Friday, April 1, 2011

Day 40 & 41 - Back on the Road


Liberty, TX to Beaumont, TX

Yesterday was the first day back on the road since the surgery. Emotions were very high for the whole crew. As Jimmy was getting ready to clip in, he said he was more scared at that moment than he was on the first day of ride. Jimmy was uneasy because he wasn't sure how the vibration of the road would be and the strength of his arm. He had only been on a stationary bike since the surgery, this moment became a true test if this ride would go on. He clipped in and headed to the road, Jimmy's pain level was high and his arm felt very weak. Before the ride we had decided not to set a specific mileage or time for the day, we would just see how far Jimmy could tolerate the pain. We took a small break at the 1 hour point and iced Jimmy's left arm, we had gone about 17 miles at this point. We re-wrapped the arm and put his Proctec elbow pad back on and set back out to see how much further we could push it. As we headed toward Beaumont the roads were smooth and the wind wasn't bad. Jimmy's pain level was still very high but he was able to ride one more hour. We ended the day at 43 miles in Beaumont Texas. This day was very hard on Jimmy both physically and emotionally.

Beaumont, TX to Lake Charles, LA

We had a really late start this morning, every part of Jimmy's body felt sore plus we had to say goodbye to what had become our second home and family. The whole crew was sad to be leaving the Newmann house hold but they were excited to finally be leaving the state of Texas! We felt like VIP as we started our ride through the city of Beaumont, Joe and Roxanne Newmann had set us up with a full police escort. This was very helpful as the police blocked every intersection which meant that Jimmy didn't have to clip out at every red light. After we made our way through town we headed back to the 90. We stopped in Orange for lunch and also to ice Jimmy's arm. Jimmy was feeling better than yesterday but still wasn't feeling good. Today was one of the hottest days of the trip so the large trees and shade came as a relief after our lunch break. After we crossed into Louisiana the roads got a little rougher than they had been and the pain in Jimmy's arm intensified and his right hip started to bother him as well. We ended our day in Lake Charles, LA at the L'Auberge Casino. Big thanks to Chad Cantor for arranging our RV site and dinner.

JB & Cory
Eastbound & Down Once Again

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