I just can't say no ...

So, hopes high, skies cloudy, light drizzle - Gary told me he would pose for the camera if I would just stop taking photos of him trying to take off his outer clothes in the car (a difficult feat for a 6'3" man). He graciously left off the rain gear so I could show you that I would be able to spot him in a crowd if needed. I told him to smile for the camera. This was all he could muster:

And apparently ONE was all I was allowed to take. I CAN JUST READ THAT FACE ... And I'm not allowed to tell you what it says:

Dropped him off and then set out on another wild flower run. I am happy with the photos I have (well, until A.J. went and wrecked it, that is ...) so this was just icing on the cake ...

And, yet again, I could not decide what to leave in and what to leave out - so threw everything in - so much easier than actually making decisions (I am bone tired ... and I didn't just ride 80 miles - with my tire dragging on the brake for the last 20 miles. Later ... we will get to that ...)

Lovely orange and yellow! ( ... Are we there yet? ... No ...)


More of the same. Just like Lays pototo chips ... (Are we there now? .... Not quite yet ... wait for it ...):

Pretty, no? ( Here? Hmmm, getting close - but not quite .... wait ...)

About here! ... But I was yet to be informed of what I just did (betcha all you Texans can guess what is coming ...):

Pretty ... "Must take photos ... must take photos ... must... hey" ... was that a BITE?

ON MY LEG?

OH SHIT!

I apparently stepped on a fire ant hill ...

... AND THEY ARE CRAWLING UP MY LEGS!

(Under long legged pants)

I slap my calves a few times, it does no good,

Snap a photo ...

smack my leg ....

yell "Ow" ...

throw in a swear word for good measure ...

Snap a photo ...

Slap my calves silly ...

More foul mouthed yelling ...

Snap a photo ...

Snap another on the way to the car -

or the road,

or anywhere where I can see the ground and what is crawling and what is not ...

Came

THIS CLOSE

to taking my pants off, and I was so MAD! Not paying attention at all, and boy - this hurts -

Arrgh!!! STOP BITING ME!!!

Snap a photo ...

Pull the bell bottom like bottoms above my knees and go to work 'de-anting' my legs. Don't EVEN ASK me where I found ants at the next restroom ... where I unceremoniously shucked every item of clothing I was wearing (while in a stall) shook it out, swore, killed ants ...

Didn't take any photos ...

But until then,

I STILL TOOK PHOTOS ...

just slapping and swearing.

Got in the car and when I would smack my shoes together really hard a few time (no, I didn't chant "There's no place like home" ... although it would have been convenient about then ...) I filled up Gary's trucks foot mat with ants, so I would jump out of the car, pull the mat out and shake it off.

After four or five time of that - my lower limbs seemed to be clear of creepy crawlie bitie thingies.

And I stopped another place for a few photos!

I am such a sucker for flowers and churches:

Some more at fences - they are all mixed together and I did not place them in order because:

It is late ...

My son just called lost trying to find our hotel ...

I am tired ...

and, well, I just don't care ...

But ... still pretty!



Got to La Grange (and bathrooms, lovely, lovely bathrooms!) and snapped more shots around town while waiting for Gary to call saying he was almost to the fairgrounds (my cue to take the shuttle in to the fair grounds).



Got to the fair grounds just in time to miss him crossing over some imaginary 'for the day' finish line.

Got ourselves to the Hyatt - a Spa and very swanky retreat - but not without hitches that we won't go into here.


Seriously a beautiful place - I highly recommend it, and the prime rib and seafood buffet ...

Gary went out to lube his chain, because it needed it, and he noticed that he had broken a spoke. This, apparently, is bad - I don't speak "racing bike".

It was too late to get it repaired and he cannot ride on it. He apparently did that for the last 20 miles where it had the brake dragging on the tire (something about the wheel being wobbly, thus wobbling over and dragging on one brake pad, then wobbling over to the other brake pad ... but this may be totally wrong - as I say - I don't speak that language) - thus why he slowed down going up hill, wondered why he was not coasting as fast going down a hill, and was overall way more tired than he felt he should be.

So - with very little chance we can get a bike store to fix this at 6:00am or wondering if they have repair areas for the 13,000+ cyclists, or whether or not they would repair it - adding on the weather report: rainy and we are thinking about sleeping in tomorrow and calling it a day.

Gary is disappointed, but realist - and the bike is not ride-able. (I am now editing this in the morning - having been too tired to even re-read it last night - and Cherri mentioned in her comments "the end of a dream" which Gary thought was very apropos - and was much more dissapointed, and VERY bothered about not finishing, than I thought he was.)

So ...

next year ...

He did great this year (17.2mph or kph - I don't know how he was calculating it - faster than his Brisbane time - I think - and with a faulty bike!)

And I said I was TIRED!!!

He is crashed out on the bed blissfully sleeping ... (only to wake up, wired, when Ryan arrived and not able to get back to sleep until very late - a mystery to us. That I never actually fell asleep and gave up and got on my computer ... a mystery? Not so much ...)