Eastern Indiana Day 39

Pictured above is "Boston Greg", at a Dairy Queen near Richmond, Indiana, where we're staying tonight. Wayne, Greg, and I had all had a little ice cream before reaching our hotel (after a lovely 73 mile ride), and Greg wanted some cold water available for the last few miles into the hotel. He waited patiently for someone to come to the window--then he waited less patiently. This photo was taken just as he decided to launch himself through the window, to get the water himself.......Watch your head, Greg!

After arriving at the hotel, we had a nice visit from Bill, who is in the middle of the middle photo. Bill, Cliff, and I rode "Down the East" coast last summer with AbB. Cliff (on the left) is riding the AbB Cross Country Challenge this year for the third time--"'til I get it right". He has also ridden the "North Ride" across the continent, and the "Fast Ride" across, so this is his fifth crossing with AbB in the last ten years or so! He says his wife feels that, at age 70, this should be his last long bike trip. We'll see.

Bill has also ridden the Cross Country Challenge with AbB, in 2003. He gave me lots of great advice for this trip, including the laptop I'm typing on now, certain software choices (he's a real "technology fan"), and lots of hints on how to prepare for the ride. Bill lives in Cincinnati, and drove up to spend the afternoon and evening with us. It was great seeing him, sharing stories, etc... Bill got to meet many of our riders, and they all enjoyed the visit. Great to see you, Bill, and Thanks again!

Pictured third is a photo of our AbB staff--from left to right are Andy, Gerard, Michelle and Christine. I've written about all these fine people, but haven't shown a photo of them together before now. They are all strong riders, and work hard to make sure the cyclists have a great trip and remain as safe as possible. Andy is either the slowest eater, or is on his third plate of food!

In the next 4 days, we are scheduled to ride almost 400 miles, so today's shorter ride was appreciated by many. We are near the Ohio border already.

Oh, and before I forget, we celebrated Brian's 40th birthday today! There are two great photos of Brian on yesterday's "blog" below. He told us about his birthday when the ride started, and seemed surprised that we remembered it! He had cake, cards and lots of laughs.