day 15: Tyler to Terrell, TX

May your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

Psalm 143:10

60.4 miles – 2,274 ft climb

We can tell that we are back in the midwest. Checked the forecasts in Tyler and Terrell. Both showed mid 80s in the afternoon, so Bruce was planning to leave a little earlier. We were awoken (awakened? woken up? I really need to work on my English) in the middle of the night by a major but short lived thunderstorm. Pretty sure I didn’t see that on the forecast. No biggie. But here it is 1:30 and it’s only 73 degrees. It turned out to be a beautiful day. Started out a little windy, but not too bad now. After Bruce had been gone about 30 minutes I checked his location on Find Friends and saw that he had only gone 3 miles. Wow, that wind must have been stronger than I thought! I called him and sure enough, he had flatted. I closed up camp and came to meet him because he decided to go ahead and change his tire. As opposed to just putting in a new inner tube, which is the normal fix for a flat.

While we were sitting there we got a call from his high school friend, Anne and her husband John. They had been in Dallas and were heading home to Louisiana. I sent them our route and we were able to meet up. Since it was almost lunch time, I made Bruce a pb&j (his lunch of choice when riding) to eat while we visited. I offered one to Anne and John but for some reason they opted to eat elsewhere. A hamburger does sound really good right about now.

You may not have noticed it in the small print, but along with raising money and awareness for MS & Parkinson’s, we are also Ambassadors bringing BuzzWTR to the West Coast. I need to get the details of my pitch from my daughter, Caroline – but basically it is flavored water with a little spike. A buzz with only 46 calories & 0 carbs. Soon people everywhere will be enjoying these beverages. That is Caroline’s job. I’m not sure her title, but she is promoting BuzzWTR. Anyway, we gave out our first samples today. I feel so official!

Just a little side note about my family. During the month before we left, my son-in-law, Jeremy; my son, Josh; and my youngest daughter, Caroline all got new jobs. I am so excited for them all and proud of them! Josh and Caroline both got jobs in Kansas City and are moving while we are gone. It feels weird for this mama to not be involved in their moves or even seen either of their new apartments, which they will be all moved into by the time we get back. Caroline started her job with BuzzWTR a few weeks ago and Josh starts his engineering job at Honeywell today! I’m not sure of his title either, but I think he will be doing the kind of work that he could tell me about, but then he’d have to kill me. Jeremy began his job as Wichita President of United Missouri Bank in August. (I may have messed up that title – sorry Jeremy) Speaking of Jeremy of course reminds me of Kinsley. I miss her!

So I just called to reserve a spot at the Bluebonnet Ridge RV park in Terrell for tonight. I was told that Harvey is TOO OLD to stay there. The lady at the park allowed me to send pictures of Harvey (one of each side required) and I am waiting to hear back. Oh my goodness! I feel like I’m trying out for cheerleader or something. Will I lose points for all the bug splats on the front? Should I have washed him before I took the pictures? Does this lighting show all my (I mean HIS) wrinkles?

We’re in! We passed! The lady who called me back said that her boss liked our causes. I think she may have been implying that we may not have gotten in otherwise. I don’t know. But we’ll take it! When Bruce first talked about getting the banners for Harvey, I thought it was kinda maybe a little bit hokey. But it was necessary for people to be able to see our website in case they were inspired to donate. But boy, I’m telling you, I am so glad we have those banners! Not only have many people stopped us to ask about our causes and even to donate, but the best part is that when I’m stopped waiting for Bruce along the side of the road or in a random parking lot, I am viewed less like a woman creeper sitting in an RV. I am important. I am with the band. I am part of the people biking across the country. Supporting MS & Parkinson’s research.

The roads we were on today were mostly back roads again. I love them. But they are very bouncy! I’m so glad that Bruce got heavy duty shocks put on Harvey before we left. I think I am actually getting to be a pretty good Harvey driver. Although yesterday when I was driving slowly (only about 35 mph) through a small town, I went over some railroad tracks and I’m pretty sure I went airborne. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

Today it seemed like every turn took us down a notch in the road maintenance department. Finally we were on one mostly gravel road that was like a washboard. I was ahead of Bruce so I stopped and called him to see if he wanted to change to his gravel bike. See? I’m getting the hang of this whole biking across the country thing. While Bruce was changing to his gravel bike, I flagged down a pickup to ask if it was this bad the whole way. Little did I know it would be Bradley Cooper. Bradley suggested that I turn on a different road and go to the interstate. I thanked him and ignored his advise and continued on the dirt road. It actually wasn’t too bad if you drove less than 10 mph.

We saw a LOT of dogs today. Some were safely barking at us from their fenced in yards. Some were not. I guess technically none of them were barking at “us” because who wants to bark at a big house on wheels? A guy on a bike however, needs to know who is boss around these parts. As I was following Bruce I saw a dog bound up to him. Bruce turned and said something to the dog and it stopped and walked away. He told me later that he said, “Go home!” Wow! Obedient dog. I didn’t know I was married to the Dog Whisperer. He also told me later that another pit bull chased him but thankfully he outran this one.

As we went through the cute little town of Canton, we saw lots of traffic going the opposite direction. We found out that there had been a bad wreck on I-20 and these cars were trying to go around it.

The RV Park is very nice. One section of it is actually tiny houses. They are so cute. Like little dollhouses. I met a lady named Marla who invited me to come look inside her house. I was surprised how homey and roomy it looked. Maybe that’s because I’ve been living in an RV.