April 14 - Ride Day

Today was my last day of mandatory recovery before I am released to ride.  Tomorrow is a rest day here in Pensacola.  We are staying at the Ensley Nazarene Church.  Tonight we went with the Pastor Brian and his wife Missy to Crabs for dinner.  Crabs is a non-chain local seafood place right on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico.  You can actually eat right on the beach.  The sand is amazing.  Brian said it is approx 97% quartz from the Appalachians. 

Brian's uncle has PD....another connection.  Our waitress at dinner, Bri, saw our shirts/hats with Pedal Over Parkinson's and said her grandfather has PD.  You could tell her grandfather means a lot to her and his PD has an impact on her life.  We explained what we are doing and she made several supportive comments.  We shared with her some of the information we have learned about PD, some of which she was not aware of.  Hopefully, some of this information will help her grandfather.  We gave her one of our cards and encouraged her to contact us and we will share more about the resources we know about.

Kyle and Shannon finished the day strong.  They arrived a the Church about an hour before we expected them.  It helped that we cut about 17 miles off their ride today by "straightening" out the course a little.  As this was their fifth day, we felt it was important to get them off the bikes as soon as possible.

Tomorrow we will be running errands in the morning - laundry and groceries - and then go to the Naval Air Museum in the afternoon.  Missy is letting us use her Suburban tomorrow so we do not have to empty the Flex.  Another huge blessing. 

Well, it is late and it is time for bed.  The trip has been incredible and I am still amazed that we are actually doing this.  We are biking across the USA!!!!!!!  What a Country!.  Small town America is alive and well and going strong.

Here is an interesting picture from the day.  We also saw a wild land fire.  Good Night.