Day 12 - It's really about the Journey not the Destination

In the end it really was the Journey, the Golden Gate bridge was the Destination, but really...the destination was a nightmare of tourists on rented Bicycles that they didn't know how to ride! Just a big crush of people going both ways on the bridge. But we made it and we rode from one side to the other. We had a bit of lunch and then I left my three younger companions to tour San Francisco on their own. When Lee suggested we ride down Lombard Street, I said I'M OUT! Lol! I'm currently on the Ferry to Larkspur where my Knight will be waiting for me in a rented van to hold my chariot. I've gained strength (and pain) in my legs that I have never felt before. I've got saddle sores like you never want to experience. I have tans lines that make me look like a panda bear. Fueling this biking body has been interesting. I've definitely gained muscle, and lost no weight. We ate and ate and drank lots of beer #bikesandbeers Tomorrow we head North towards home, wiser, stronger and feeling a sheer sense of accomplishment.

Day 10 - Things Change

Today we were supposed to be entering San Francisco, but that would have meant making that 100 mile day last week and that just didn't happen. So here we are one more night of camping. Tonight we are in Bodega Bay. We had a great dinner at La Bodegita, great food and awesome margaritas. Now we are sitting at our camp site with a couple from Austria, an Italian that lives in Canada and a guy from New York. Tomorrow is the home stretch, we will turn off of Highway 1 and head for San Rafael. Friday morning we will head into San Francisco.
The sites are simply beautiful, the hills are brutal. My legs are killing me. Such an adventure a time to never forget.

Day 9 - And I thought Yesterday was Hard.

1 August - This morning we got a late start, which means a late end, but I'm jumping ahead of myself. Since our camp site in Cleone was just 2 miles away from the town of Fort Bragg, California, we decided to eat a nice hot breakfast in town instead of a camp side bowl of oatmeal. We road along Haul Road, which is a no motorized vehicle path from Cleone to Fort Bragg. We had a really good breakfast at Cafe One and then went to the Fort Bragg Bike shop to get a resupply of inner tube, since we had been through a few of our spares. None of the hills were as high as yesterday but there was so much up and down, that it added up to about the same elevation. We got separated at some point today and no one was quite sure where anyone else was. Our end point was Anchor Bay but we wound up in Gaulala at a camp site with a lot of folks speaking various languages. Next to us was a pretty amazing French family with 2 young boys doing the same trip we are and then some. They had been all over Oregon and now the coast line to San Francisco, with 2 kids on bikes! I found it hard to believe.
As I said our day started late and so we were just pulling into our camp site at 7:45 pm, way too late to still be riding. But we made it in. I am forever grateful to Lee, who always has that last bit of energy when no else does. Lee grabbed a pizza in town and beer and got it back to our camp site, since no one was in the mood to cook anything. He is a rock star.
As we would say in the Army, "one more day and a wake up".

Day 9 - And I thought Yesterday was Hard.

1 August - This morning we got a late start, which means a late end, but I'm jumping ahead of myself. Since our camp site in Cleone was just 2 miles away from the town of Fort Bragg, California, we decided to eat a nice hot breakfast in town instead of a camp side bowl of oatmeal. We road along Haul Road, which is a no motorized vehicle path from Cleone to Fort Bragg. We had a really good breakfast at Cafe One and then went to the Fort Bragg Bike shop to get a resupply of inner tube, since we had been through a few of our spares. None of the hills were as high as yesterday but there was so much up and down, that it added up to about the same elevation. We got separated at some point today and no one was quite sure where anyone else was. Our end point was Anchor Bay but we wound up in Gaulala at a camp site with a lot of folks speaking various languages. Next to us was a pretty amazing French family with 2 young boys doing the same trip we are and then some. They had been all over Oregon and now the coast line to San Francisco, with 2 kids on bikes! I found it hard to believe.
As I said our day started late and so we were just pulling into our camp site at 7:45 pm, way too late to still be riding. But we made it in. I am forever grateful to Lee, who always has that last bit of energy when no else does. Lee grabbed a pizza in town and beer and got it back to our camp site, since no one was in the mood to cook anything. He is a rock star.
As we would say in the Army, "one more day and a wake up".

Day 5 - Sort of a rest day

So the plan was for two nights in a hotel in Arcata, but like I said before, that didn't quite happen, but we did get done relatively early in Friday, about 1:00 and we did spend the night at Motel 6. The ride to Arcata was my favorite ride so far as far as scenery goes. We were off of 101 most of the way on scenic bypasses. We even rode for quite sometime on an actual bike path! That was like heaven. We heard and saw sea lions, saw surfers and other cool stuff along the way.
We caught an Taxi (well most of us, Lee insists he will not get in a motor vehicle until we are done with the ride) from our motel to the Arcata square... center whatever they call it and hand dinner at a nice restaurant called Abruzzi's. Afterwards we played a few rounds of pool, had a few drinks and realized, HEY, we have to get up in the morning and ride. Well that's no fun, but we acted like adults and headed back to the motel, and promptly crashed. As I began to doze I heard Tom Bodett say, "We'll leave the light on".

Day 3 Complete -That was a Doozy

Four people one route, all with the same thought - that was a very long day. Arrived at our destination at 4 different times, but we all made it. 70 miles of hill after hill, setting up camp at Harris Beach State Park.  And I am too tired to say anything else.

Day 2 Wisdom and Determination will Out Live Youthful Exuberance

Today was rough, as soon as we took off we were immediately faced with a hill. My legs were just not ready for the hills. Kelsey, Lee and Ian are taking the hills with youthful ease, I just take them one pedal push at a time, they are usually way ahead of me. My sweet Ian though keeps looking out for his mama and waits at the top of the hills for me. We stopped in Charleston, Oregon for a quick break and as soon as we got back on the road, we were met with a giant hill. By now we were off of highway 101 and on the Pacific Coast bike route, which was nice, but that hill did me in, I had to get off and push my bike numerous times, that is until Ian looked at my bike chain and informed I was in the wrong gear! Ugh. It made all the difference in the world. We stopped in Bandon for lunch at the Bandon Fish Market. After a beer and fish and chips we set out for Cape Blanco. The problem with Cape Blanco was the camp sites were first come first serve, so the plan was for Lee and Ian to ride ahead and get us a camp site. But Ian got a flat tire on the way. He fixed it in about 15 minutes and Lee was bound and determined to stop at Langlois Market - Home of the world famous hot dog. So once back on the road a decision was made to turn off before Cape Blanco and try for another camp ground. We wound up tonight at Lake Floras State Park. A much nicer, quieter and friendly place than we stayed at last night, complete with showers, washer, dryer, WiFi and access to plugs. Speaking of which I have very few photos from today because my phone died. I bought a solar power charger but it seems to work on everyone's phone except for mine.
We did about 60 miles today, tomorrow will be a bit shorter and on day 4 we get to stay in a motel....yeah! I'm tired on day two, but determination will always win the day.

Day 1 Complete - 2017 Most Excellent Cycling Adventure

Well we finished day 1, stopping at the Spinreel Camping area outside of Lakeside. Today's take away? Hills are no joke! And it started immediately, we crossed the Siuslaw bridge and immediately hit our first hill and they just kept coming. We stopped in Reedsport for a long leisurely lunch at the Waterfront restaurant, recommended to us by a guy at a auto shop on 101. We asked for good food and beer and he said that was the place to go. It was good. Bud and Buy-in were the primary brews, but they had a local brew that we all went for. It's was good. So far the shoulder for us to ride on has not been too bad. The motor homes whizzing by are not bad, the log trucks are the worse. The young folks are beating me up the hills every time, but I haven't stopped just moving slow.

2017 Most Excellent Cycling Adventure

San Francisco or bust! Me and three 20 something's will be riding from Florence, Oregon to San Francisco. Follow our adventures here.

I felt My Heart Breaking

Anderson gives me a big Oregon "O"

He has touched my heart
I had no idea I would react this way to the kids coming in for treatment.  I knew when Anderson came in on Tuesday that he was special, he is just a big goofy kid that likes to give a show, he has boundless energy and an infectious smile, he doesn't talk but you know when he is happy.  Dr, David was very sure that he could improve Anderson's quality of life by taking his fused hands and giving him thumbs.  We had to remember that we are not in the United States and sometimes getting what we need is not always possible.  It took two days to get the correct x-rays of Anderson's hands to see if the surgery was possible and then once we got them it still wasn't clear as to what we were looking at.  It was assessed that the hospital may or may no

t have all of the instruments that are needed to conduct the the right and left thumb syndactle release...a certain sort of saw, wire and all kinds of other things that I can't remember or pronounce.  The decision was made to NOT do Anderson's surgery.  My heart sank, I wanted to cry and I did.  I couldn't even bring myself to go onto the ward to say goodbye to Anderson as I left for the day, but in the end I did.  He clowned around for me like he always does and I gave him a rubber duck.  While there the doctors were conferring about the case.  All is not lost they may still attempt the surgery tomorrow.  I am praying that they can get everything that they need to perform the surgery.

 

Sebastian 24 hours after surgery
Sebastian had a cleft lip and palate surgery therefore must remain in the hospital for one more day.  He appeared to be in quite a bit of pain but I did get a very small smile from him.  I am sure he will be up and about tomorrow.

Veronica Celebrates her 74th birthday

Yesterday Veronica at 73 years old had cleft lip surgery, today she turned 74. Many of the ROTAPLAST Team went to see her and sing happy birthday to her. Ellen one of our ward coordinators gathered up a small bag of gifts to give to her, a scarf, a key chain among other things, she didn't smile, in fact she gave no expression at all. But we are told that she was very happy with the gifts and the recognition. Apparently she rarely shows emotion. After five kids all conceived from being raped, I suppose I might be farely emotionless also. Who knows once her surgery scars have healed she will find something to smile about. All of our surgeries from Wednesday went home except for Sebastian. Cleft lip surgeries stay for one day, cleft palate surgeries stay for two. Its a long night for the team. Tonight I came back to our hotel early to set up for a class to be given by two of our plastic surgeons to a group of our local medical hosts. While the rest of the team stayed behind at the hotel to finish up two more surgeries. There seemed to be quite a few babies today, but also some four 20 somethings. Tomorrow is Saturday, another full day of surgery. Tonight is the earliest I will have gone to bed. I think I need this sleep desperately.

30 May 2009 Oregon Festival Choirs at Eugene Saturday Market - On this day the boys (Exit 195) and girls (Aria) a capella branches of the Oregon Festival Choirs performed on stage at the Eugene Saturday Market. The pride and joy of my life young Master Ian is a member of Exit 194 and of course he was there. I asked Ian if he minded if Mrs. Oregon attended the performance he said, "of course not Mrs. Oregon is my mom, and I thinks she's pretty cool" (big smile). So Mrs. Oregon and her two favorite guys climbed into the family car (actually it's a truck) and headed for downtown Eugene. The performance was awesome and I'm not just saying that because my baby is a member, this is truly a talented group of young men and women. Peter Robb is the director and I am always impressed by what he accomplishes with these young people. Check out their website http://www.oregonfestivalchoirs.org/ofc/ and should you ever have the chance to see them in person don't miss it!

The crowd enjoys Aria

Yea, I'm with the "band"

Director Peter Robb

Mrs. Oregon receives a complimentary chair massage