I left Taxco this morning at around 9 a.m. on a cool cloudy morning. I wasn’t anticipating a terribly hard day, but after all the climbing, I finally got near Coatepec at around 3:30 p.m. I say “got near” because I’ve yet to arrive by bicycle. About three miles out, the rain started falling. After about an hour waiting in the car for it to stop, we decided to load the bike in the car and call it quits for the day. That put me at 49 miles for the day. I’ll go back and start from there tomorrow.
Over those 49 miles, I’ve gone from 5,300 feet leaving Taxco up to 6,600 feet then dropping down to 3,700 before starting back up. The rain started at about 6,700 feet. I’m now at 7,309 feet, so guess how I get to start the day tomorrow?
In fact, all day tomorrow should be climbing with valleys in between. I have so much to look forward to… The view, however, have been spectacular. The bad thing is that Jon can’t drive AND take photos AND film at the same time.
I got a message midway through the day saying my best friend’s sister had died in the early morning. Diana found out the day before the trip started that the doctors had given up hope in fighting her sister’s cancer. I spent some time sobbing on the bicycle. It hurts to be away at this time. I was already discouraged just knowing everything that I have to do between now and Sept. 30 to make it to OKC on time… and now this.
In part, I’m discouraged because we’ve only sold maybe 120 miles online. I really didn’t think it would be that hard to sell the miles. And here I am, climbing mountains at 6 mph, getting eaten by biting gnats every time I stop and riding in the cold rain. If nobody is going to buy miles and help us build the senior refuge, why in the world am I doing this?
I’m not going to quit, though. Every time it seems that we’re accomplishing next to nothing, I get an encouraging message or I find out some unexpected person is helping to promote the trip. Something good is going to happen. I just don’t know what…or when. If you want to buy miles, go to www.bethechangeok.org and click on “buy miles.”
Next stop – Valle de Bravo.
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