Lost in Paradise

Ok, I'll try to be honest about my journey...something I rarely do  in real life.  I've been anxious about this ride and get very used to Sherry, my darling wife, taking care of all the little details.  As a result, I had three night mares last night.  I kept frantically waking up thinking that I left my bike, which is funny because I did leave my bike in Dallas on purpose.  

Good news arrived this morning.  Gateway Church agreed to match our $10,000 gift to the elementary school in Guatemala. So, we're well on our way towards the $70,000 goal for a new gym.  Thanks Juan Constantino in Global Missions Dept.

Arrived in Santa Barbara and spent two hours staring at the ocean.  Wow, we're not in Dallas any more.

Met the 13 riders going XC and one guy going to Taus (he rode XC last year).  These seem like a very nice, successful group.  We got two women, including Sallie, from Chapel Hill, NC, who has a wonderful southern drawl.  She's 67 and has run an ultra or marathon on all 7 continents. We got our bikes this afternoon and went for a 30 mile test drive, that included 4 hard copy pages of directions.  Our Garmins often gave my small group conflicting directions.  As a result, we spent most of the day debating where to go (see picture).