Well, TE friends, I am back home after a month long ride for hospice, my 3rd great bicycle adventure. It was great, had an awesome ride and saw the incredible state of Oregon. From the Columbia River Gorge, to the high desert, to Hell's Canyon in Idaho, to the John Day Fossil beds, the Cascade mountains and Sisters, OR, then to the Pacific Ocean and Oregon coast, it was just spectacular. What a great way to spend a month! I loved it.

Best of all, I have raised, so far, on this ride $19,300! Wahoo! For the three rides, 2007 Southern Tier, 2008 Underground RR, and 2009 Northwest Loop, I have raised over $87,000 for the Wellmont Hospice House in Bristol, TN. My final goal is $100,000 so I still have a little ways to go! However, the money is still coming in so there is hope!

Thanks to everyone who has written, pm'd, and donated. I really appreciate your support and encouragement.

I took a fall last Friday, the second to last day, in Astoria, on a wet trolley track. I rode a century into Portland the last day but am suffering the effects of the fall still, no big fractures but something funny in my elbow, a "tuft" fracture of my thumb, and a broken sunglasses frame that made a hole in my head under the helmet! I had no stitches because there was no clean edge to stitch! I have not ridden yet but hope to by this weekend when I have my first "home ride" planned. My bike is supposed to arrive home tomorrow. I miss seeing it in my den every day!