Today's the day Joey turns 25!!! Happy Birthday Joey! What a great way to wake up on his birthday- WARM! When Joey left the gym this morning, I got his little tiny birthday cake that I had gotten yesterday and sang happy birthday to him when he got back in the gym. Even though I didn't get to not make a cake for him and decorate it all pretty, I had to do something little for him. I also hid a bag of Skittles in his helmet, which he found a little later this morning- Skittles seem to be a birthday tradition for him and I. After enjoying our cereal, we packed and ventured out into the cold. The wind was not as strong as yesterday, but it was still in our face. Almost right away after leaving town, we had a great downhill for a couple miles. The morning's ride was very hilly. Up and down and up and down. Some steep, others more gradual. Either way, it made me really cold. Yesterday was about the same temperature, but since it wasn't as hilly, our body heat stayed about the same. Today since we would sweat up the hills and freeze down them, it was constantly changing. My toes, legs, fingers and nose were pretty chilly. We passed through a lot of little tiny towns, a few of which we didn't even realize that we had gone through. There were a couple little gas stations along the way that we took little breaks in to warm up a bit. That helped quite a bit because my toes could warm up and I would be able to get a few more miles in before they started getting cold again. For some reason, Joey didn't feel as cold as I did. We had planned to stop for lunch about 30 miles into the ride in the town of Huntsville, but since we found out there weren't really any little diners or restaurants nearby, we decided to keep going a little further. The girl in the grocery store told us that the next town, Onieda, had everything. The way she explained it was that it was really far away, but it turned out when we looked at the map that it was less than 7 miles to get there. So, we had a quick snack since I was starting to "get shaky" and we were off. We knew that we could find someplace so that Joey could have a special birthday lunch. Sure enough, there were good signs (Long John Silvers, Arby's and a couple other places) right when we got close to Onieda. We continued on and rode through the downtown area and then across to the other side of town. There we found everything from Pizza hut to Chinese buffet. We knew it only made sense for us to go to a buffet, so we tried the Pizza Hut buffet, just by the chance they would still have buffet. It turns out that we missed it by about 10 minutes. It was then that Joey said, I wouldn't mind Chinese again! I was thinking the same thing. It was SO yummy yesterday that we didn't have to think twice about going there instead. So, Joey had Chinese buffet for his birthday lunch. It sure was nice! They had all of our favorites, right down to the little sugar donut rolls. Thanks to Grammy for the "tink" buffet! When our bellies were stuffed, we made a quick internet stop at McDonald's and then headed out of town. Joey made a comment when we left that it "really is cold out here- for some reason I didn't notice it as much earlier today." I still don't know how he wasn't super chilly for most of the day like I was. When we started this afternoon's ride, we were both pretty excited because we knew we were getting really close to the Kentucky border. It turned out to only be about 8 miles away from where we had lunch. Joey got a call from a friend at home and talked to him for a bit before we took our usual state border picture. Now we only have 1 state border left for the trip that we HAVE to get- Ohio. We will of course take pictures at the WV, PA and NY borders, but they will be duplicates from the last trip. I can't believe we are already to this part of the trip. I say this ALL the time, but I just go crazy thinking about all the places we've been to and remembering back to talking about those places before we left on the trip and "next destinations" while we were on the trip. We don't have too many destination's left, that's for sure!! So, before we knew it we were a few miles into Kentucky. After riding through Whitney City, we found 3 different, really nice Kentucky plates within a couple hundred yards of each other. It was so strange that we found them like that, after all, we didn't find any Tennessee plates. We rode a ways further and up and down a couple more hills- which were much less steep and more rolling at this point; nothing at all like this morning's hilly, curvy ride through the hills. It was getting to be about quarter after 6, so we knew we would be stopping for the night soon. We passed by a church on a hill that had a few cars at it. We saw their nice little picnic shelter and figured we might as well ask if we could find someone there. After riding up the little hill to the church, we found 6 ladies. They were in the recreation building- that had a beautiful gym and second level "track" around it. What an amazing facility! The ladies all come there to exercise together. I just thought that was so cool that their church had this. The first ladies that we met were Judy and Lois. They said yes to us setting our tent up right away and asked if we were hungry or thirsty. We said that we were ok, but by the time they were getting ready to leave, they brought over a bunch of super yummy food just to make sure that we wouldn't be hungry. We also met Della, Loretta Carmen, and another lady that I never caught the name of. They told us that there were also showers there in the rec center and that we were welcome to use them as they were going to be there for at least 45 minutes more, if not longer. I, of course can NEVER turn down a shower! That is the best thing at the end of a day on the bike- especially on a day like today when I was actually really feeling cold most of the day. When t Lois and Della went to get the food from the church, they had also called the pastor to let him know that we would be setting our tent up there. When they came back, we found out that instead of sleeping in our tent, we were going to stay inside the lobby of the rec. center! We just can't be more thankful. Even though it's sometimes tough riding in the cold, it's SO much worse when we stop to camp for the day. We are so blessed to have this kind of opportunity two nights in a row. Being that this last portion of the trip involves so much cold weather, this is the time that we need the help the most- and it has been provided. Thanks so much to the ladies and the Flat Rock Baptist Church. Joey and I appreciated being inside so much. Getting an opportunity to get a good nights sleep and be warm for the night can never be taken for granted. After the ladies left, I went down and took a shower. When I came back upstairs, I heard voices! We had company! Lois and Della had come back and we had a chance to meet Lois's son and Della's husband Skip! Not only did they just come to visit, but they brought us some cake and a couple bags of candy so we would have fuel for the road tomorrow! We have been showered with kindness yet again. It's day's like this that have made our trip so special. I am so glad that we had a chance to meet "Judy and her friends;" they really are a great group of gals. Joey and I peddled 59.51 miles today. I think that despite the cold, Joey had a pretty great birthday... And a little note of remembrance for my dearly missed kitty, Munchkin, who passed away one year ago today- I'll never forget my Munchie!
|
|