Return to Riding

Joanna and I have enjoyed our two weeks off the bike. It was good to give my legs a rest, sleep in my own bed, and have some home-cooked meals. It was also nice to sit on anything other than a saddle for two weeks.

We had some entertainment getting from rural Illinois to the St. Louis area for our flight home. We wanted to take the bikes to a bike store near St. Louis. The plan was to leave my bike at the store and send Joanna’s bike home. Joanna has a bike fit scheduled next week with a physical therapist who specializes in bicycle position to see if any adjustments can be made to her position to improve her hand comfort. But getting us and our bikes to St. Louis area proved challenging.  

The closest rental place did not have any cars. The next nearest place was fifty miles away. There were no Uber or Lyft drivers available. The local taxi services were either out of business or had answering machines and did not call back. It took a bit of doing, but we eventually came up with a plan. I rode my bike to a local hardware store. At the hardware store, I was able to rent a 15-foot U-Haul truck. The truck was a local rental so we could not ride it one-way into St. Louis. Instead, we used the U-Haul to drive fifty miles to the nearest car rental office and brought back a minivan to use for transportation. Easy as pie.

There was no rush to get home so we decided to spend two days in St. Louis. We went to a great blues bar and saw Marquise Knox, who was excellent. We took a boat tour on the Mississippi River. We went to the City Museum, which is a very unique museum designed for kids but also a lot of fun for adults who are willing to climb a little. Highly recommended. We got some traditional St. Louis BBQ at Sugarfire and finished our trip off with a stop at the Museum of Illusions.

This past weekend was the 8th-annual Together We Walk, a 5K charity walk our daughter Annie runs to raise awareness of epilepsy and to raise funds for epilepsy research. The walk was a huge success, with more than 100 walkers raising over $40,000. You can still make a contribution at TogetherWeWalkNY.org.  

I have returned to Chester, Illinois, to restart the ride. Sadly, I am starting the ride without my wife Joanna, as she needs a little more time for her hands to get better. The current plan is for me to ride by myself through the Ozark Mountains. Joanna plans to rejoin the ride in a couple of weeks when I reach the flat roads of Kansas. It is not going to be the same riding without Joanna. I am looking forward to her quick return.