Resting, Recollecting, Reflecting

The glorious ride ended 15 days ago. My coach's imposed rest days have given me more time and energy to recollect and reflect. Time well spent. The resting is now over.

Yesterday, I swam laps for 40 minutes and my body loved the limbering and loosening. Today I rode with a noon riding group that does an hour long loop with some nice hills. What a different cyclist I am now than I was when I left last November! I love the increased strength and competency. Our guides told us it would be so.

And, then, to see the gorgeous cactus blooming on our bike path. I've never noticed it before. My senses have been quickened and I'm grateful for that.

The gorgeous cactus I noticed on the bike ride.

I so look forward to personally thanking our corporate sponsors and member donors in New Orleans. I'll have on bike clothes most of the time, which really simplifies packing! Please introduce yourself if we haven't met. I want to thank you for sustaining and growing our WOCN Society, and I want to know your story.

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 40

What a glorious rest day! There was a chill in the air when we awoke about 7:00 a.m. We had coffee in bed, with our usual morning devotionals.

Marge and I dressed and met Bernie and Linda at 8:30 for the lavish breakfast served in the Inn: spinach quiche, cheese blintzes, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and more. I ate a slice of the spinach quiche, and two helpings of the best grits I ever tasted!

Bernie and Linda insisted they help with our chores, so they vacuumed out the SAG Wagon and cleaned its windows with us.

Feelin' the love.  WOC nurses Bernie and Linda help us clean the SAG Wagon.

We had a tour of the Butler Greenwood Plantation, which dates back to the 1770s. It has never been sold. The eighth generation of the original family still occupies the house. The furniture and appointments are authentic. Many are elegant Empire-style pieces from the first family and then other pieces, modifications and photographs have been added by successive generations. The current heirs had to turn it into a B&B 21 years ago to help defray the expenses of upkeep. The owner, Anne Butler, is most gracious, and gave us a 40-minute tour of the home and a fascinating history lesson!

Wine parlor in the St. Francisville Inn

Beautiful original furnishings at the Butler Greenwood Plantation

Bernie and Linda took Marge and me to a delicious lunch at the Magnolia Cafe. We had spicy shrimp po-boys.

After they left, we tended to e-mail, strolled downtown for another one of those cafe au laits, took a short nap and repacked our suitcases.

Marge works on her blog in the elegant living room of the St. Francisville Inn.

We had pizza for supper in our lovely courtyard. The Innkeeper was kind enough to make us a pot of coffee for after dinner. I want to bring Jack Jeter back here! We got to bed by 9:00 to be rested for our 87-mile ride tomorrow.

The courtyard at St  Francisville Inn was a lovely venue for our pizza supper.

18 days to go!

Dr. Jeter Day 40 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 21 Recap

We slept 11 hours, and woke up around 8:00 this morning. Unheard of!

I trundled up to the restaurant, and brought coffee back for us to enjoy in bed. We ate a big breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes at 10:00 -- then did our laundry, cleaned our bikes, the SAG Wagon and its water cooler.

Drying my bike shorts on a tree in Ft. Davis.

My friend Fiona, who changed my flat yesterday morning, changed this one today. I want to reassure everyone I know how to change a tire. However, it takes Fiona five minutes -- and takes me 15. I love her for pampering me in this way!

Davis Observatory

I tried to get yesterday's blog off, but cell and internet service is erratic, and I couldn't.

We skipped lunch, since breakfast was so late. I had fabulous nachos for dinner at 5:30. Since I couldn't access the internet, I turned on the TV for the first time since March 4 to check out American Idol and March Madness basketball.

When the sun goes down, we'll be in bed, ready to pedal to Marathon tomorrow -- and to endure 60 more miles of chip seal roads. We've have loved the air at 5,000+ feet here in the Davis Moutains! 

Dr. Jeter Day 21 on Polyvore.com

According to Katherine: Day 5 Recap

Rest day in Blythe, CA means a chance to do the laundry!

And we get a bike cleaning and maintenance class.

Today, I took two hours with Simple Green, shop rags and a toothbrush to get yesterday's sand out of all the gears and crevices on my bike. I could use pipe cleaners too, but don't have any. And just imagine: I thought all we had to do was pedal the bike across the country!

I helped clean out the SAG wagon, and then walked to Mexican restaurant for lunch and Rite-Aid for sundries on a gorgeous desert day, with temperature in the mid-70s. Afterward, I rode my new clean bike to the post office to mail some letters.

A glorious desert sunset has capped off our day of rest in Blythe, CA.

Tomorrow, we're off on clean bikes, and in clean clothes, to a new time zone in Saline, AZ.

Dr. Jeter Day 5 on Polyvore.com