Thursday July 23, 2009

BUSINESS DAY. It rained again today and I decided to stay at the motel in Fremont, Ohio another night and conduct a whole bunch of business.
The kids have invited me to fly to Utah and go with them to Lake Powell for a week. Ed has access to a houseboat and four out of the five families will be there. So today I planned how I can do it. I decided I could be at the airport in Omaha, Nebraska by August 8 and then be in Utah in time to go to Lake Powell with everyone. It is going to be a great family vacation and a lot of fun swimming in and exploring Lake Powell. I love each of the 23 members of my immediate family and can’t wait to see them.
It is going to be a stretch. There are not many airports in Iowa. Omaha is right on the eastern edge of Nebraska and is 1000 miles from where I am. I figured I would have to ride 75 miles a day to make it.
I bought tickets and the agent scheduled me to leave on Friday, August 7th instead of Saturday, August 8th (cost considerations) so I lost another day.
In addition to the “Plan A” that I already had, I formulated a “Plan B” and a “Plan C”. Plan A is just to ride hard and fast following the original route. Plan B is to rework the route and take shortcuts along highways with heavier and faster traffic. Plan C is to figure out where I can rent a car and drive to Omaha if I cannot make it on the bicycle in time. Preparing Plan B and C took a big part of the day.
I was also able to use a library internet session to install the scriptures on my iphone. I had purchased them from itunes a week ago but could not get them installed correctly. With help from the vendor I was finally able to get them installed.
I cut down on the equipment again today and sent another package home. I am now down to 50 lbs of gear in addition to the bicycle.
In the future I will probably not try to post to the blog daily. It will be the same story every day. “Ride 75 miles, eat, sleep and do it again the next day”. We shall see if I am up to the task. I am really enjoying this time and the compensation and planning that it involves as well as the physical challenge of moving an old body down the road everyday.