Day 0 - 1
Trip Out and getting ready

DAILY REPORT:  Ah, it's been a nice winter.  I've enjoyed playing golf all winter and have taken a bit of time away from the bike.  I did accumulate about 1500 miles splattered out here and there by the time our riding season starts this week, but that's about a 1000 miles behind my usual.  Just getting old I guess.  It gets harder every year to pull out of Alabama when the leaves are all on the trees and then go to NH for the equipment and run smack into winter again...but we still do it. 

We left home with Karen on April 1st to drive to NH.  On our way we stopped in Chambersburg PA to see Karen Keefer who rode with us last year.  Aside from a nice visit, I taught a cycling class to her newly formed bicycle club on the 4th.  We had a great time with the club and the evening social after the class was really fun.  Nice folks...as the usual with cyclists.

Our drive out to the left coast was pretty much uneventful except for the torrid winds we encountered and the cold temperatures.  And as you can see from the photo of Karen, she was able to get in a few winks as we droned on the interstate in New Mexico.  By the time we got to Costa Mesa, she was well rested so I put her to work filling Gatorade packets.

The weather was a bit sketchy as I said above.  When we drove through Blythe on the way out, the temperature was in the 60s and the wind was blowing over 40 MPH...it was really cold.  The winds in Palm Springs was in the 35-40 MPH range too and westerly.  But as it seems to be turning out, we should have ridden then with the tailwind.  Seems the forecast for Sunday when we leave is for temperature in Blythe to be near 100 and the winds in our face a bit...hey...why not.

We arrived in Costa Mesa on Thursday and spent the afternoon cleaning vans and sorting through all the stuff we need to complete the ride.  Friday we did shopping and did the final touches to prepare for the riders to show up on Saturday.  We're looking forward to a great ride even though the numbers on the ride are pretty low.  We only have 8 going all the way and we start out with 12 riders.  We're looking forward to meeting them all on Saturday.  Tune in and see how we do...we'll be punching into headwinds and some scorching heat.  Pray for a safe journey...we'll do all we can to get them to the east coast safely.  See you tomorrow.  M

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