Monday, 6Sep10, REST DAY, San Diego, CA
Well the day started out early enough … on the road from Thousand Oaks, CA, I drove to San Diego … and arrived in San Diego early enough to have some down time.
Today was a REST DAY! In San Diego, I took a bicycle ride for a couple of hours and did a surprise “drop in” at the SD Blood Bank.
I met 3 wonderful staff who were very friendly! I want to say a special “Thank You” to Nancy, Sam, and Jenny for making me feel so ”welcome”!
After that visit to SDBB … I rode my bicycle over to the “Midway” and met LCommander Ralph and Getrude Sage, Ralph thank you for your many years of Naval service, and to Gertrude … I want to thank you for taking care of Ralph for 59 years! Wow!
It was amazing to listen to Lt Commander Sage speak about his experiences while serving in the Navy (he sure knows the history of the Naval battles) … however … I had a lot of fun talking to Gertrude (who was sitting in a chair at the back of the crowd gathered around listening to her husband of 59 years!)
I said to her … “you look like you’ve heard this talk a few times before?” She laughed and we started up a conversation about how they always do everything together, however, her legs hurt if she stands up there with him. She said that when he’s done they’ll go out for a beer and then dinner afterwards. … So I decided to wait for a break in his talk … to take a picture with him and her … (check out the photos on Facebook)
While I was waiting for Ralph to finish his talk, I rode over to the “huge” statute of the sailor kissing a beautiful girl to take a picture next to it and a couple came up … so I asked if they could take a picture for me … he said “yes” and he did … then his wife noticed that we both has the same kind of “leg scars”, so we took a picture of “our scars”!
So a great big “Thank You” to George Stears (who is a survivor also) … who said he had family who lived in Santa Rosa, CA! (Small world, eh?)
I was able to talk to Jon Gunderson today (Jon is a fellow cross country challenge cyclist from Phase 1) he might be able to visit with me tomorrow at the SD Blood Bank …
Also I was able to hook up with Doug Reinhardt and his wife (Doug is the ride along who was with me the night of my accident and actually saved my life … if he hadn’t been there … I would have bled to death, before anyone else could have gotten to me.)
While I’m thanking people … A special thank you to Jen Shoffner, was has been volunteering as the LAA 2010 publicist and decided that it would be a good thing to spend a week with me on the road and on the front lines at the blood centers from Albuquerque, NM, to Bakersfield … she has done a wonderful job of “tying the loose ends together” for all the blood centers PR/Marketing staff! She also was very involved in Ability Across California 1995, and Life Across America 1996! Thank you, Jen!
I’m now getting ready for a blood drive tomorrow at the SD Blood Bank … and, then afterwards, I will be driving up to Bakersfield to try to stay ahead of the curve … so let me count how many days/stops are left?
San Diego, Bakersfield, (NAS Lemoore and Fresno), Stockton, Eugene, OR, and Eureka, CA.
So I’m seeing 6 days plus a rest day or two in the middle … but, who is counting, eh?