Danny’s Ride

Day Statistics:
Bike Time: 5 Hours, 01 Minutes, 28 Seconds
Miles: 85.08 Total
Average Speed: 16.9 mph
Max Speed: 28.4

Trip Statistics:
Total Time: 1 Day, 01 Hours, 45 Minutes, 38 Seconds
Miles: 382.60
Max Speed: 41.8 Mph
Total Gallons of Water Consumed: 14

My alarm went off at 7:00.  I hit the snooze for another ten minutes.  When it went off again, I still didn’t feel more refreshed.  It must be the pink florescent lights shinning in through the 1980 blinds all night long.

I showered and packed my bag.  I walked down the row of rooms until I came to room 24 with its door wide open.  Danny and Ken were inside waiting.  We slowly walked across the highway towards the only restaurant in Salome and this time it was open.

We sat down, looked at the menu and ordered.  I went with the 8-ounce steak, two eggs, hash browns and toast.  Surprisingly, after the personal pizza, hamburger and cookies before bed last night, I was still hungry.  Danny ordered the same thing but topped my order by getting three eggs.

We sat there talking about Ken’s son’s new project – building a billion dollar hotel and casino in the Bahamas.  Not a bad job.  (Wonder if he has somewhere for me to work?)   While we were talking, my phone vibrated with a new email.  It was from Nadine Gurule, the Assistant General Manager of Hampton Inn in Yuma, Arizona where we had stayed on our way out to California.  She has been following us on the website and called ahead to the Phoenix Hampton Inn.

When our food arrived, it looked even better than I expected.  A great looking 8-ounce steak cooked to medium with a huge helping of hash browns.  As good as it looked, it tasted even better.  This was easily my second favorite breakfast of the trip – first place going to the “Kitchen Sink” in Ramona, California.

When we went to pay, we handed her our credit card.  She pointed to the sign that read “No Credit or Debit Cards.”  Luckily, Ken had cash on him or we would have had to make a run for the border again

By now it was nearly 8:45 and Danny had a phone interview at 10.  So we changed into our cycling clothes, put our bags in the motor home and got the bikes out.  Just before we were going to leave, Danny couldn’t find his wallet.  So we searched the hotel room, all over the motor home, still nothing.  Ken even called the Subway we had lunch at yesterday.

At last, while digging through his bag, Danny pulled out his wallet and hoisted it into the air.  “Got it!” he exclaimed.

We each breathed a sigh of relief.  Now it was about 9:30.  So, Danny took off on his bike while I put sunscreen on.  When I finished, I jumped on my bike and we were off on our 88-mile day!

Just 1.6 miles down the road, I run into Danny.  He is talking to another cyclist who is a cancer survivor.  We had an interesting talk with him about his cancer experience.  With just five minutes before the 10:00 interview, we see the motor home off in the distance coming toward us.  As Ken swings the 38’ motor home off onto the shoulder, Danny and I climb in to prepare for his interview.

Danny calls the number and reaches the radio station.  Wrong radio station.  They don’t know anything about our interview.  So, we call a second radio station.  Same result.  Last chance, we call a third radio station.  Bingo!  Debbie answers and is goes over a pre-interview with Danny.

Danny puts the conversation on speaker phone so we can listen in on the details of the interview.  Just before the interview is about to take place, Danny asks, “What is the reach of your radio station?”

“Roughly 1.5 million,” Debbie replied.  Our faces dropped.  “We are in four different states and many cities,” she continued.

We sat there in stunned silence.  Danny was going to be able to reach a lot of people in this one interview.  Debbie told us she would call back because she had to go into the recording studio for the interview.  Within minutes, Debbie called and interviewed Danny.  It went fantastic.  Danny nailed it.  When it was said and done, the interview lasted about 15 minutes but would be edited down and played several times on the station.

Not a bad start to the day!  With 86.4 miles to go and it being after 11:00, we jumped on our bikes with a new excitement.  A couple miles in, Danny told me again to go ahead so I wasn’t waiting on him.  As I pedaled ahead, I kept being hit by bugs as if I was a semi-truck doing 70 on an interstate.

I would be biking and with no warning, a bug would hit me.  It wasn’t as much the pain as the unexpectedness of the whole thing.  One of the times, I felt something hit my right ankle.  “Owww!” I exclaimed.  I look down and see that I have been stung.  I brought my bicycle to a halt, reach down and pull out a red stinger.  I watch as my ankle starts to swell.

I start biking but continue to check my ankle every twenty seconds to make sure it isn’t swelling up too big.  Not that I could do much of anything, I was in the middle of the Arizona desert with the nearest town now about 30 miles away.  Five minutes of biking and checking my ankle, I feel my front tire begin to shake.

I look down and know instantly that I have a flat.  I dismount the bike and take the tire off.  I grab my tools and realize I don’t have the tools to change the tire.  So, as cars drive by, I sit waiting for Danny.  After about fifteen minutes, a Dish Network van drives by, stops, turns around and approaches me.  “Need any help?” asks the driver.

“Thanks for stopping,” I say, grateful someone was making sure I was ok.  “I am waiting for my partner to get here.  He has the tools to change a flat.”  As I look down the highway, I see an outline of Danny off in the distance approaching.

I introduce myself and learn his name is “Eddie Cotton, like 100% cotton.”  I tell him what Danny and I are doing in the middle of the Arizona desert.  As I am telling him Danny’s story, Danny rolls up to the car and introduces himself.  I point to the bike, “I got a flat tire, Danny.”  “Let’s get that fixed,” says Danny.

“Are you sure have everything?  You don’t need a ride anywhere?” asks Eddie.

“No.  We are going to change this tire and be back on the road.  We are heading to Surprise, Arizona today.”
“Surprise?  Wow.  You have a long way to go,” said Eddie.
“Yeah about another 70 miles.”  It was almost 2:00.  This was going to be a long day.  “By the way,” I said, “Are there a lot bees out here?”
“Yeah there are.  There are a lot of African bees here.  Stay away from the trees.  If you see a clump of bees, don’t go anywhere near it.  Those bees swarm together and have killed people.”
I swallowed hard as I looked at the trees.  I had been hearing a slight buzzing for a while now.
“Are you sure you don’t need anything?” asked Eddie.
“No I think we are good.” I replied.  “Thank you so much for stopping.  I don’t know what I would do if Danny wasn’t here with the tools,” I said gratefully.
“No problem,” Eddie replied.  “Good luck to you guys.  That is a great thing you are doing.”
And with that, Eddie slowly turned his van around and was off.  I had seen at least 50 cars go by and not a single one even slowed down.  When I buy my first house, I would consider putting in a dish from Dish Network just because Eddie took the time to stop.

Danny dug through his tools.  Nothing.  He didn’t have the right tools either.  So, luckily we were in cell phone range, we called Ken.  He was about 20 minutes away and was on his way.  So, Danny and I sat on the side of the road listening to the buzzing of bees and bugs overhead.

Twenty minutes later, Ken showed up in the motor home. We got the tools, took the tire off, put the new tube in and pumped it up.  The entire process took another twenty minutes.  While we had the pump out, Danny and I checked the tire pressure in our tires and added air to each.

While I cleaned up, Danny grabbed some water and we hit the road again.  The next town was about 15 mile ahead and Ken would be waiting for us.  I got there ahead of Danny and went into a gas station to ask a good place to eat.  The woman I asked, pointed through the window to a trailer across the street.  “If you like Mexican, they are here every Tuesday.  It is delicious and reasonable.”

Mexican food it was.  Ken and I went over and ordered two beef burritos.  I sat at the park bench looking at a flea market across the street.  I quickly inhaled my large burrito and walked through the flea market.  One thing I saw made me run back to my bike to grab the camera.  It was “Hunter” for underwear.  Not exactly sure who they are marketing it to but I thought it was funny.

After walking through the flea market, Danny arrived and I hit the bike again.  We still had 60 miles to go and it was already 3:00.  I should easily be able to make it by sunset but I didn’t want to take any chances.  It was a long and hot day but I kept on pace.  With twelve miles to go, it was around 5:40.  I was definitely going to make it by 7:00.

Then my back tire started shaking uncontrollably and my speed went way down.  I glanced over my shoulder towards my tire.  “No, please don’t be flat.  I’m just twelve miles from finishing!” I thought.  It was – my back tire was flat.

Now, for the second time of the day I am standing by the road with a flat tire without the right tools to fix it.  I called Ken.  He was forty miles back but would start heading this way.  So, I sat.  After about ten minutes, a white Dish Network pulls over.  “Now what are the odds that two Dish Network trucks would pull over to help me in the same day!” I thought.

Out pops Eddie from the drivers seat.  I stood there stunned.  Last time I had seen Eddie was seven hours and fifty miles ago.  “What was he doing here?” I thought.  He smiled and asked, “Another flat?”  I still couldn’t believe he was there.  “Yeah, can you believe it?” I managed to stammer.
“Is your ride coming?” he asked.
“Yeah but I think it might take him a while,” I replied.
“There is a gas station just up the road.  Want me to take you there so you don’t have to wait by the side of the highway.”  I thought about it for a second.  “Sure,” I finally said.  “Beats being here!”

So he placed my bike gently in his car (to not injure his equipment) and opened the passenger seat for me.  The gas station was about six miles in the direction he was heading so we started talking.  Turns out, he had worked at a restaurant about an hour from where I grew up in Iowa.  Small world.  The more I talked with Eddie, the more I liked him.

He was an honest, hard working guy with a big heart.  I mean with two flat tires, I had seen at least 100 cars pass by without any hesitation of pulling over to see if I was alright.  Eddie had done it not once but twice.  In fact, when Eddie dropped me off at the gas station, he got his fingers covered in grease by helping me take the back tire off.

When Eddie had finished cleaning his fingers, he even called a local television station to tell them about our story.  While he was with me at the gas station making sure I was alright, he asked several times if he could get me a sandwich.  After knowing Ken was on his way, he took off to work.  Dish Network is awfully lucky to have someone like Eddie working for them.

Now, I have never considered getting a dish.  I have always thought they must be too much of a hassle and figured it was just simpler to get cable.  But, when I buy (or rent) my first home, I will get a dish from Dish Network.  All because Eddie went out of his way to help a complete stranger (twice).  I plan on contacting Dish Network to let them know how much Eddie did for us and how it has impacted me and our trip.

Eddie – Could you please email me your address again?  I put the paper in my back pocket of the riding shirt and put it through the wash without checking the pocket. I want to make sure you get a shirt.  Thanks again for everything.  I have no idea how the day would have turned out without your help.  By the way, is that the correct spelling of your name?  If not, I will change it immediately.  I want to get your spelling correct.

Eddie soon took off to get back to work but gave me his number in case I had any problems.  What a guy!  I called Ken.  He couldn’t find the gas station.  So, I went inside and got the address from the attached Blimpie Subs.  Punching the address in to the GPS, nothing would come up.  Ok, now we are starting to have a problem.

Finally after over an hour and a half at the gas station (got to see a beautiful sunset!), Ken arrived.  I carried my gear to the other side of the gas station and tried to change my first tire.  Yes, I know this is embarrassing from someone attempting to cross country but it’s the truth so I had to put it in here.

I had a really difficult time getting the tire off in order to pull the tube out.  It took me at least fifteen minutes.  Now, I finally got the new tube in and tire back on.  I had changed my first tire!  Like a proud parent, Ken took a picture.

I set the tire down and got the bike ready to put it back on.  When I went to grab the tire, it was flat.  Ok, so I didn’t change my first tire.  I knew exactly what had happened.  When I put the new tube in, it became twisted as I was putting it in and when I pumped it up, it burst.

So, after twenty more minutes, I got the tire off and the new tube in.  After a quick pump, I was ready to put it back on.  This time as I reached for the tire, it was still full of air.  “That’s a good sign,” I thought.  Hey what do you expect me to think after 88 miles and over four hours of delays due to flat tires.  By this point, it was pitch black.

Ken drove me back to where I had stopped, I turned on my flashing bike light and started biking.  Nine miles into the ride, I had had enough.  I was too inexperienced for night riding.  So, I pulled off at a buffet and called Ken.  He picked me up and then we went three miles down the road and picked up Danny.

What a day.  Before heading to our hotel, we were in desperate need of a meal.  So, we went to a place we knew we would get a great meal – Applebees.  It is now 10:30 at night as we sit down to eat.  We are covered in grease, mud and dried sweat.  We briefly explain what we are doing to the manager as we sit down.

Danny and I each ordered raspberry lemonade and between us, we had to drink at least ten glasses.  I felt bad for our waitress but she was terrific and didn’t mind.  I think she was actually impressed!  When we finished eating, our waitress told us that the manager had taken care of the bill.

We were shocked because we hadn’t told her our story to try to get a free meal.  She had done this out of the goodness of her heart.  We were amazed.  While we were thanking her, we found out her father is fighting cancer and it is an unknown type of cancer.  We wish you and your family the best of luck and will keep him in our prayers.

We headed to the Hampton Inn and got in well after midnight.  We walked into a terrific room with three enormous beds and two flat screen tvs.  Again, thank you to everyone at Hampton Inn who have been so supportive of Danny’s Ride.

It didn’t take long for all of us to be in bed.  Tomorrow is a rest day and boy do we need it after today.