One Particular Bike Rider

This past weekend was the annual MS 150 Houston to Austin. The first 3 pictures are just a hint at the thousands and thousands of bike riders that participated in this year's event...and then there were the thousands of volunteers that manned all the stopping stations, the SAG vans...that are there to pick up the tired and injured, the police officers who directed the traffic from Houston to Austin, the spectators and the friends and families. This thing is huge and run like a well-oiled machine.

I am just as impressed by the organization of it all

as I am by the endurance levels of the bike riders.

Out of the thousands of bike riders, there was

one particular bike rider

that we were pulling for.

There she is....within a mile

of the finish line of Day One.

She stopped on the side of the road to talk to us for a few minutes.

Her legs felt like ground beef.

Her words....not mine.

She told us about her very sore bottom.
And how Butt Butter is her new best friend.

She posed for the camera.

She pointed out the name of my friend on the sign that we saw after we stopped at this point on the side of the road.

And then she got back on her bike and rode off to the fairgrounds to shower, eat and spend the night before heading to Austin on Day Two.

My daddy used to smoke Tip cigarillos.....so this little bit of litter caught my eye.



And as our good luck would have it, Jordan and Chris were going to be in Austin for the same weekend as the MS150 to attend a wedding. So we planned to see them for dinner and breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. As soon as Cameron rode away, we headed to Austin, checked into our hotel, then drove over to pick up Jordan and Chris.

Dinner was at The Oasis....a 3 story restaurant on the banks of Lake Travis....known for its view of the lake and the sunset.
On the way to The Oasis, the skies emptied and we drove through a monsoon. It was windy and chilly but we still sat out on the balcony and waited for the sunset.

Mr. and Mrs. Whitlach

If that was your mansion, you would be home right now.

Looking down over the rail of the 3rd floor.

This would normally be packed on a Saturday night,

but remember there had just been

a major thunder and rainstorm.

The railing on the right is the 3rd floor balcony.

The view from here is incredible.

Sunset on a rainy evening.


The Oasis. Check it out if you're ever in
the Austin/Lake Travis area.

After dinner we headed back to town

and walked around the 6th street area

and found a place that had a live band.

As opposed to a dead band.

And there they are....alive.

The next morning we met for breakfast and

then had a couple of hours to tour the capitol

before Jordan and Chris had to leave for the airport.

A Native Texan seeing the Capitol Building

for the first time.

Chuck, Chris and Jordan went and

toured around the Capitol.... after Chris stood in the

middle of the dome to hear his echo...

...while I walked around and took pictures....




...of clocks....





...and the top of the dome.....





.....and architecture....




...and door frames.



And then it was time for the airport.


Bye. Love you.
See you sometime this summer maybe?
Take care of each other.
Okay....we gotta go....
back to the bike riders.



Eye catching paint job.

And since we are Aggies, we really don't say the L word....
but I guess we could say Onghorn.

There's that bike rider.

We texted back and forth...

she could only text at the bike stops every 15 miles

....and we let her know where we were parked

along the road of the last stretch.

Number 3730.
Cameron.



On her way to the finish line....about 3 miles away.
She did it.
She crossed the finish line.
She did.

Those are our cups on the ledge....

where we waited for an hour to catch a glimpse

of one particular bike rider.

Reading and walking....
while hundreds of bike riders are passing by him.
Must have been an awesome book.


And then a very proud mama and daddy
got back in the car and headed back to Houston.
Our Cameron.
She did it.
162 miles.



A note to those with MS:


You do not deserve your illness.

You do not deserve it.

There are many, many people
dedicated to raising money to find the cure for MS.

I witnessed it myself this weekend.

Hold on.

Take care of yourself.

Stay in the day.

Hope.

Pray.

Believe.

And next year...I hope that you can go see those bike riders....

riding over 160 miles....for you and new treatments and a cure.