Thursday, March 28, 2013

Back with my peeps

Finally caught back up with the tour, thanks to my wonderful friends.

We met Paula and Mike when they lived across the street from us in Olympia, WA and became good friends there.  We moved to Missouri and they moved to El Paso, TX but I see them a couple of times a year when I travel to Las Cruces to visit family.

They have always been generous in time and energy and in every other way, but this trip they have gone above and beyond.  First, when Nancy was injured, they offered to come to Silver City and house her and Emily until they could get transportation back to Boston.  That didn't become necessary, but the offer was generous and heartfelt.

Then when I needed a couple of days off the tour to take care of some business stuff, they graciously consented not only to let me stay with them and then drive me to Van Horn to rejoin the tour.  On the day I was planning to leave, Paula and I both got sick, wound up spending half the night in the ER at Ft. Bliss getting IV fluids and in general acting like (and feeling like) zombies for two days.  Mike was up until 3AM that night in the ER and then had to get up and get ready for work at 5 while Paula and I slept and sipped all the fluids we could choke down.

I was worried that after the two day stop in Ft. Davis, the tour would be too far away for me to catch up, there really are very few places we go that have even regional airports.  I researched buses, trains, car rentals and none of them were even feasible options.  I asked Mike to help me find someone that could drive me (Paula too sick, Mike leaving on a business trip) and he had already lined something up.

So today, Mike's brother Dan brought me here with Paula riding shotgun.  I am relieved to be back with the group, it makes things feel "normal" again.  Or at least as normal as traveling with 30 seriously demented* women gets.

I don't know how I am going to feel tomorrow or how much I will be able to do.  I will just do what I can without stressing my systems too much.  I reallyreallyreally want to do the 111 mile ride on Sunday, so that is my near term goal.

Thanks to everyone that has offered support here and via email or Ravelry comments - I appreciated the thoughts and well wishes.


* direct quote from Pat Rush

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you're feeling ok and back with your "family." Missed your blog postings. Wishing you a tailwind and no flats.

Eva

Janice in GA said...

I'm glad you have such good friends! Take it easy!

Ken said...

111....go get 'em!!!!! Glad you are back on tour.

Lisa S_CT said...

I will be cheering for you on Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Have a good ride.

Mike

Dan and Susan said...

Dear Judi, Susan and I are sitting at the Kansas City Airport waiting to pick up Valda flying back from Arizona and glad you are hooked back up with the tour. We brought the bikes and rode a whopping 10 miles on the Katy Trail. It felt great to get back on the bikes and my bike of course felt awesome! Thank you so much for the upgrades. Great biking and we will see you in May!