Danny’s Ride

Since Danny finished ahead of me last night, I got up early to make up the extra mileage.  I biked all the way to about 33 miles away from Fort Thomas before getting my second flat tire of the day.  With no cell phone coverage, I am amazed when Kelly (the woman from yesterday who Danny met at a gas station) and her friend Kat show up at the gas station.  They had been searching all day for Danny and without the help of cell phones, the job was increasingly difficult.

I put my bike in the back of their truck and we went out searching for Danny and Ken.  After twenty minutes of driving, I finally am in a cell phone range and call Ken.  He says they are over thirty miles in the opposite direction.  So, we turn the car around and head in their direction.  When we arrive, we find Danny is not wearing his biking clothes.  Danny’s bike was giving him problems going over the mountain that topped out at 4,600 feet elevation.

We found the closest bike store was over an hour away.  So, we put the bikes in the back of their Ford pickup truck and hit the road.  We got there at 6:00 p.m. and within a matter of minutes they were able to make the necessary adjustments to Danny’s bike to get it back to working order – free of charge!

Kelly and Kat then took us just down the street to a delicious BBQ place.  It was fantastic!  Kelly treated us to the meal and even brought us walkie-talkies to use during the trip especially in areas with no cell phone reception.  These will come in extremely handy!

We were extremely fortunate to have met Kelly, Tim (her husband) and Kat yesterday at the gas station.  We all agreed tonight that we were certainly meant to meet yesterday and today.  I just hope we can be as big of a help to them as they have been to us.  All three are truly great people and I wouldn’t be surprised if we run into each other again somewhere down the road.

We are staying at the same Best Western (in the same room!) that we did last night.  We really appreciate Best Western giving us a tremendous discount on our room for both nights.  They have been a huge help!  Thank you Best Western!  We will be doing 70 miles tomorrow to help compensate for the missed miles today.