I Care I Cure I Cycle: November 2016

This may be the end of this leg of this ride

but it is not quite the end of the road

for I Care I Cure I Cycle!

More details later in the blog!

We just have a few more New Orleans photos

to share before moving on!

No stop in New Orleans is complete without

beignets at Cafe du Monde! No crowd this

chilly early morning. That's a first!

The wind was whipping through the French Quarter,

Glenn's estimate was 15 MPH :)

A visit to the Mighty Mississippi River

was a necessity. We started at this point last

year when we headed East to the Atlantic Ocean

and we end here this year!

You know that I have been totally honest here about

the challenges of this ride. From 8 flat tires, to difficult

terrain, to sketchy towns and accommodations, to

desolate countryside. There were times when Glenn's

head was giving up even though his legs were not

giving out but we kept going! I knew that we would

both regret giving up....so we took it one day at a time

and were triumphant and are glad that we persevered.

One of the things that kept us going along this route

was the opportunity to visit with dear old friends

(not age but length of friendship)! Laurie Johnson Myer

wins the prize in this category since she and I were

childhood friends in Lakewood, New Jersey, She

lives in Lotte, Alabama and rode a segment of the ride

with Glenn last year and met us for lunch on our way

home to Atlanta this year! Thanks, Laurie!

The Rockin' Rider!

Thanks so much to those of you who

shared your bike signs with us!

Honorable Mentions Go To:

Marc Chester for this one taken on

his bike at the Jersey Shore!

Fred Salmons for this sign that

could not have been more perfect for

moments we had on this ride!

To Sam Thurston for this great

sign in Asheville, NC

The Winner has to be Fredi Pearlmutter,

who has been sending me bike signs from

Australia and New Zealand for the last

few weeks. All the signs below are from her.

Fredi, your tee shirt will be waiting for you at home!

We just booked our flights to be at the

10th Annual I Care I Cure I Run 5K and Family Fun Day!

Why not join us?!?!

We'll be Team We Are Family!

Sunday, February 12, 2017

8:00 AM start

At Nova Southeastern University

Davie, Florida

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO!

Just in case you think that bicycles are only

Glenn's focus when we are on the rides, I thought

I would share some of the art work that graces

our office at home. It is amazing how many

websites exist just to please the bicyclist!

Thanks to all who have contributed to

this amazing collection!

Now back to our reentry into life

off the road and in Atlanta! Above,

the sun sets on our way home from

New Orleans, the bike resting from

the long journey while Glenn drove

since I had done my share of driving

more than 1500 miles in 3 weeks.

This beautiful sunrise greeted us on our first

morning waking up in our own bed!

First thing on the agenda the first day home was

to clean up the bike....and the car! Both had layers

of dust and dirt which took elbow grease to remove!

This was Sunday morning....

Now the trusty bike gets a rest as Glenn

had decided to take a few days off.

That didn't last too long.

He was back on the bike on Wednesday to ride to work!

Just a quick update on the condition of the

SAG vehicle....After the local Buick dealer

service staff had the car for a week, it seems

that all of the little annoying problems have been

fixed! It will live to SAG another day!

We hope that you enjoyed a wonderful

Thanksgiving with family and friends!

You can see above that we had a special

family day after our long journey!

We are so very grateful for all of your donations,
support and encouragement! We are pleased
to announce that the total raised for I Care I Cure
as of today is $8800. If you would still like to
make a donation, we would be thrilled to add to this
total and continue to strive toward our $10,000 goal.
We hope to help make it possible for any child who
suffers from cancer to have treatment that is less
toxic, gentler and more humane!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

Our next route!

It is amazing that we are ready to talk about the next ride,

possibly our last. It seems that the weather in the

desert and the availability of our family might dictate the

time frame. We will keep you posted but it seems

most likely that we will plan for the end of December 2017.

The ride will begin in Phoenix, head to San Diego and

finish up at the Santa Monica Pier, a 500 mile ride. This will

complete Glenn's bicycle journey around the entire

perimeter of the USA, more than 10,000 miles.

Hoping for a big celebration at the end!

You will hear from us occasionally through

the year with news and updates but for now....

Our last day of a ride is always bittersweet.

We are ready to head home but we are sad

to know that all that we planned and anticipated

for so long has flown by so quickly!

You might notice a little bit of something white

sticking out of Glenn's helmet. His head was

getting a striped sunburn from the slits in his helmet.

Today a tissue protected his scalp!

I think he might need one of these to wear under

his helmet as our friend, Warren, does!

Glenn departed Morgan City a little earlier than most

days, at 7:30, since he wasn't quite sure what the day

would bring. He was excited and ready to roll!

I left about two hours later and meandered

past the Port of Morgan City and along several bayous

Glenn captured this riverboat on the bayou

near the Port of Morgan City. It turns out that

it is the Amelia Belle Casino! Now this might

attract me to play my $5 on the slots but the

many gas station casinos along the route

were not very appealing :)

This is where I knew that my route to find Glenn today

might be a bit challenging! Glenn had mentioned all of these

roads and there they were all at one intersection! I called

him to confirm which way to go. Below are the directions

he printed out this morning for us both to follow...no mileage

and lots of turns and winding through neighborhoods.

When I finally met up with him at step 35, we decided to

parts ways and I headed to New Orleans with 30 miles to go.

From Morgan City to Tulane University
7 hr 0 min (85 mi)
1. Head west on Allison St toward Dr M.L.K. Jr Blvd
2. Turn left onto Dr M.L.K. Jr Blvd
3. Turn left onto US-90 BUS E
4. Turn right onto Duhon Blvd/Duhon Bypass Rd/LA-182 Frontage S
5. Turn left onto LA-182 Frontage S
6. Turn left onto LA-182 Frontage N
7. Turn right onto LA-182 E/US-90 BUS E
8. Continue onto LA-20
9. Slight right onto Par Rd 32
10. Continue onto LA-20 E
11. Turn right onto Palmetto St
12. Palmetto St turns left and becomes Patrick Dr
13. Turn right onto Vine St
14. Turn left onto Mulberry St
15. Turn right to stay on Mulberry St
16. Turn right onto Back Project Rd/Par Rd 25
17. Turn left onto Isle of Cuba Rd/Par Rd 28
18. Slight left onto Helen Park Place
19. Turn right onto Clara St
20. Turn right onto W Main St/Ms22109 133000010
21. Turn left onto Waterplant Rd
22. Continue onto Old Hwy 650
23. Turn right onto Burma Rd
24. Continue onto Grandmaw Ln
25. Turn right onto LA-1 S
26. Turn left at LA-182 W
27. Turn right onto LA-308 S
28. Turn left onto LA-182 E
29. Turn left onto US-90 E
30. Turn left onto Paul Maillard Rd
31. Turn left at River Rd
32. Sharp right onto Mississippi River Trail
33. Turn left onto LA-18 E/River Rd
34. Slight left onto LA-18
35. Turn left onto US-90 E
36. Take the I-90(E) ramp to Jefferson Hwy
37. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for Louisiana 48
38. Slight right onto US-90 E (signs for LA-48 E)
39. Turn right onto Shrewsbury Ct
40. Turn left to stay on Shrewsbury Ct
41. Turn left onto Mississippi River Trail
42. Turn left toward Burdette St
43. Continue onto Burdette St
44. Turn right onto Hampson St
45. Turn left onto Broadway St
46. Sharp right at Oak St
47. Turn left toward Zimpel St
48. Turn right toward Zimpel St
49. Continue onto Zimpel St
50. Arrive at location: Tulane University

Happy to see a bike friendly area running along the bayou!

At first I thought these were cat tails.....

Until I found these!!!!

Hmmmm....I was tempted to stop in here!

Today on Facebook and Instagram I got a little cheesy

with a caption for these pix.

"I couldn't "Bayou" a better view than this one!"

Sorry :)

Now I know that this is sugar cane!

I got quite an education yesterday!

I guess the zoning here works for animals grazing in the front yard!

A Parish Road...not a state or county.

Another of these colorful eye-catching road signs in LA

One bridge closer to New Orleans

From Glenn's bike seat!

Another sugar mill in Raceland, LA

This is where Glenn and I finally found each other after

he had been on the road for 4 1/2 hours! He was

fine and just hopped in the car for lunch. Glenn

headed out on his own to reconnect with me in

New Orleans on the Tulane University Campus.

Only one small glitch marred an otherwise perfect day!

Shortly after Glenn left me, he had one last flat tire!

I delighted in taking highways for the last

30 miles. The morning of small roads and

so many turns was hard work. This was

mindless driving into NOLA!

Mississippi River!

Glenn said to think of him as a drop of water that

fell on the eastern side of the Continental Divide in

New Mexico and now made it to the Mississippi River!

This says, better than even Glenn could, what it feels

like on a bicycle. Such accurate words from Ernest!

Glenn's first glimpse of the New Orleans Skyline!

My drive-by shooting of the NOLA skyline

and the Super Dome!

It was such a shame to waste this lovely area right outside of our

room in today's hotel. Too busy to enjoy it except for a few minutes!

Off through New Orleans Uptown District on

the way to Tulane University to meet Glenn.

Tulane University Admissions Office

We first spent some time here in 1994 when

our daughter, Jill, visited the campus as

a high school junior. It turned out that she spent

all but her junior year abroad at Tulane.

That is why Glenn chose the campus as his

final destination today. We have fond memories

of many visits to NOLA and the campus!

When Jill attended H. Sophie Newcomb College

was the women's college of Tulane.

And here he comes!

Easy ride into the Big Easy!

After Glenn's arrival at Tulane, we headed to the

hotel before a celebratory dinner!

Our very Jazzy New Orleans hotel for the night

Our view for the day and night

Not a bad work area!

Today's Stats

81.77 miles on the 19th riding day of this trip!

That old Irish blessing worked today:

May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.

These things and the 55 foot ascent today

made for a very pleasant ride!

Glenn arrived at Tulane at 3 PM today!

We added up all of the miles for the trip and the

grand total for Glenn on his bike is 1390.62 miles!

We walked to dinner at an old favorite from Jill's

Tulane days, Mr. B's Bistro on Royal Street.

Saw some interesting things on the way.

Filming of a horror film, Half to Death, was going on just

around the corner from our hotel. Thankfully, we only saw the trucks,

signs and crew....no action on the street at that time!

Cheers! What is a visit to NOLA without a Hurricane?!

I much prefer the liquid kind to the weather kind!

After eating his dinner, half of mine and a shared

dessert, Glenn decided to order Profiteroles!

Catching up on all of those lost calories!

The charm of the street car in New Orleans

isn't lost on us! We've enjoyed many rides up

St.Charles from the French Quarter to Tulane!

A welcome sign just for us!

This seems like a good time to share some of my feelings and thoughts about this journey and its conclusion today. At one point, when Glenn mentioned doing this ride, I said that he would have to find someone else to drive his SAG vehicle for this one. Nothing about driving across the desert and Texas appealed to me. As I have each time, I finally agreed to do this trip but with trepidation. Would we find places to stay along this route and what would we find when we reached each one? Would we have to worry about bed bugs? Would the roads be safe for Glenn with animals roaming or, worse yet, people who don't like cyclists on the roads? Could his body take so many consecutive days of riding for so many miles each day? Would I be safe pulling off the desolate roads to wait for Glenn? Would we find gas and food on the route? Would three weeks be too long? Would our phones work? Would anyone read the blog? Would our little grandsons forget who we are? Would we run out of underwear? (By the way, we found the lost underwear and bicycle light!) Is it possible that we could actually do this and return home safe and sound? Well, now I can say with certainty that we survived it all and are even talking about next year's ride!

When these concerns arose, it merely took thinking about our purpose for these rides to put everything into perspective and to force me to move forward. When my sister and brother-in-law founded I Care I Cure, I never realized how important this cause would become in our lives. It's such a helpless feeling when a child in the family is ill and you can't do a thing about it. We couldn't help Ian then but we can help I Care I Cure insure that other children are provided with less toxic, gentler and more humane treatment for childhood cancers. Every ride we do helps us to feel like we are part of the solution.

Finally, I do have regrets about the journey's conclusion today. I should have planned a grand celebration at the end of the ride. When Glenn rode in I didn't have champagne, signs or confetti. There was no band, cheering crowd or paparazzi. I decided right then that next year we will have family, friends and fun at the end of the ride! When Glenn rides from Phoenix to San Diego next year, he will have pedaled the entire perimeter of the US. Now that is definitely something to celebrate! Join us!