Hi everyone--lots of pedaling today--85 miles by 4:00. When I talked to Pinky in Atlantic City on his radio show today, he asked how we could do so much so fast. It was quite a day but one that worked.

To start with, we were advised to take a road this morning that would take us to some safe cycling.  It didn't happen. The road was long and narrow and dropped for miles through a tree lined corridor that was like a freezer. Our fingers were so frozen we could hardly hold on to the handlebars. If Gabriel hadn't come down and picked us up, I would still be there. The road it led to was small and full of trucks. It was hill billy country down there and even Tony was "on guard".

Tony had his "scare" today like I did a couple of days ago when a huge cement truck barreling down the road at 50 or 60 mph missed him by six inches. It's a scary would out here. When Gabriel did rescue us, we went to the police dept. and a nice officer advised us of roads we could legally ride on and also showed us where the bicycle path was.

We spent quite a few hours on the path and as I told Pinky, when you don't have to worry about traffic and have to keep getting off the road to let those huge trucks go by that are climbing up your rear, you can keep pedaling and make those miles add up. That was the good news for the day. Was pretty tired when I got back to the hotel as we really boogied to get ahead of the game. We don't know what the next few days hold as we go over the Appalation . Mts. We now have pedaled 916 total so the next two days will put us in the thousands. WOW! We are on schedule.

 

When we came through Charleston, West Virginia, I thought of Rabbi and Peggy Kohler that I worked with for 15 years at Temple B'nai B'rith in Santa Barbara. He had retired in 2002 and is now in Richmond where I will be performing on Monday. Talked to him tonight and hopefully can see them on Monday--at least for a hug. Last time I saw the Rabbi was in the Rome airport--talk about a coincidence--I hadn't seen him for many years and walked up to the counter where he was standing and put my arms around him. He looked at me, put his head down on the counter and looked again as if he was dreaming. We both had three hour layovers so had a great chat 

Love Patricia

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From Gabriel's corner: I was not in a good mood when I woke up, lots going on for me to take care of. The guy behind the woman is melting down, I guess every day we are on the go, it is like flipping through a book with your fingers really fast.

I was called early as Patricia said they pedaled off in to la la land, once I got them and fixed the bike they were off again. I am feeling like I can not keep up and between not getting photos on the web due to computer connection problems.

There are so many things to get done my mind goes wild, and I think what in the hell were we thinking. I just should of asked Patricia if just parachuting out of a plane would have been easier because I guess today it hit me on how much work all of this is for us. It is like learning to dance together, you try not to step on your partners feet, and without any of us out here this would never work. I dropped a few tears, paused, meditated and thought of all the good things that are happening. My gratitude list way out weighed any part of my brain that goes to all the things that I did not finish, or just did not turn out perfect. My friend Jim Wooster from Santa Barbara and Marylin Kohler, Director of Pageants in California, really helped me get through today and I thank them both. I do not like to show weakness to my wife or Tony out here, we need to all be strong or we will not make it!

It gets lonely out here, and very confusing on which way to go. Tony was awesome, and really, considering he almost got killed, was in great spirits, I have a lot of gratitude to him for protecting Patricia out there when I can not be.

Another paper wanted to do a story from here but it is Friday and they were too far away. Thanks for your support

LOL Gabriel.