According to Katherine: Day 51

I savored two helpings of scrambled eggs and hash browns before we left for the 48-mile ride to Crawfordville. The fog was very dense; the humidity was 93 per cent. The morning temperature was 65 degrees. Later in the day the temperature climbed to 89 degrees.

Marge cycled to the first SAG stop and we switched roles. While I was finishing my ride into Crawfordville she picked up tuna fish wraps from Subway. Robbie Sharpe, the indefatigable WOCN from Tallahassee, brought Harriett Loehme, a physical therapy expert in wound care, and they hosted a meet and greet at the Inn.

Sharon Aronovitch, Harriett Loehne, Farrah Hamilton, and Lisa Hamilton, Robbie Sharpe and me at the Meet and Greet at the Inn at Wildwood. 

My long time friend and colleague Sharon Aronovitch came along with local WOC nurses, Farrah Hamilton and Lisa Hamilton. We had a marvelous visit. Robbie presented me with two generous donations. One was her own; the other was given by Louise Bruner. That will help us reach our goal. Before dinner our two guides served up Margaritas and toasted our great group of 16 cyclists and the riding we have done. Always love the encouragement.

We had sausage (ours were soy) and beans over polenta and salad for dinner. I was not even tempted to taste the Dutch oven Dump cake with whipped cream. I'm sure I was asleep by 8:30, excited about going to the Crawfordville United Methodist Church to worship on Easter Sunday.

2857 miles behind us. 243 to pedal. 5 days to go.

Dr. Jeter Day 51 on Polyvore.com

According to Katherine: Day 48 Recap

It was 74 degrees with very high humidity and a little fog when we started out for Crestview. I had choked down one hard boiled egg and some oatmeal before we left.  I made a PB&J and packed some nuts for the 68-mile ride.

It was so much fun shifting gears that work and I am so grateful to Dave Naderman of Trek Bicycles of Raleigh, NC for helping someone he's never met and stepping in to deal with a bike he didn't sell. Eric of Bikes Plus in Pensacola, FL did the fixing and I was over the moon knowing that the last nine days would be smooth riding.

We enjoyed some nice rolling terrain, which I didn't realize Florida had. We were really good about hydrating, swigging on our energy drink, and eating on this hot, humid day with temperatures in the high 80s. Floridians tell us this isn't hot!

Just one of the beautiful scenes during our ride to Crestview. We were still so close to the ocean.


As we rode through Crestview a Sonic called our name. We had to have a Mocha Java Chiller to celebrate gears that shifted properly and 68 miles well done.

I was amazed and delighted to see ski friends Jack and Sharon Godwin from Niceville, FL waiting to welcome us in front of the Hampton Inn. We had a fun brief visit. We needed to get laundry done and shower before dinner. They promised to return later.

Jack and Sharon Godwin drove from Niceville, FL to celebrate our amazing adventure. Such a compliment.

Dinner was a fabulous variation of Shepherd's Pie with vegetables and sweet potatoes, salad, and fruit. After the dinner dishes were done, I had another visit with the Godwins and welcomed sleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

2,661 miles behind us. 439 miles to pedal. 8 days to go.

Dr. Jeter Day 48 on Polyvore.com

According to Katherine: Day 47 Recap

After a lovely rest, it was back on the bike again. Linda cooked us a full breakfast in the condo. I had scrambled eggs and oatmeal. I was to drive the SAG Wagon the first half of our 60-mile day to Pensacola. I left the condo at 7:15 to be first in line for the 8:00 ferry.

American flag and the Alabama state flag waving as we prepared to leave for Florida.

Patiently waiting for the ferry!


The temperature was 74 degrees and the humidity was 83 percent. The ferry ride across the mouth of the Mobile Bay was 45 minutes. The ticket taker gave us a break and charged $4.50 for bikers instead of $5.00 for pedestrians!

We crossed over the intercoastal highway.

 We passed fairly close to a couple of natural gas rigs. Pelicans were waiting to welcome us on the other side. I stopped for the cyclists at about 18 miles and then again at the "Welcome to Florida" sign. I knew we'd all want a picture of that momentous occasion. Marge and I switched there and I rode on to Pensacola.

This was an exciting and emotional moment for all of the riders.

I stopped at Bikes Plus where Eric was waiting to try his hand at getting all my gears shifting. I left the bike with him and Marge and I joined several other cyclists at a fun restaurant on the water. We each had crawfish etouffee and thought it was delicious. I was glad to leave that PB&J in the bag for tomorrow!

When we got to the motel we were surprised and delighted to see that Carol Breamer, a WOC nurse and Sean McMillen from Hollister, Inc. had welcome signs and a tub of iced cold drinks. They came back after dinner and brought delicious Whoopee Pies and coffee from Panera Bread. We were all thrilled.


A refreshing welcome when we arrived in Pensacola!

Like all versatile WOC nurses, Joan pitched in to dry the dishes. We had quite a party with members of the UOAA chapter, WOC nurses, the KCI rep, Amanda Brignac from Convatec. We even had Brittany, who hopes to get a scholarship to attend Emory. The UOAA Chapter of Pensacola honored its WOC nurses with a $225.00 contribution to the Scholarship Fund.


Amanda Brignac representing Convatec, one of our corporate sponsors.



Carol Breamer, a Pensacola WOC nurse, and Sean McMillen from Hollister, Inc. sure do know how to host a celebration!

It was a marvelous day, and my bike was pronounced fixed and delivered back to me at the motel by our guide, Carol.  Dear friends of mine, Bernie and Anita Wall from Brewton, AL, drove in to welcome me shortly after we got to the motel. Our friendship goes all the way back to West Point in the 70s.

My dear friends, Bernie and Anita Wall from Brewton, AL drove in to welcome me shortly after we got to the motel.

2,592 miles behind us. 508 miles to pedal. 9 days to go.

Dr. Jeter Day 47 on Polyvore.com

According to Katherine: Day 46 Recap

It was a picture perfect rest day! We woke up at 6:15 and had coffee in bed until 8:00. Marge walked on the beach while I showered and dressed.

Four of us walked about a mile down the island to a restaurant at the golf club for breakfast. I had an omelet and grits. They were Alabama good!

We walked back and cleaned our bikes. I almost enjoyed it, but I used more rubber gloves than most nurses use doing a sterile dressing change! I spent some time on the bed writing cards and then put on my helmet and shoes and cycled to the post office to mail them. Does everyone know on April 18 the day the post card rate went up 1 cent?

Wading in the Gulf of Mexico. We started out in the Pacific Ocean. We've ridden along the Rio Grande, taken a ferry across the Mississippi, cycled to the Gulf of Mexico, and will soon be putting our feet and the front wheel of our bikes in the Atlantic Ocean. I can scarcely take in the wonder of it all.

When I returned, we visited for awhile with some of the other cyclists and then strolled down the road at 5:00 for a salad and a cup of really good gumbo. When we got back, some of our friends were gathered in the condo. They thought ice cream from last night's birthday celebration sounded good. We each had a small bowl of some kind of tasty brickle with a cup of coffee.

The sun set on our perfect rest day in Alabama. Tomorrow we enter Florida.

We did one final load of wash, wrote some more cards, went out on the beach at 7:10 to see a breathtaking sunset, strolled on the beach, repacked our suitcases after laying out our clothes, said goodnight to the full moon from our porch, and crawled into bed, rested and rejuvenated. Tomorrow we're off to Pensacola, FL. That means we're coming ever closer to the end of this magnificent adventure.

10 days to go.

Dr. Jeter Day 46 on Polyvore.com

According to Katherine: Day 35 Recap

Coni Ellis and Janet Davis represented the South Central Region, and gave me a big send-off this morning with a poster and maracas. They added great enthusiasm to our departure!

Coni Ellis and Janet Davis shaking maracas at the send off!



Janet Davis and Coni Ellis got up before dawn to drive from the Houston area to celebrate Cycling for Scholarships with Katherine. 

But before that, Janet put the perfect dressing on Marge's toe. The toenail had come off, and she needed to protect it from further damage. The timing of our WOC nursing expertise couldn't have been more perfect!

Janet has the perfect dressing to cover and protect Marge's toe where she has just lost a toenail. She brought other helpful products we can share among the group.

It was 65 degrees and cloudy when we left at 7:45 a.m. Breakfast had been a sparse bowl of raisin bran. Marge stuffed a PB&J in my back pack and I was off. I loved shifting gears on my bike! The left shifter had been replaced by Jeremiah at Aggieland Cycles on our rest day. The road was fairly flat, but sometimes I would just shift for the joy of working the gears that were performing the way they should! I am so appreciative of Dennis at Great Escape in Spartanburg for helping get this sorted out.

It was January 1969 when I flew to Cleveland for the naming and official chartering of what we know today as the WOCN. And here I am, 42 years later, on my way to Cleveland to promote WOC nursing and to raise $200,000 for the WOCN Society Foundation. I am amazed by the synchronicity of this. Cleveland, TX you understand.

By 10:00 a.m., I was digging for the PB& J sandwich. By noon, I was looking for energy bars. I ran out of steam about 2:00 p.m., and still had at least an hour to go. I was able to get more Gatorade, cold water and another energy bar from the SAG. I drank and ate as much as I could and finished the 75 miles at 3:30 p.m. with the temperature in the high 80s. This is the first day I had dealt with real perspiration.

The imposing Grimes County Courthouse.

I dashed across the street from our motel, and had a shrimp cocktail and some of the salad the others had left on their plate. After a good shower and a little emailing it was time to eat again! We had pasta salad made with sun dried tomatoes, Caesar salad and the meat eaters had chicken piccata. Dessert was strawberries, whipped cream, angel food cake and a little chocolate sauce. I ate it all. I even had three small Dove chocolates with our after-dinner coffee! I was ravenous. 

It was a great day from beginning to end. In the future, I'll be much more careful about keeping the calories up on long rides.

1,896 miles behind us. 1,204 to pedal. 23 days to go.

Dr. Jeter Day 35 on Polyvore.com

According to Katherine: Day 34 Recap

We had our rest day in the lovely little town of Navasota, population 8,000. We slept in until 7:00 a.m. My cousin Elizabeth drove me to Walmart to buy some cards, and then to the post office to get some mail on its way. When we returned, I ate two yummy rice balls made by Elizabeth's husband, who is Japanese. That was breakfast!

iPad poised. It's important to make every minute of our "rest day" count! Marge is writing her blog while doing laundry. 

 
Leah, 10, was fascinated with how easy it was for her to pick up my lightweight bike. They went off on their educational tours, and Marge and I did our laundry and caught up on some emails.


Leah has no trouble lifting my carbon bike.

 
We walked the 1.5 miles into town for lunch at the locals' favorite, The Filling Station, and joined six of our group who had arrived earlier. I had a fried catfish and shrimp combo, iced tea and a root beer float. Shame, shame! I was glad we were walking back.

The waitresses took good care of us at The Filling Station!

 
We stopped by several of the historic homes, took pictures and read the plaques by the front doors. One was the Terrell House -- and my grandparents were Terrells! We stopped into Walmart for a few more necessities, and hurried back to the motel.

The Terrell House is for sale. Wonder if some of my ancestors were the original owners.



The beautiful old Sangster home was built in 1902.


My completely-repaired bike arrived about the same time we did. I will wait to ride it until tomorrow. I just know it will shift perfectly from now on!

After a short nap, we enjoyed our 4:00 coffee, and I ate the last two rice balls. We prepared the SAG Wagon for tomorrow's run, with ice in the cooler and plenty of snacks in the trays. We had ramen noodles in the cup for dinner. It will be good to return to Linda's healthy cuisine tomorrow!

Waiting for the laundry to dry.

 
Five of us gathered to watch American Idol. Oh, who will be sent home Thursday night? This may be only the second time I've seen television since March 4.

We're all cheering for our favorite to be the next American Idol! I love Scotty, but I think Pia will win.

 
Yes, I've heard Jack may not be getting a paycheck if our government shuts down. I can't be worrying about worldly woes and cycling at the same time. Tomorrow comes early.

24 days to go.

Dr. Jeter Day 34 on Polyvore.com

According to Katherine: Day 27 Recap

After last night's thunderstorm, it was really cool this morning. As we stepped out of the door for breakfast, we were startled by chirps of alarm from a mama swallow of some sort, who was protecting her babies in their nest just above us.

After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, I made my PB&J for lunch and set off to ride the 39-miles of hills to Vanderpool, TX. The Texas Hill Country is just that! A few miles into the ride, I realized I was not able to get down into the "granny gear" I was going to need to be in to get up the long and sometimes steep grades ahead. Fortunately, one of the guides was cycling this morning. She got me shifted into the lowest gear in the front, and then I could shift up and down in the back. 

It was 52 degrees and overcast when we started, and the temperature dropped down to 47 degrees over the next hour. I was very cold some of the time, and put arm warmers on about half way through the day. I can't imagine how I would have sustained my energy had it been sunny and hot like it has been!

A surprisingly fine respite about a mile before the town of Leakey appeared like an oasis. It was a motorcycle club with a store for memorabilia and gear, a pavilion with table and chairs, a bar and restaurant and immaculate restrooms. The tattooed, leather-togged bikers were warm and welcoming. This was a great place to pause and regroup for the long and demanding climbs ahead.

A typical handsome Texas ranch gate.

Sometimes the grades were 11%-12%. Fortunately, there was minimal traffic on State Road 337, so it was okay to wobble and weave a little on the steepest parts. There were two long winding descents. I find it scary going down at a high rate of speed. I have to use my brakes more than I should!

The Fox Fire Cabin's office.

It was a great sense of accomplishment when I pulled into the Fox Fire Cabins. I enjoyed my PB&J, along with a jug of Recoverite, as soon as I got off my bike. 

There are about eight log cabins and a big house on the Sabinal River.

They are Texas Hill Country quaint. Ours has two bedrooms with a connecting bath, a living room and kitchen. All the furniture is wonderfully old and worn, circa 1940! The beds have fairly fresh quilts and soft tattered sheets on them. We found some old coffee in the cupboard and loved having that as an afternoon pick-me-up.

Linda, our chef and guide, served pot roast, mashed potatoes, grilled carrots, and cucumber salad for dinner. There was tofu and left over quinoa for Lisa and I. Dessert was s'mores over the fire but I didn't have any.

Tomorrow, we will cycle to Kerrville with plenty of hill-climbing on the way. The temperatures are predicted to be back up in the 80s after a chilly start. I will go directly to the bike shop so they can diagnose the gearing problem, and get my bike humming again. I'll pay them to clean it while it's there so I can really rest and relax on the rest day.

Two of my favorite men, my beloved Jack and my adorable brother John, will be waiting. Jack flew in from South Carolina and John flew in from Colorado to celebrate the mid-point of the trip with me. Now just how sweet is that?

We'll take Marge to our summer cabin just 13-miles down the road. Friday is a rest day and we're having a fun party with family and friends on the Guadalupe River.

1,504 miles behind us. 1,596 miles to pedal. 31 days to go.

Dr. Jeter Day 27 on Polyvore.com

According to Katherine: Diet Shmiet, I Enjoy Eating Healthy!

(source)

A healthy diet is extremely important. No dessert for me at the end of a meal; my 5’1” figure prevents me from consuming any extra calories. In order to keep healthy before, during and after my bike tour, I'm sticking with whole grains, proteins, fruits and vegetables. As a non-meat eater, fish becomes my substitute for protein.   

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but breakfast and I don’t get along. I just don’t like it. However, eating breakfast aids too much towards my health to skip it. I tend to stick to a Morningstar non-meat sausage patty, a piece of fruit and yogurt mixed with flaxseed or granola.  Sometimes, to switch it up, a peanut butter sandwich on a Pepperidge Farm 100-calorie Deli Round satisfies me. 

Depending on how hard I was hitting the slopes while training, and how hungry that made me, I had a half or whole peanut butter sandwich for lunch, along with string cheese, nuts, raisins and one cup of sugar-free apple cider. Usually, fish, a vegetable and a salad makes up dinner. I prefer wild-caught fish and shellfish. Non-meat stew and soup serve as alternatives for dinner.

What are your favorite healthy, energizing foods? Do you alter your diet when preparing for a bicycle tour, run or other athletic event?