Dear Friends,

I decided not to ride again because I am fighting a cough. I did not want to stress myself while I seemed just a bit low on energy. Gary, Gloria and Lynne decided to ride to checkpoint because it was only 36 miles. Jane and Rich decided to try to ride the whole distance of 102 miles.

Well, it was nice to be able to take our time to eat breakfast and pack up. Everyone in my van group took off around 7:15-7:30. I stayed around camp for about 30-60 minutes. I wrote some e-mail in the van while I waited. I left when I saw the TK&A sick van take off.

I arrived at checkpoint around 9:00. I had difficulty figuring out how to disarm the alarm system in the van so it wouldn't continue to go off every three minutes. In desperation, I read the owner's manual at least twice before I figured it out. Then I took a two hour nap while I waited for my van partners.

I kept hearing Odyssey riders come into checkpoint saying how difficult the ride was because of the very stiff headwind. Lynne arrive first because she was able to join 3 other women who hitched a ride in the back of a truck. Rich and Jane arrived around 12 noon. Gary and Gloria came in around 1 pm.

There are quite a few people who have banded together to rent a van to have more opptions available as we ride each day. We can choose to ride or not, or ride half a day to or from checkpoint. We have been told by Tim Kneeland, the organizer of the ride, not to pick up any riders from the road even if the rider is part of our van group. This is because TK&A staff are on the road keeping track of the riders. If a van picks up a rider, then the TK&A staff won't know where the rider is and will stay on the road looking for him until they know where he is. It can cause too much confusion for the staff.

All that wind brought in a rain storm in the late afternoon/early evening. I got my tent up just before it started to rain. Yea! My tent still keeps me dry! I found a great use for my bicycling rain jacket and pants, wear them to dinner! My jacket dosen't have a hood, so I took a plastic bag and made a rain hat for myself by rolling up the edges. I had fun showing off my new rain hat. I made a great fashion statement... Make do with what you have!

Luckily, the rain stopped by the time I went to bed and it didn't rainagain that night.

From, Ms. McLane