It's people that make the world go around and two of them are my Mother and Pat Sullivan.

Let me explain.

All of my biking DNA comes from my mother, Lucille Winters.  She has bicycled not only all over the United States, but all over the world.  My Mom has bicycled in the Netherlands, in Austria, in Germany. you name it, she's probably been there.  So when Jaine and I decided to bicycle across America, my Mom was one of the first ones on board to help out in any way she could.

When Jaine and I decided to 'freestyle' and take the Katy Bike Trail across Missouri instead of the conventional Adventure Cycling path in the more southern part of the state, my Mom and her friend and biking buddy Elaine DuCharme came down to ride with us.

From (l to r):  Elaine DuCharme , Lucille Winters

They couldn't have come at a better time. The morning we were to meet them our car suffered a flat tire.  A curb inadvertently jumped into our right front tire and put a 1 inch hole in the sidewall of the tire.  

Check out the hole just to the right of my left hand pinky finger.

Talk about irony.  This was the second tire I changed since I started the trip (see my blog from June 19 'When you do good things do good things come back to you?') and neither of them were bike tires.

It was clear this tire was history.  It was also unfortunate timing as we were to meet Elaine and my Mom on the trail in about 1 hour from the accident.  Jaine and I put on the spare tire and were on the road heading to the bike path in less than a half an hour and I started pedaling like a madman to catch Elaine and Mom on the trail.  Just as I pulled up to the Rocheport trail head I saw Jaine, Mom and Elaine on bikes.  They had already ridden 16 miles and were ready to have lunch.

What is so amazing about this?  Mom is about to celebrate her 82nd birthday this October.  Jaine had to call 5 tire shops before she could find a tire that would match the tires we currently were using and still got in a bike ride.  Are these ladies biking warriors or what?  

Unfortunately, it begs the question...what took me so long?

Mom and Elaine were a huge help to us as they served as a SAG wagon for us so Jaine and I could ride the entire trail together.  A huge thanks to them for helping Jaine and I tackle the Katy.

When we decided to 'catch the Katy', we posted a blog inviting people to visit us if they can as it would be the closest we would be to Wisconsin (see my blog 'Time for a Little Freestyling').  If you ask them...they will come.

Some good friends of ours, Norman and Lorraine Williams, were returning from a family birthday party in Colorado and wanted to catch us on our ride.  It seemed they were always about a town behind us for a couple of days, but they finally caught us in O'Fallon, MO, just in time to meet Jaine's Mom and Dad, Frank and Carol Gombar, who came down from Wisconsin to visit us as well.  It was a perfect reunion as Norman was Frank's best man at Frank and Carol's wedding and they have always been best of friends.  We all stayed at the Super 8 in O'Fallon and had a great time visiting.  Jaine and I really appreciated the support everyone gave us for our ride.

From (l to r):  Elaine DuCharme, Lorraine Williams, Norman Williams, a guy who looks like Mayor of Brodhead Doug Pinnow in a Hawaiian shirt, Lucille Winters, John Winters, Jaine Winters, Carol Gombar, Frank Gombar

Early in our Ride Across America, Jaine and I instituted a program where a person could get a free Pearl Island America t shirt if they came up to me and said "Hey, you're the Pearl Island America guy!" or came up to Jaine and said "Hey, you're the Pearl Island America girl! (see the May 24 blog 'Two New Programs!")

I was eating breakfast at the Super 8, just about ready to hit the Katy for the last time when a guy came in wearing a black motorcycle outfit with a black helmet.  I looked up and thought "Hmmm....Darth Vader forgot his cape today" and kept talking to Jaine who was sitting across from me at the table.  Suddenly I felt the presence of someone behind me and heard a voice say "Hey, you're the Pearl Island America guy!"

Darth was right next to my left ear when he said it and I broke my jaw as it hit the floor.  I recognized the voice immediately.  It was one of (if not the) best wrestlers I ever coached in high school, Pat Sullivan.

Pat is an exceptional man.  In high school he wrestled for me at 185 lbs his senior year and dominated his weight class.  He had a 19-0 record and most of his victories were by pins.  Later, he served 10 years in the Navy and now works for our community in Brodhead at the Water and Light Department.  More importantly is Pat's sense of adventure.  He likes to hop on his motorcycle and travel to places he's never been before, hence his trip to see us on the Katy bike trail.  Pat also is a certified powered paraglider and has flown over our house on the lake on a couple of occasions.

His wife Jacqui is also a very exceptional woman.  She works at Monroe Clinic as a radiologist and is extremely fit.  Sometimes when I'm biking I will see her running and will visit with her as she runs.  Her typical distance?  Ten miles.  That's when she's not teaching an aerobics class.

Jacqui and Pat wrote a check for $100 to support our cause and Pat rode down on his motorcycle to deliver it to Jaine and I. He also came down for a t shirt and we were proud to give him the first t shirt handed out since we started the program.

Yup, people do make the world go round, don't they?

 

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