With all the dogs Bob encountered on our cross-country ride, this one I’m sure he’d want to take home with him. I know I would. I can’t believe those little legs did so much. What heart!
Update on the blog: More photos and videos have been added to the blog (and still working on adding more details to the posts). If you want to see what’s been added, you can re-visit the posts or just click on the links in the menu (or here) for PHOTOS and VIDEOS.
Franklinton to Easleyville, LA
34 miles
Bob is in Easleyville, LA tonight. He said he only did 34 miles. Campground availability is the reason for this short ride, the next campground would have been too far for a one-day ride.
There were no big hills today, but plenty of rolling ones. The roads were very desolate, though. When Bob thought he wouldn’t find anything, a casino out in the middle of nowhere showed up.
Bebo's
He went in and only wanted something to eat and got a hot dog. As he was eating it the lights went out — Bob said someone had probably won a jackpot. He didn’t stay long.
Bob added that on yesterday’s ride another little puppy tried to adopt him. Bob just seems to draw puppies to him; this is the second pup that has tried to follow him. I told him he may have a new dog by the time he gets back to Florida!
Bob also told me that he was lucky the night before because as he was putting up his tent the campground owner showed up and said he could stay in one of his cabins. Bob got a $50 cabin for $15; not a bad deal.
The owner, a guy named Chris, was a welder but also trained horses and he told Bob how one of his horses almost killed him. Seems he was behind the horse and for some reason the horse kicked him, injured his spleen and he almost died.
I passed on messages to him and will wait for tomorrow night’s report. Keep him in your thoughts and continue sending him your encouragements.
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