June 2: Bloomington
Day 1
Route 66 as "couch" -- between rain, hail, cold, 100 miles of severe gusting headwinds and mechanical problems with my brand new bike, a whole textbook of emotions and neuroses boiled up and demanded to be dealt with -- and hey - at 12 miles per hour, there's plenty of time. But when you pull into the motel -- such a beautiful sight -- it's like having a baby -- the minute you see it, you forget the pain and look forward to the thrills yet to come. About the rain -- the good news is the wind stopped blowing -- the bad news is its pouring and hailing on you.
And to my friends in Atlanta, the little "Mind Wavers" -- what's blowing down there with you.
With love & kicks -- from Phyllis 66
especially to Max, Paul & Heidi -- my favorites L.F.J.'s
June 3: Litchfield
No rain, no hail, no broken bike... just in-your-face headwinds and
bumpy roads... downright relaxing... this makes a person stronger... by
the end of the trip i expect to be Godzilla Granny. love & tailwinds to
all.... Phyllis
P.S. Alex and Softride: check out the Divernon News.. next week's
edition..... front page picture of Softride and me wearing the jersey....
by the way that's Divernon, Illinois....
June 6: Joplin
Phyllis.... Day 5..... Oh the shame of it.... only did 29 miles, then
rode in the van .... needed to make some phone calls, which seemed a
perfect opportunity to slump out the day.. here's the weird part: i felt
much better riding than "sagging" (biker lingo for riding in the support
vehicle).... sagging makes you feel sluggish... biking makes you feel
alive.. vibrant... eager to crank through headwinds, hammer uphills, eat
cookies... godzilla mama lives... once again... love to the lfj's, the
mindwavers, and all my favorites cyberweenies, wherever they may be.
June 8: Chandler
Holy Caboly... What a trip this is.. day before yeserday we rode on this
incredible burnt orange color gravel road... that's the color of the soil..
it waS surreal.. then Celeste fell and we had to go to the hospital...
she had nine stitiches... then yesterday we rode only a breezy 95 miles...
can you imagine what has to happen to make 95 miles seems easy.... if you
can imagine it, then you must have already done it.. hahahaa .... and my
dreams are getting totaly current.. Celeste went home and i dreamed that i
lost my purse with all my money in it!!... yahooooooo... so long till
later on... down the road.. love and TAILWINDS to all the LFJ's , the
MINDWAVIANS, Dr. Baker, et al... and the Weedwackers.
June 12: Tucumcari
Well I haven't written for a few days, just been chilling out. Now I
realize after reading what Gerry wrote just before me that I haven't
mentioned a thing about this incredible group that I am with. Lon and
Susan Haldeman run this compnay called PAC Tour that organizes the whole
trip. the organization in my eyes is something of a miracle. Not only is
everyday perfectly planned for and comes off according to the plan but the
crew members must have gone to Nordstrom's "be nice to the customer school"
because it seems that no matter where you are - you could be out in the
middle of nowhere or in your motel room - if you need something or want
something they have a way to provide it and never once do you feel that
your needs or requests are out of line. In some strange sense they are a
kind of role model for how people can treat each other and how nice it can
be. These qualities also are evident among the riders. This could be what
everybody means when they say you face yourself and find yourself on these
kinds of rides across the country. This is an amazing experience. Love
and tailwinds ...
June 17: Winslow
Backtracking on the road is unthinkable, but on the web I'll take my
chances.... back 3 or 4 days.... to the Santa Fe Trail, a difficult but
incredibly beautiful climb, that was early in the day - before lunch...
then after lunch more climbing... then more climbing... in fact there was
so much climbing, I thought the next hill I see I'm walking up... then I
thought the next hill I see, I'm hitch-hiking... of course I looked up
ahead and saw nothing but these huge, long, oppressive hills... and as
long I kept giving myself these reasons NOT to do them, I was able to get
through them.... and that's how I finished that 5000 feet of climbing.
The next day was just as bad, and I had even more excuses... fortunately I
think it rained that afternoon, and lucky for me, I didn't have rain gear
with me, so i spent the last 20 miles of the day in the van. Hey....
recovery is very important! The last 2 days hae been relatively easy...
(power is ebbing in the power book right wer book right now, so I'll have to finis
h
later).. love and tailwinds to all.. especially Jo and Silver Streakers
everywhere....