet very different.

As we descend to Burbank I get a buzz in y pocket, yep, I thought I had turned off the phone but didn't. I sneak a look and it says, "Hello! This is Tim. I'm your driver. I am in a black Mercedes at the curb. There is an Advanced Bionics sign in the front window." I burst out laughing! HELLLLOOOO Burbank! I think I'm gonna love you!

We grab our bags and head out front to find a beautiful brand new Mercedes awaiting our arrival. I am seriously impressed with the generosity of Advanced Bionics already. Tim loads our bags and we meet Kim for the first time. She also has a CI (cochlear implant). Sure nice lady. As we leave the parking lot I start quizzing Tim about Burbank and all the touristy stuff you would expect. Super nice guy.

We arrive at the Embassy Suites was is right across the street from the brand new Advanced Bionics building. Beautiful room! We have a short time to relax before dinner that evening. I drop to the sofa and close my burning eyes. Next thing I know I wake up 30 minutes later! It's time for dinner.

Head down and meet up with the folks who will over the next few days will become great friends with a common bond and calling. Advanced Bionics cochlear implants.

Check back for more story... good stuff ahead!

Life is good!

Starting it back uo!

Several folks have asked me to start the blog back up so here is a little jump start... I'm getting real glasses. I guess it comes with the territory of turning 50 several months ago. In fact this is going to be a short start because I had my eye dilated a few hours ago and they are still a little tripping out. Plus I was asked if my eyes had been itching. I said no and doc said, you have allergies in your eyes. So gee whiz!

So anyway as soon as this settles down I'll post some good funny stuff.

Always remember... life is good!

Just our daily lives

It's sort of funny that I just checked a bunch of CI blogs and not much updating. Maybe because it's summer, maybe the writer went to other places to blog, maybe they just got on with their daily lives and the CI is just like brushing your teeth. Something you do and just don't realize it's importance anymore. In others words, you've gotten used to it now. I'm that way too. By habit I always plug up the charger and charge my batteries for the next day, I know if I have it on or not because even though folks who are hard of hearing enjoy some moments of quite, we need our noise. Like I said, it's just a part of our daily lives... a very very important part.

I know i's a pictureless short blog but I'm determined to write.

Life is good... even during daily lives...

So then Fall begins

Ah Labor Day weekend is upon us.

For me it's a love / hate deal. First the hate... let's just get it out of the way right now... I hate that the days get shorter. The cold is fine but not the short days. That's it really... that's all I hate about fall/winter but it's sort of a big hate.

Now the love... come on, who doesn't love Fall? The beauty of the leaves changing and the smells that go with it. Having to put on a pair of socks and a long sleeved t-shirt every now and then. Adding a layer for early morning bike rides. The smell of cinnamon and burning wood. A leaf or two laying on the patio chairs. The mums, pumpkins and hay bails . My wife and her endless assortment of sweaters. So then Fall begins!

We hit up the last home game of the Travs (baseball) last night. Huge crowd! It was one of those great times to me where I had my wife at my side and could see and hear my kids (one is adult and the other is college) and friends laughing and talking. I was completely happy in fact 10 hours later and I'm still glowing from it. It was a secure feeling, a peaceful feeling... a happy feeling. So then Fall begins!

This morning as I write the house is quite. Family still in comatose slumber. Trust me on this one, I could slam a door and they would just sigh and roll over. Ha! Sadie is at my feet snoozing away. The sky is cloudy and mellow. So then Fall begins!

There's that feeling that I need to hurry and pack and jump in the car and get going but the drive is only an hour or so away, no rush really needed. Today is the first of many weekend getaways that we'll make. Since we will be going toward Benton we'll stop for a little while and help Mom get Dad up and situated for the day. This will be the first weekend that I will not be spending the whole Saturday there. We are even lucky enough to have the scenic route to Hot Springs straight out of my parents driveway. We'll be taking the slow down "enjoying life route" today! We'll be staying at a new hotel that overlooks the lake, kicking our shoes off and enjoying life as empty nesters. So then Fall begins!

Life is good.... as Fall begins!

Hurry up already!

Nothing is crazier than the days leading up to a 3 day holiday! I bet Friday afternoon is going to drag at a snails pace and then traffic will be bad.

Planning to hit up the Travelers game Friday night then head over to Hot Springs on Saturday. Don't even think about breaking into the house because there will be a house sitter, a dog who does not unwelcomed visitors and an alarm system. We always have these three when we leave town.

I'm really looking forward to just chilling out with Terri and hitting up a good place to eat. I suspect I will be drug through a few stores with old stuff cleverly described as "Antiques". It's old dusty stuff that you can't lean on or it breaks.

Em came by tonight! School is going great and she has test. It's really funny how she has to keep her own place picked up. I told her life is much better in a clean home and now she gets it.

My sister was in a car wreck yesterday. Someone rear ended her and she got out of the car and said her neck hurt a bit. Next thing we know the hospital is saying a broke neck!!?? Found out later that it was an old injury and she was released to go home. Any of y'all ever walk around for years with a broke neck and not know it? No damage just painful.

The weather has been like October! Seriously cool in the mornings.

Oh yeah, I did go ride last Sunday. It was wonderful! Plan to do it again real soon!

All for now... life is good!

I'll sleep but they won't

I'll sleep but they won't. It's Ironman KY eve. Chris put that he was going to bed this evening at 7:30 because the day starts at 2am. I can only imagine the excited going through their veins as they try and slumber.

Today was Hotter-n-Hell 100 in Wichita Falls Texas. Haven't heard much out of the folks but haven't search it on Twitter yet either. It's a huge bike ride and by the end the wind is head wind and the temps are usually 100 or over. People fall over, throw their bikes down and walk or just plain croak in the middle of the road. It lots of fun.

Well the bike is coming back to life tomorrow. I know, I can't believe it either. I'm looking forward to hitting the river trail to see how the legs are. Hoping to pick up an after work ride maybe a night or two. Being off the saddle has certainly changed my mid-section. I need intervention! HA!

Tomorrow is my last service as graphics guy. When I loaded the service the other night it was one of those events like the last of a TV series. I looked at the computers smiled then turned off the lights. It has been a fun ministry and I'll miss it but I'm looking forward to whats ahead such as traveling with Terri as well as caring for my Dad more. Starting next weekend (Labor Day) the travel begins... let's just say I'm giddy!

Have you seen the weather forecast? Yay! Beautiful cool week ahead.

Life is good!

I just belong here...

We all have our moments. Moments of happiness, sadness and everything in between. I thought I wanted a new blog and start all over with everything when I turned 50 but it's not really so. Same house, same car, same bike... oh yeah, I forgot, I haven't rode the bike since huh... Tour de Rock. Serious, it has cobwebs on it out in the garage. I very sad thought but it has done me good to put it up for a little while and take care of other things in life. I have been spending every Saturday at my parents. It's an all day event of cleaning the yard or painting. It's fun hard work and I get to spend time with my folks.

One of the things that had really fired me up was when my mom told me she paid $150 dollars for a guy to clean her yard. That was one wrong dude for that! I went and bought a basic push mower at Wal-Mart several weeks ago because they needed to move it out of the way for Christmas goods. I mean goodness, it's after the 4th of July, get them plastic snowman on the shelves! Anyway I was bound and determined to keep the rip off from coming to my folks again. I even mowed the ditch last week and one of my sisters said the house was starting to look like it used to when Dad could keep it up. I usually have dad in his wheelchair out in the carport with a fan going so he can enjoy the outside. Sure beats sitting in front of the TV all day.

Ok, I know you want to know what's up with me and the bike. I'm planning to jump back on here in a few weeks but nothing like I used to do. I have way to many other projects right now. I have made some of the best friends ever and have lost touch with most after I stopped riding. I see them now and then on Facebook or spot an email. The group I once rode faithfully with evolved into a racing group. Some got into the Tri (Ironman) sort of craziness. All I can say is... bless there hearts! HA! Several are about to do their Ironman in KY and I'm so proud of them. Swim 2 miles, bike a 100 miles then run 26.2 miles all one the same day without stopping. Man oh man oh man!

Emmy has moved to Conway and goes to UCA so Terri and I are now empty nesters. Sometimes happy, sometimes a bit too quite, sometimes weird when there's not several Sonic cups sitting on the counter. Em is doing great and loving school and working for a little daycare in the afternoons. We're proud of her.

Speaking of empty nesting, Terri and I are going to travel a lot now! We're both very excited. We had been wanting to do this for a long time but I was handling all the graphics for every Sunday morning service and some Sunday evenings and even some Wednesday evenings as well. It was a volunteer job and I've been on deck for 2 years. I decided to pull back and let someone else take the ropes so I could spend time doing other things. Seriously it can take hours to put together a service. You want to have the right photos and backgrounds to enhance the worship service. That old clip art stuff just doesn't cut it these days. I have loved it! Really I have! This Sunday is my last. Sort of a sad/happy kind of deal. I still will do the preachers title and template stuff but I can work on those way ahead of time. I never sleep well on Saturday nights worrying about some of the dumbest little things that could go wrong but never do. I can't wait to sleep well on Saturday nights.

Some friends from the office were talking about the HBO show called True Blood. It's a vampire series and I thought it was be fun to watch so we stopped by Blockbuster and picked it up. Terri was gone to the mall and I put the DVD in and made it maybe through 15 minutes. It was way to much for me. I'm either getting old or something because I was embarrassed watching what I was watching. For me personally, it just was not something I felt I needed to be watching.

Well it's nice to be back here it the "home" blog. Come on back because I promise I'll be updating it a lot more and sure I'll have photos too. Probably a lot more since there is travel involved.

As I always say... Life is good!

I have a new blog... follow me there!

Hey friend! I have a new blog...

http://northdirection.blogspot.com/

You'll love the ride... top down and going very fast towards the north,

Life is good!
Geo.

Friday 05 15 09

Nice day! We had sun. Most of us forgot what it was and called 911 to report the mothership was coming over the hill.

My IPhone had freaked out on me and froze up. I finally got it back to life by blowing on it and pushing the little button then blowing some more. The application is call I-CPR. That's just a load of bull crap I'm making it up! But there are so many apps for IPhone that someone would have believed me.

I rode this afternoon after work and it was one bad ride. Not bad like good=bad but bad as in bad=bad. I figured it may be because I haven't been drinking a lot of water like I was before the 24 hour ride. Also I noticed that my toes were trying to go numb again. That was the reason I took time off since the big ride is to let them come back to life.

I did ride over to the Little Rock side and saw where Paws on the Pavement run was going to be. I will be riding Cycle for Sight for UAMS medical center tomorrow if not raining but I plan to take extra cash and roll over to the doggy bakery tent and get the pup some uppity treats. There are a lot of tents set up so it should be fun.

The Greek food fest is also going on. Twits are saying the lines are long. I need some Baklava.

Riverfest is in a week or so. Huge music line up coming this year. Hope Terri and I can go wonder around and hear Heart or 3 Doors Down or the B52's. The signs are up already announcing the closure of the river trail section by the downtown for Riverfest.

I got a treat today! I scored signed gift photo from Altus Pocket. Google them. Great band! Thanks guys! I plan to have you cranking in the Ipod during my ride tomorrow.

Don't know who all knows but HUGE congrats to one of my friends who told me she was expecting! I'm giddy! She and her husband will be great parents.

Had Arkansas Hands and Voices board meeting last night. WOW! Got a lot rolling and lots of great stuff coming up. I really loved how we were able to say yes really quick to giving out some scholarships. I love the board. Very good group of folks... and yes, my communications sub-groups rules! HA!

Well I'm going to go read some more of a book I started. Really good! It's called Halfway to Heaven. It's a book about a middle aged guy climbing the 14er's. That's the mountains over 14K feet in CO. It's really funny and down to earth.

Back to life

I sort of took a break from everything for a moment. It's been nice.

Since the ride I've been waiting on my middle toes to regain feeling. My right hand was that way right after the ride but it regained feeling within a couple of days. I still have a numb toe. I suspect it will bounce back soon enough.

Everyone wants to know how much was raised. Honestly, I don't know yet. There are still some checks coming in. Did I hit the $10K mark. I doubt it but still happy with whatever did come in. It's just a little more to help the kids along.

The Joe Martin Stage races were last weekend in Fayetteville, AR and I had a great time. there were storms Friday morning so I decided I wasn't going because the Weather Channel said it was a slow moving storm. It wasn't. It blew right through. I had actually gone to run errands and came home and saw the storm was already passed so I threw clothes in a bag and took off. I got up there just as the afternoon road race was abut to start. My timing and parking could not have been better. I got out of the car and straight ahead was Floyd Landis sitting in a chair. I could not believe I was standing there with my camera in front of the Tour de France champ! I didn't except this so I brought nothing for him to sign. I took a couple of shots then walked up and introduced myself and told him thanks for coming to Arkansas and how did he like it so far. He said we was really enjoying it. Very down to earth normal acting guy. Thanks Floyd, you're the man!

I kept looking for Bahati in the crowd but never spotted him. Finally saw him in the team car in jeans. Not a good sign. I kept my distance even though I really wanted to meet him in person. I've been following his career since they were here 2 years ago. He is a national champ. He drove from LA (26 hours) and had tired legs for the time trail and missed the cut by 3 seconds. He is really ticked about it. He could have done that so easy but was saving his legs for the road race. It was a costly mistake. I just gave him his space.

Sunday was spent at my sisters house for Mothers Day... watching it rain.

Oh did you know it has been raining? Yep, so far everyday in May except 2. My ride day and my daughters birthday. If I would have planned the 24 hour ride for 1 week later it would have been cancelled because the trail was flooded. It's finally gone down and there is a UAMS Cycle for Sight ride there this weekend. Yes, I'm riding it.

Well is life good!

Flood of thoughts

Today I took the day off to take my dad to the doctor. Little did I know the air inside the room would be sucked out. The heart doc is the best in town and very good bedside manners. Dad's legs have been a bit numb and his feet are red/blueish some times. The doc put his hands on his legs and slowly rubbed down to his toes. He said dad has about 5-10% blood flow in his feet and that his feet are room temperature. Not good at all. Used words like amputation and gang-green(sp?). He also said he wants to try some other things first so we are sent to the Little Rock office for a die test from chest to feet. When the doc was talking to him I tried to focus on the doc but my eyes wondered to look over at dad. He had fear in his eyes like I've never seen before. It was a crazy look. A very sad look. It's going to be a long summer I think.

As I drove home I wanted to see how bad the river trail was flooded. I can't believe this is one week after my ride!! I'll let the photos do the talking.

I just thought this was funny. A drinking fountain in the middle of the water.

If your dog is between knee deep and chest high then they play here.

This is my new friend Mack. He almost got stepped on. I almost poopied in my pants.

Not sure if you can see this but this guy was bow fishing. There were huge fish swimming in fron the main river. When the water goes down they will be trapped and die. It was stick to high heavens when that happens.

North Little Rock side of Big Dam Bridge

Happiness is a choice

Happiness is a choice. That was the first thought I had as I woke this rainy Saturday morning. That was a little odd for me. Happiness is a choice? Where did that come from? As I sit here tapping away I realized it has come from 50 years of life. Very simple.

I turned 50 yesterday and told myself I would roll into the 2 half of my life with a smile and that I did. Yes, I rode a little bicycle ride but I did something that I never really did before and I think it carrying me through. I smiled. I smiled a lot. It wasn't a big smile but just a grin more or less because I was happy and I chose this happiness. I was surrounded by family and friends and I was trying to make a little difference in the world.

I then celebrated with a room full of family and friends last night. What a day… what a day!!!

I know I know, you want the bike ride write up. So here you go...

I slept good the night before, well until about 4am. I woke and was ready to jump up and hit it. I stayed in bed until almost 5.

As we enter into a epic event in our lives we seem to forget things. I forgot the most import things until the very last second you know the normal day-to-day things that you must do. No, I did brush my teeth. I got to the car and was actually backing out and something was missing. My cochlear implant!!! Terri was laughing at me. I had the hearing aid on but wanted to wait until the last moment to put the CI on so I would get the longest run from the battery. It was a good plan and it worked.

We got to the hospital and I got to meet Jennifer Thorpe. I call her a CI queen. She is a great CI spokesperson. I always thought she would be a fun person to know in "real" life not just cyber. I was not wrong. She is a great person to know. Very sweet and her and Terri seemed to have become friends as well. I also met her brother David. He came to ride and man did he. Super strong rider who seemed to never tire. Jennifer's son was also out there and it was great because you could tell they are a tight family. I loved this.

I also met a new ride named Rob. This guy had lost 50 lbs and was in great shape. He did some super pulls during the morning. Once I looked down and we were cranking a 20mph line. We got to the bridge and I said to myself, "This is crazy! I have to slow way down or I'll blow this afternoon." I let them go ahead.

Just as the ride was about to start a car pulled up and Van got ready. Van s one of those very smart and practical riders that is always good to have in the mix.
As we got to the bridge the first time I also met up with Matt Covington. Matt is one of those folks I out high on the list. He has to use a walker sometimes but that doesn’t stop him for what he likes to do which is ride. He is also considering an implant and that’s how our paths crossed. He has this cool like trike-bike and the guy can roll.

There was wind but wind is wind…

This is the moment of the ride that I hooked up with another Rob. I really respect this guy. He came out to ride the River to River ride a couple of years ago and is a Cycle Zydeco rider. Very smart rider. We talked for a few and it was sort of weird. It was almost as if I was talking to an older brother. We rode and rode and rode. He pulled and pulled and pulled. We locked in on 15mph which is the speed I had hoped to roll. He finally had to go home and he said the words that stuck with me the rest of the ride. "Don't let them pull you too fast." I was like those words were branded into my mind for the rest of the ride.

When I had a rider pulling to fast I was simply slow down. I was crazy at first because I love the 18mph pace but I had to go the time distance and not the length distance. It's a different kind of animal. Boy is it a different animal.
Terri, Emmy and a few others were stationed at one of the pavilions that would be used for the family picnic later and they kept us in food and drinks. Terri was awesome because she knew the perfect things to say to me every time I rolled in. She had seen me go down on the R2R ride and she knew how I had it in my heart that no matter what happened this time I was not going to have a “DNF” (Did not finish) mark beside my name.

I had taken my watch off and that was another excellent idea for riding a 24 hour. I had no idea what time it was for a lot of the ride. We were rolling along and here comes Mike Moore. He had said something about getting out there around 1. Was it 1pm already? It felt like about 10:30. I was giddy. Serious it’s like 5pm on Friday afternoon sort of giddy. Again I chose happiness…
Mike was an event super puller who pulled a lot until he rolled past a century mark (105 miles was the last length I heard him say and he was still going). He has a heart of gold.

Dan Herrington and Mike’s son Collin also jumped on the train that afternoon. I got to know Collin a bit more when we took a break during the family Picnic time. He’s a good guy. And Dan, Dan is one of those guys who is always smiling and looks for the good in everything. He has chosen happiness.

We got another surprise while we were riding that early afternoon. Yale! Yale is one of my favorite folks in the world. I don’t say that lightly. He was a great rider and super nice guy. He has had a rough year and we haven’t seen him much so when I spotted him I almost wanted to unclip and bear hug the boy right there in the middle of the ride.

There was a big picnic and we took families up the trail and over the bridge. I really enjoyed that. The picnic was a big success and thanks to everyone who came out and for all the volunteers who took time out of there busy lives to put it all together.

The sun was beginning to set so I knew it must be getting close to 8pm. That’s when Lance jumped on the ride. Lance was another in the super pull category. He lives next door to Matt and Mandy. He rode until around midnight I think. He is really nice guy with a mini cooper that he actually got his bike in.

Jump back a couple of hours and Chris Irons, David Wonn (an Ironman and the ultimate go-to guy for all things Tri!) and Chris Lyle appear on the bridge. It was great to see them! I knew those three would keep us going and they did. David had this super beam light that was a life saver. It was like having a Coleman lantern at a campsite. He does a lot of training in early morning hours (I think) so he had the right equipment for nights. Thanks David. Chris’ light was the same way. Mine was OK but I kept turning it off in case I needed it later. I did a couple of times.
So we are riding along and I see a rider coming toward us on the road smoking fast. I’m thinking man, that guy is rolling. His helmet light is coming to us abut at the speed of light. Oh man it’s Mooney!!! Yes! Robert Mooney is the State Champion rider. This guy would probably ride right up to Armstrong say “Hey bud!” then drop him. Mooney is a complete riot. He has chosen happiness. Always smiling and cutting up. He and Bethany are the sweetest couple. There is a photo that was made of them last fall I think and it’s one of my favorite. The photographer (oh crap I can’t remember if it was Bob or Jonny who took it) really captured the moment.
Any way so now I have, Dwonn, Chris, Chris, and Mooney. Talk about laughing. Sometimes I could hear them talking but I’ll be honest, most of the ride was a bit of a roar that grounded out the voices. Anyway, some of the things that were talking about were a riot!

Chris Lyle finally has to leave. Thanks for the pulls man! I appreciate you!
It’s now about 3am and we are doing a loop then stopping for about 10 minutes. I realized at that time I had made it to the final quarter. Each quarter would hold something special.

Sidebar:
Only a few folks had known that I had put this into quarters. The first was my warm up quarter. I knew I was good for that one. The second 6 hour quarter was going to be my make it or break it quarter. I knew this quarter would be my hardest. 9 hours of riding is about when I start to break down. Did it happen? Yes. Did anyone know? Terri may have. I stopped to eat a PB&J sandwich and the first bit almost made me barf. I was actually looking for a hiding place in case I did because we are at the family picnic and the last thing you want to see is someone puke just before the hot dogs are served. HA! It was the sweetness that didn’t take too well. I remember a Sunday or two ago we had lunch we friends and Doug Kilgore has rode a 24 hour ride on the CAC track to raise money for the school. He was talking about the sweet stuff and how I wouldn’t like it through the whole ride. No kidding! I finally settled back down and was good once I was riding again.
Rebecca Irons shows up and swaps or with her husband Chris. So now I have Dwonn, Mooney, Rebecca. I’ve never heard so much laughing … and uh, singing going on. They were singing on the way up the bridge (which is a mini mountain sometimes) and since the wind wasn’t blowing I could hear them and got so tickled.
DWonn has to ride back to his house a “do a little work”. Then we got back to the hotel and Mooney had to leave. He was so funny. He looked at his watch and said, “I have to get up in thirty minutes and go to work.” It was so matter of fact like something he does all the time. He said before he left, “Geo do you realize you only have two more laps?” My mind was blowing.

I have my first caffeine. About half a can of Dr Pepper. Now this is the first caffeine other than a little bit of chocolate in 3 weeks. That was the coach’s orders. Holy smoke Batman!!!! That rocked my system. I was wide awake and charged. It also made me wonder about me drinking as much caffeine as I used to. Maybe it’s not such a great thing after all. I learned that I could get steamers with favor shots at coffee places that satisfied me just fine. They are a lot cheaper too!

Just about that time Jo shows up! Now if you put Jo and Rebecca on the same ride you are going to be laughing and having a good time. Jo is one of my all time favorite people to be around. She’s just one of those down to earth folks who is easy to be around. Actually most of the people I enjoy the most fall into that category.

I start talking sunrise. It’s what I am longing for. Just let me see the sky starting to lighten. Sunrise is my favorite time of the day. I love to be in our kitchen and watch it getting daylight. There is just a Noah’s Ark sort of hope to each new day. It’s a new day, clean slate; it’s yours to make it what you want.
We make it back to the hotel for the next to the last time. Keith Moore and Kim Cossey jumped in we rolled along. I told Rebecca this lap was sort of like the end of the Tour de France. The work is over and the last part is sort of just a let it soak in and enjoy the moment. We did! We stopped on top of the bridge and looked around.

We were riding back towards the bridge again after getting to the turnaround and up roll Mariann! I’m so excited. Mariann is an Ironman several times over. She is gold. Wife, mom, friend to everyone, always smiles, writes very inspirational things on her blog and she has time to train for Ironman. Yep, she has it all together. I was so excited to get to ride with her.

Well it’s time… time to roll to the hospital and close the 24 hours. The crowd was out there and we rolled it on in. The waved and clapped for us then sang happy birthday. It was a moment that will be with me to my last days.

There are so many people who made this event happen and inspired me and cheered me on. The biggest of these is Terri. She pushed me out the door on training days. Pulled me up when I was down. Knew what to say and what not to say. I still can’t believe that more than have of my life has been spent with her. She my fiends is far better than gold.

And Emmy, thank you so much for cutting up and making me laugh. You are the most beautiful daughter in the world.

Tyler, oh man, talk about cutting up. I know you fell out of the basket the stork was carrying but I’m so glad you landed in our house!! You are and amazing son who I am so proud of.

Last but not least by any means… my friends. There are too many to name them all. As cheesy as this sounds, I love you guys! Ok, honestly not cheesy… completely sincere. I really do love you all.

Speaking of cheese… I smell something really good cooking… more later today and photos.

Life is good… choose happiness!

Ride day!!

Breakfast #2 done. Checking over all the equipment one more time. Sleeping bag packed... oh wait, I don't get to use one of those! HA! Got Rascal Flats "All night long" from the movie Cars stuck in my head!

Last post on here for the day... follow the adventure on our other blog:
www.gears4ears.wordpress.com

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Twas the night before...

Twas the night before the ride...

The day was crazy! Nice start with "I still have too much to do" finish.

Just chilling and about to watch American Idol.

More later!