Veering off 82

Having 11 days of riding in the books, one might think we would gain confidence...and we have. But this morning we were reminded that not everyone loves to see us on the road. We would once again ask that specific prayer be made for our safety each day. We certainly don't ever want to get cocky or forget who has made this adventure possible for us. Today the roads out of Paris were tight and the trucks were rude and scary, making the first few hours nerve wracking and slow. The team decided to get off Rt 82 for a while and take a smaller parallel route a little south of 82.

Please, Lord God, watch over our riders, Wynn, Colleen and Dan. Help them to be visible to the drivers and give the drivers patience and kindness as they pass our team. Thank you for the safety thus far and help us to praise You through the good and the bad, through the exhilarating and the doldrums. Help them to persevere and accomplish their goal in Your perfect time. In Your name, Amen.

Maybe this video will help get us lighthearted again.

So let's backtrack a little to last night. It was Karen's last evening with us and she picked Chile's as the place to spend Pete and Nancy's special gift to us. What a wonderful meal. Thanks so much for thinking of our riders and blessing us with this meal!

We did go see the Eiffel Tower in Paris as well and everyone tried to get pictures. Colleen had the winning shot.
Colleen presented Karen with a friendship gift. I will be so glad to see her go but I guess Disney is a good enough reason for me!

The team got on the road at 7:25am and rode 100 miles at 14 mph and were on the bikes for 7 hours and 10 minutes. Another flat tire, belonging to Dan, kept the team from getting in quicker. They rode through at rush hour in Gainsville and arrived at the Comfort Inn and Suites at 5:15pm. Everyone is sore, especially the back of the arms and necks. Pray that our riders can recover tonight. Wynn came in and immediately hit the floor.

Our hotel is very nice and once again we were able to get a room with two queens and a pull out couch. We ask for ground floor rooms when we can.

While driving along the route today there was such a variety of things to see...take a picture tour with us...

The riders coming up the hill was impressive

We also saw some in Unimpressive things like this little old woman driving on the berm.

No wonder the guys chose to get off Rt 82 at Honey Grove

We met up with the team and fed the customary lunch of sandwiches, chips and cookies. We tried to find some Allen wrenches at the nearest Home Depot to fix Colleen's water bottle carrier. We'll work on it more tonight.

We ate in front of the courthouse under a big shade tree in Sherman. It was a beautiful lawn.

We also saw a sign for my Mom...

We found fun sights too, like these alpacas and horse farms. I think the ponies felt right at home along these ranching roads.

I'm going to end up showing you our good luck grasshopper that met us at our hotel. I want to thank God for bringing the team through a long, hard day. He provided safety through the construction and the traffic and the busy roads. Here's hoping we recover well, sleep good and have the energy to do another successful ride tomorrow. Keep those prayers going...
Riding along,
Brenda

Dan here: We had a tough day today. The first 22 miles was on a very rough shoulder. Many trucks were whizzing by at 70 mph so the road was not an option. Luckily Wynn found a road that paralleled Rt 82, which was smoother and had less traffic, however it did have many hills. We also had a strong crosswind so it was rough going for the entire day. It was one of the harder days this far, but as we have heard many times from riders who have done this kind of trip, you just get used to time in the saddle and you just do it! Even though I had yet another rare tire flat, the trade off is, I feel stronger every day we ride...so that is just a little bother.

One more little sideline...Colleen woke with a stiff back that was very painful. Dan said, " I thought our age might catch up with us, but I didn't think it would be you, Colleen'"