Yesterday I had to make a very difficult decision: Continue with Bob on our cross-country ride or return home because our little girl, Shadow, wasn’t doing very well. There was no doubt I was returning home, but I felt really bad about leaving Bob to continue on himself.

Bob is one of the best guys I have met. He understood, and that means an awful lot to me. He will keep in contact with me as he continues riding. His plan now is to make it to Houston, where his son lives, and make a decision to go on or wait for another time.

This trip has meant a lot to me. Bob and I were just getting in the groove. We had fought the hills and almost constant headwinds in Florida and had finally gotten some tailwinds and easy pedaling out of Pensacola into Alabama. We did get a good soaking going to the Ferry to Dauphin Island and holed up in a motel on the island, which got about 7 inches of rain. No way would we have put up our tents in that kind of rain!

Chuck and Bob - Good Times

The next day we had another tailwind which made it an easy 40+ mile ride to Grand Bay, AL.

When Cheryl called me, she said she didn’t want to tell me Shadow might not make it, but knew I had to know the situation. Cheryl wanted me to continue the ride because she thought that it meant so much to me and that I was doing a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Cheryl is my whole life. There is nothing more important than Cheryl and Shadow to me. Shadow has been with us since she was 8 weeks old. She is now 16 years and 8 months old. I could not live with myself knowing she might pass away with me not being at her side.

I’m back at home right now with Cheryl and Shadow and don’t regret what I had to do, what I needed to do — and that is be with the two I love with all my heart.

I'm here, Shadow.

One of the best ways I know right now to support Bob is to keep maintaining this blog with reports on where Bob is on the ride and how he is doing. He has promised to keep in touch and fill me in on all of his adventures. This way you can keep following him too, and cheering him on.

I tried to get him to take my SPOT GPS located with him, but being Bob, he said, “I don’t want to get addicted to gadgets like you are!” Obviously, Bob knows me too well. So we’ll just have to “track” him via his phone calls.

While I was on the road, Cheryl forwarded the comments and emails everyone has been sending to us via the blog and we enjoyed hearing from everyone. I will keep doing that for Bob. So if you want to let him know you’re thinking of him, comment or hit the contact button. We’ll pass it all along.

Now that I’m home, I’ll update the blog with some more posts on mine and Bob’s experiences, complete with all the pictures and videos I took. So check back on some old entries, as I’ll be adding stuff.

Shadow is comfortable right now, but still not well. We don’t know what the future holds, but being with her at this time is what’s important. If you have, or ever had, a dog, you know what I mean. If you don’t, then there is nothing else I can say.

Thanks everyone. Check back later for more on where Bob is today.

Chuck