Danny’s Ride

Thank you to all those who donated yesterday!  We were amazed to see the donations come flooding in.  Let’s keep them coming.  Please help us each our goal of 1,000 people.

Day Statistics:
Bike Time: 4 Hours, 11 Minutes, 44 Seconds
Miles: 51.92 Total (7 miles in the wrong direction!)
Average Speed: 12.4 mph
Max Speed: 28.6

Total Trip Miles to Date: 752.05
Total Trip Flat Tires: Drew 4, Danny 4

Weather: High of 97 with not a cloud in the sky.  Hot!!  Great biking day.

We got on the road around 10:15.  Not ten miles into the ride, we had our first interview of the day.  It was with the NBC-affiliate in El Paso, Channel 9.  We had a great time talking with Russ Pappas and Eddie Romero.  They put together a terrific video which can be seen by clicking here: http://www.ktsm.com/local/dannys-ride

The interview went so well and was so emotional that it ended with a hug between Danny and Russ.  Danny and I would like to personally thank Channel 9 for everything they have done.  The video turned out terrific.  Thank you for helping us share Danny’s story.

After nearly an hour with Eddie and Russ, we wanted to stay longer but knew we had many miles and a couple interviews still awaiting so we hit the road.  We biked a couple miles more to where Ken had parked the motor home on the shoulder of the highway to provide us with water and any support in case anything went wrong.

After a quick stop, Danny and I headed to the next town – Anthony, which was about 7 miles away.  We met Ken there again but couldn’t find food close to the highway.  We didn’t want to leave the highway because the local Fox affiliate had called to say they were on there way.  Ken volunteer if we called in sandwiches from Subway to go pick them up.  We gratefully took him up on his offer and this way we could continue biking.

We quickly called in our order and hit the road as Ken went to pick them up.  After a half hour of biking, we still couldn’t find the street we needed to turn on.  So, we stopped and asked someone.  “It is back in Anthony, 7 miles that way,” he said as he pointed in the direction we had just come.

We biked 7 miles in the wrong direction.  By now, two other news stations – the CBS affiliate and ABC affiliate had called and were looking to meet us on the road.  The problem was, its tough to give directions when you don’t know where you are!

So, we called Ken.  He had just finished picking up the sandwiches and was on his way to the rescue.  I called the tv stations back and told them we would be heading toward El Paso in order to make it easier for them to find us.  When Ken picked us up, we drove 20 minutes into El Paso and interviewed with KVIA – the ABC affiliate in El Paso – www.KVIA.com and the CBS affiliate, KDBC, – www.KDBC.com

Carlos from KVIA was terrific.  He had driven around all afternoon trying to find us and never gave up.  Thank you for your persistence.  It gave Danny the opportunity to reach your viewers and maybe save one of their lives.  I forgot to write down the reporter from KDBC but he was very professional and did an outstanding job.  Thank you for your help as well!

When Danny finished with the interviews, Ken drove us back to the road we had biked right passed and we started biking again.  By now, it was 5:30 and the sun was already beginning to tuck behind the mountains.  We biked nearly 25 miles further and watched a beautiful sunset.

As we were biking, I had my head down and I heard Danny exclaim, “Look at that!”  I snapped my head up and without even thinking, blurted out, “That’s not good.”  It was a coyote standing twenty feet in front of us on the opposite side of the two lane highway.

I’m pretty sure I saw it lick its lips as it turned its head and saw Danny and me.  We kept pedaling, all the meanwhile having a staring contest with the coyote.  When I was at a safe distance, I took out my camera and took a picture, then quickly got on my bike and without looking back, pedaled like crazy.

While we were biking, Ken went and checked in at the hotel.  Danny and I biked back to the 711 gas station we had done interviews at just a couple hours earlier.  We called Ken and he came right over to pick us up.

We ended up having a well deserved dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  We were able to get a very good discount which made it affordable to eat there on a budget.  After finishing our meal, we went back to the hotel and relaxed.  It had been a long day in the sun and we were beat.  We had pretty much reached the entire city of El Paso through television.  Although we missed our connection with the Fox-affiliate in El Paso, we are going to try to meet with them tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a day off and we need it.  We have a lot of errands to run and things to do so there won’t be much relaxation but it will be a day to rest the legs before we take on Texas!

A huge Thank You to Mike MAcias of Comfort Inn and Suites of Las Cruces.  He not only helped us out with a great rate in Las Cruces, he helped us out with a great rate in El Paso.  Thanks Mike!

To see the day’s pictures, click here.