Daily Page 22

Hi Everyone, This has been an exciting day in a different way as we needed to move ourselves forward to be positioned correctly for the "ride-in" on Monday. We ended up going further than we had planned. I started the day by pedaling 18 miles in the neighborhood while the guys packed and loaded the van. The beautiful orange maple tree that looks like a brilliant torch has been my guidepost for several days while I pedaled in Richmond. On the way out of town I turned the "wrong" direction and the guys yelled, "Where in the heck are you going?" and I said I'm not leaving until someone takes a picture of the gorgeous tree that was my friend this week. Amazing that all the forest close by was still green. The weather has been unusually beautiful for this time of year but the locals are expecting the temperature to drop soon.

We hit the interstate heading for Washington and then east to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge--we Californians and Nebraskans are speechless at the beauty and grandeur of the bridge--let alone what a construction marvel it is. As we alit on the other side, we started pedaling as the roads were great with clean, wide shoulders and we gleefully pedaled on our way. Crossing into Delaware was more of the same with farm land, cows, and crops stretching everywhere. We planned to stay in Georgetown which was only about 20 miles from the Lewes ferry but when we got there, there was no room in the inn because of multiple fairs and assorted celebrations. It was also the last big three day weekend to enjoy the fabulous weather.

Just before we got to Georgetown, we stopped at the most fantastic flower/farmer's market I've ever seen. It wasn't only food and flowers, it was an amazing amount of artwork with mannequins looking like people except they had pumpkins for heads that were decorated with make-up. Very unusual!

We all agreed we didn't want to sleep in the van so our only option was to head for the ferry. We luckily got there in time to catch the 6:15 p.m. one and what a stroke of luck that was. We were treated to a sunset that was superb. Gabriel and Tony were snapping away on their cameras. As I enjoyed the constantly changing colors, I noticed there were perfect angel wings within the colors. I felt the angel was Stan Abbott, husband of my long-time friend Lois. We saw the Abbotts before we left CA and felt we wouldn't see him again as he had been ill for quite some time. He did pass away shortly after we left and we will miss his "Celebration of Life" on October 19th, his birthday. I'm sure Stan is the angel that has been keeping me safe and that saved me the day the garbage truck almost finished me off. He had been a highly respected lawyer and was used to taking care of people. Lois and I have been friends since we met as teachers in Hawthorne in 1958. There has never been an unkind word between us in all these years as we shared families, kids, modeling careers, and life in general. I am so sorry to be so far away at this time but it's so obvious that Stan is taking care of me.

The ferry ride was such fun and as soon as we landed, we stopped at the first motel we could find and celebrated our successful day of "bumbling" across all the waterways--we surely didn't want to be on the wrong side when our events start on Monday. I'm tired! Love, Patricia !