MOBILE! Let the Games Begin!

Oh man, what WAS I thinking six months ago when I signed up with Woman Tours to ride my bike 2000 miles from Mobile to Canada!! I've got to admit that when I got here and met these women who will be riding with me, I felt a little intimidated. There are only about four of us who have not done multiple tours with this company, many of them riding across the country from California to Florida. They all can fix flats, and pump up their own tires, and think NOTHING of riding 60 miles a day, up hill, into the wind, AND in the rain!! Well, maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration, but really, they are an amazing group of women. I have fixed ONE flat. And, I hate pumping up my tires!! I need MIKE HARTT!!! But, after meeting and talking to some of the women, I began to feel better again. Laurie, our tour guide, had a flat-fixing demo for some of us after orientation. I think she is going to be great. And, every woman I talked with said they won't pass me by if I have a flat. They are all willing to help me change a tire and get rolling again. So, I guess I'll take Mike out of my duffel bag. He was having a little trouble breathing in there anyway. I just hope those new tires that DB at The Bike Source in Monroe put on my bike will keep me from having a flat--then I won't have to worry about it. Tomorrow is our first day to ride. We have to go over a HUGE bridge on the way out of Mobile. We'll only ride 36 miles to Bay Minette, so if I make it over the bridge, I should be ok. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Hiking in Smoky Mountain National Park

Before going to Mobile to start my bicycle ride to Canada, Mike and I hiked in the Smokies with our hiking club for three days, and had a great time. There were not many wildflowers yet, but the mountain streams and waterfalls were spectacular. Mike is so crazy. He has been watching way too much "Man Verses Wild", and kept yelling "Yo Bear" as we hiked up to Mt Le Conte to make sure we didn't surprise a bear along the way. The lodge on Mt Le Conte was so much fun--log cabins with kerosene lanterns and no running water. It's the only place I've ever stayed that gives you a tin bucket at check-in. (Yeah, for WATER--I was thinking the same thing, too, since there were no bathrooms in the cabins.) The cabins were an experience, too. They had double bunk beds, so some of us slept with two people on the top bunk and two on the bottom bunk. Every cabin had a front porch with big rocking chairs. I just loved it! It was so good to park my bike and stop all the "training" I've been doing to get ready for this bike tour, and just spend some time looking at those beautiful smoky mountains.