Stan is off of the ventilator and is talking. He does not remember his little episode of the last 10 days. He is improving and already asking to go home. There is a lot of healing of the bones and his left lung, and his wound needs a skin graft. His pain is pretty excrutiating, but he is a strong man. He still has a ways to go, but this is a good starting point. It is just a blessing to see him interact again. We have had a good Saturday. Thanks to all of you for your concern, prayers and thoughtfulness.
Jenny and Stan Bippus
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Next to Last Day
It is 1:45 p.m. on this fine Wednesday afternoon. Jeremy and I are in Starke, Florida. We have about 28 more miles to ride and we will be in Green Cove Springs. That is only 15 miles or so from St. Augustine. So, we are almost home. Today has been great so far. The roads are very flat, no wind, the roads are smooths with good shoulders. The love bugs are still with us. That's it for now.
The Last Few Days
Day 8, September 13, 2008: We started the day at Spanish Forks, Alabama. Lawrence Bestmann fed us a great meal, provide a NetFlick movie and good sleeping conditions. Today greeted us with fairly strong winds out of the southeast. The first twenty miles or so were a real struggle due to the high winds, however, it wasn’t as hot as previous days, even though the humidity was quite high. Once we turned to the east, we had a crosswind and it was fairly nice riding. I thought a big white dog was going to take a hunk out of Jeremy’s leg. George and Dave spend a few hours at the Navy Aircraft Museum in Pensacola. Jeremy and I crossed into Florida around 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. Not sure when we will be in the Eastern time zone. Anyone doing Christmas shopping for Dave or George might consider a GPS as an appropriate gift as they have serious problem following road maps. It is estimated that we have drive over 470 extra miles looking for the right road. George and Dave have seem some interesting country and met some interesting looking for correct roads and getting directions. It was overcast most of the day and the winds never died down. The good news was no rain. We made it to Milton. Our goal for tomorrow will be ten to twenty miles past DeFuniak Springs. We are 180 miles from the home of the Florida State University.
Day Nine, September 14th: This was one of the best riding days of the entire trip, except for the heat. There was a cross wind from the gulf. For the most part the roads were smooth with great shoulders and the terrain was flat with an occasion hill or two. We made it to Chipley which was a 98 miles day. This was kind of a boring day in that nothing exciting happened or there were not any great features to observe. I did see the biggest rattlesnake I have ever seen along the road. Jeremy road right by it and didn’t even see it. Finding gas is becoming a problem. Many stations are out of gas and some only have premium gas. One station limited a purchase to just $40.
Day 10, Monday, September 15th: We left Chipley about 8:10 in the morning. The roads were good, the wind was out of the gulf again, and it was another hot day. We didn’t see George or Dave all day. A friend from Tallahassee drove out to Gretna to meet Jeremy and I. When we crossed the Apalachicola River we entered the Eastern Time zone. The hill up to Chattahoochee was the most difficult one since Texas. The love bugs are still with us, but they did disappear when we got close to Tallahassee. Fox News met Jeremy and I just outside of Tallahassee and took some video and did an interview. We missed seeing it on the news. We arrived in Tallahassee about 4:30 p.m. Coming into Tallahassee we saw signs to Jacksonville that stated it was just 170 miles to Jacksonville. The bike route map has us still going another 265 miles. We will look at making some route changes starting tomorrow.
Day 11, Tuesday, September 16, 2008: We decided to go off route today and took highway 90 right into Live Oak. It was a total distance of about 75 miles. My CatEye broke three days ago so I don’t know exactly how far we ride any more. About ten miles out of Tallahassee the love bugs were back in groves. There were also thousands of very small frogs crossing the highway at various times. The Spanish moss is still in trees along the way. Some of the trees are really beautiful. We made our goal of Live Oak today. We will take highway 90 out of Live Oak to Lake City and then catch highway 100 to Starke.
Day Nine, September 14th: This was one of the best riding days of the entire trip, except for the heat. There was a cross wind from the gulf. For the most part the roads were smooth with great shoulders and the terrain was flat with an occasion hill or two. We made it to Chipley which was a 98 miles day. This was kind of a boring day in that nothing exciting happened or there were not any great features to observe. I did see the biggest rattlesnake I have ever seen along the road. Jeremy road right by it and didn’t even see it. Finding gas is becoming a problem. Many stations are out of gas and some only have premium gas. One station limited a purchase to just $40.
Day 10, Monday, September 15th: We left Chipley about 8:10 in the morning. The roads were good, the wind was out of the gulf again, and it was another hot day. We didn’t see George or Dave all day. A friend from Tallahassee drove out to Gretna to meet Jeremy and I. When we crossed the Apalachicola River we entered the Eastern Time zone. The hill up to Chattahoochee was the most difficult one since Texas. The love bugs are still with us, but they did disappear when we got close to Tallahassee. Fox News met Jeremy and I just outside of Tallahassee and took some video and did an interview. We missed seeing it on the news. We arrived in Tallahassee about 4:30 p.m. Coming into Tallahassee we saw signs to Jacksonville that stated it was just 170 miles to Jacksonville. The bike route map has us still going another 265 miles. We will look at making some route changes starting tomorrow.
Day 11, Tuesday, September 16, 2008: We decided to go off route today and took highway 90 right into Live Oak. It was a total distance of about 75 miles. My CatEye broke three days ago so I don’t know exactly how far we ride any more. About ten miles out of Tallahassee the love bugs were back in groves. There were also thousands of very small frogs crossing the highway at various times. The Spanish moss is still in trees along the way. Some of the trees are really beautiful. We made our goal of Live Oak today. We will take highway 90 out of Live Oak to Lake City and then catch highway 100 to Starke.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Update
We are on the road and I am trying to enter data. We are on highway 90 heading to Madison. I hope I can put the past three days on this computer.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Beating Ike
Day 7, Friday, September 12, 2008: The weather today was quite a surprise. It was still very hot and very windy, but no rain. We were hoping to take the route across Dauphin Island, but the road was underwater. We ended up taking highway 90 into Mobile. There was a lot of water in the city and many streets and roads were under water. The ride across the Bayway bridge was quite an experience. The winds were so strong that we struggled making progress in low gear. At the bottom of the bridge water was across the road and we got our feet wet riding through the water. Jeremy had a blowout just before the water crossing but I made him ride across the water just for the experience. We had no spare tube. We did find a bike shop in Daphne and discovered that our break pads were gone on both bikes. We met with Dr. Rosandich, President of the United States Sports Academy and spent the night with Dr. Lawrence Bestmann who teaches for the Academy. The winds are fairly strong, but we are hoping to be able to continue our journey in the morning.
Day 6, Thursday, September 11, 2008: This was a very difficult day for me as I had an upset stomach and struggle the entire day. We were off route the entire day. We took highway 26 through Poplarville and Wiggens to highway 63. Highway 26 was very hilly and we hit our first rain showers just east of Wiggens. The headwinds were significantly higher today and there was a lot more cloud cover. It was, however, just as muggy as ever. We are staying in a motel just south of Wade, Mississippi. The winds have really picked up. We are hoping tomorrow is ride able as we really want to make it to Daphne, Alabama. We are hoping to stay with Dr. Bestmann and the US Sports Academy would like to do an article on Jeremy.
Day 5, Wednesday, September 10, 2008: It was a little cooler today, but the love bugs were back in mass. The temperatures started in the high 70’s and peaked out in the high 80’s. The winds were very calm. The big surprise was the hills once we left St. Francisville. We had rolling hills all day. There were no “granny gear” hills, but several that got the blood pumping a little. I thought all of Louisiana was flat, not true! Most of the roads so far are very narrow with no shoulders. The grass along the road comes right up to the edge of the road. The good news is the fact that traffic was very light except for all the utility trucks. They were every where. There were several logging truck and several of them laid on their horns to warm us. I’m not sure what they expected us to do since there was no shoulder at all. Jeremy kind of chewed me out today for wanting to do this final leg of the ride in September. He is very unhappy with the extreme heat and humidity. Our goal for today was Franklinton. However, there was no place to stay in Franklinton because the utility and clean up crews were taking up the motel rooms and it was way to hot to camp out. Bogalusa is a town of 13,000 plus people and about 20 miles away but we felt the odds of finding a place to stay would increase significantly. This would make for a 90 mile plus day, but we headed to Bogalusa and did find a place to stay. Rain has been predicated everyday so far, but we have yet to receive any rain. Our luck may run out tomorrow as the effects of hurricane Ike may start having an impact. Our goal for tomorrow is Vancleave, Mississippi.
Day 4, Tuesday, September 9th:
This was a day of dogs, snakes, and debris. We had all kinds of dogs coming after us today, but the most exciting was when 5 dogs from on farmhouse chased us. I was in the lead and a yellow dog just kept coming and coming. Jeremy was right behind me and all of a sudden I heard a great “Lion King” type roar and the dogs took off. We saw six snakes, five of which were dead and one alive. It is amazing how many utility trucks are in the area fixing power lines. We have seen crews from Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia, Missouri, and Illinois. I have no idea who is coordinating the power problems, but it’s quite an effort, very impressive. As Jeremy said, there must have been a lot of angles in the area because it was amazing how many homes were missed by falling trees. This was a very hot, muggy, and long day. Our goal was Simmesport. We arrived at Simmesport around 2:00 and there was no place to stay and it was very very hot. However, in Simmesport I had a muffuletta sandwich and that was the best sandwich that Jeremy, George, and I felt we had ever eaten. We also had some very good boudin. We decided totry for New Roads with the hope of finding a place to stay. The biggest hill of the day was the incline up to the bridge that crossed over the Atchafalaya River. We made it two Morganza and “ran out of gas” and had to catch a ride to New Roads. We caught the ferry to St. Francisville where we spent the evening. We had no love bugs today until we crossed over the Mississippi. In St. Francisville most of the town was still out of power and all restaurants were closed. We did obtain a meal from the Red Cross. Only one filling station had a generator so they were able to sell gas and some food items. We really lucked out with a place to stay.
Day 6, Thursday, September 11, 2008: This was a very difficult day for me as I had an upset stomach and struggle the entire day. We were off route the entire day. We took highway 26 through Poplarville and Wiggens to highway 63. Highway 26 was very hilly and we hit our first rain showers just east of Wiggens. The headwinds were significantly higher today and there was a lot more cloud cover. It was, however, just as muggy as ever. We are staying in a motel just south of Wade, Mississippi. The winds have really picked up. We are hoping tomorrow is ride able as we really want to make it to Daphne, Alabama. We are hoping to stay with Dr. Bestmann and the US Sports Academy would like to do an article on Jeremy.
Day 5, Wednesday, September 10, 2008: It was a little cooler today, but the love bugs were back in mass. The temperatures started in the high 70’s and peaked out in the high 80’s. The winds were very calm. The big surprise was the hills once we left St. Francisville. We had rolling hills all day. There were no “granny gear” hills, but several that got the blood pumping a little. I thought all of Louisiana was flat, not true! Most of the roads so far are very narrow with no shoulders. The grass along the road comes right up to the edge of the road. The good news is the fact that traffic was very light except for all the utility trucks. They were every where. There were several logging truck and several of them laid on their horns to warm us. I’m not sure what they expected us to do since there was no shoulder at all. Jeremy kind of chewed me out today for wanting to do this final leg of the ride in September. He is very unhappy with the extreme heat and humidity. Our goal for today was Franklinton. However, there was no place to stay in Franklinton because the utility and clean up crews were taking up the motel rooms and it was way to hot to camp out. Bogalusa is a town of 13,000 plus people and about 20 miles away but we felt the odds of finding a place to stay would increase significantly. This would make for a 90 mile plus day, but we headed to Bogalusa and did find a place to stay. Rain has been predicated everyday so far, but we have yet to receive any rain. Our luck may run out tomorrow as the effects of hurricane Ike may start having an impact. Our goal for tomorrow is Vancleave, Mississippi.
Day 4, Tuesday, September 9th:
This was a day of dogs, snakes, and debris. We had all kinds of dogs coming after us today, but the most exciting was when 5 dogs from on farmhouse chased us. I was in the lead and a yellow dog just kept coming and coming. Jeremy was right behind me and all of a sudden I heard a great “Lion King” type roar and the dogs took off. We saw six snakes, five of which were dead and one alive. It is amazing how many utility trucks are in the area fixing power lines. We have seen crews from Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia, Missouri, and Illinois. I have no idea who is coordinating the power problems, but it’s quite an effort, very impressive. As Jeremy said, there must have been a lot of angles in the area because it was amazing how many homes were missed by falling trees. This was a very hot, muggy, and long day. Our goal was Simmesport. We arrived at Simmesport around 2:00 and there was no place to stay and it was very very hot. However, in Simmesport I had a muffuletta sandwich and that was the best sandwich that Jeremy, George, and I felt we had ever eaten. We also had some very good boudin. We decided totry for New Roads with the hope of finding a place to stay. The biggest hill of the day was the incline up to the bridge that crossed over the Atchafalaya River. We made it two Morganza and “ran out of gas” and had to catch a ride to New Roads. We caught the ferry to St. Francisville where we spent the evening. We had no love bugs today until we crossed over the Mississippi. In St. Francisville most of the town was still out of power and all restaurants were closed. We did obtain a meal from the Red Cross. Only one filling station had a generator so they were able to sell gas and some food items. We really lucked out with a place to stay.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Narrow Roads
I wanted to comment on the roads once we started riding on highway 104. The road surface isn't bad, but there are no shoulders. The roads are narrow and winding around the country side. Very unsafe riding conditions. We are deeply concerned about riding today as it is suppose to rain and that makes it even harder to see bike riders. Should be an interesting day.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Waltzing Across Texas
Day 1 (24), September 7th: After a very long drive of 1,068 miles we finally reached Texas Sunday afternoon, September 7th. It was a great feeling to finally be across the Great State of Texas. We were greeted with an extremely large population of black bugs which the locals call love bugs. They are every where and we were told to wash the dead bugs off the van every night as they have a acid fluid that will damage the paint. Our goal was to reach DeRidder in Louisiana which we did around 5:00 p.m. The team was most anxious to watch the Colts football game. It was a very hot day with temperatures in the mid 90's and the humidity was about the same. For some reason it was a challenging ride even though the terrain was very flat. We did have a slight, irritating head wind.
Day 2 (25), September 8th: This was a very difficult day for me. I did not eat and drink properly and paid the price for my ignorance. I fought off cramps after about 50 miles. Jeremy did great and was not affected by the heat and humidity. Just outside of Mamou we stopped to rest in the shade of a large tree. I was laying under the tree and Jeremy as at his bike along side of the road when this lady is a big white car drove by and stopped. She came back and asked if were were okay as she thought I was having a ceasure because I was swatting bugs. It was kind of funny. Were were out of water and still had a few miles to ride to reach Ville Platto so she drove up to a relatives house and filled up our water bottles. She was a real saint. We reached our goal of making it to Ville Platto, but Ineed to drink a lot of fluids and eat better if we are going to make it to Simmesport tomorrow. The forcast is for rain the next three days. We rode amost 80 miles today in extreme heat and humidity.
Day 2 (25), September 8th: This was a very difficult day for me. I did not eat and drink properly and paid the price for my ignorance. I fought off cramps after about 50 miles. Jeremy did great and was not affected by the heat and humidity. Just outside of Mamou we stopped to rest in the shade of a large tree. I was laying under the tree and Jeremy as at his bike along side of the road when this lady is a big white car drove by and stopped. She came back and asked if were were okay as she thought I was having a ceasure because I was swatting bugs. It was kind of funny. Were were out of water and still had a few miles to ride to reach Ville Platto so she drove up to a relatives house and filled up our water bottles. She was a real saint. We reached our goal of making it to Ville Platto, but Ineed to drink a lot of fluids and eat better if we are going to make it to Simmesport tomorrow. The forcast is for rain the next three days. We rode amost 80 miles today in extreme heat and humidity.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
On the road again!
We were suppose to resume Jeremy's ride last Tuesday, September 2nd, but felt we had better wait to see what hurricane Gustav did. Now we have Hanna getting ready to hit the east coast tomorrow and who knows where Ike and Josephine will end up. This may turn out to be a bad decision but we are heading to Texas to resume the ride Saturday morning, September 6th. This may be a decision we regret due to the fact we have no idea what old Ike will do in the next week or so. Our route for the final 1,200 miles or so will be:
September 6th Depart Huntington, Indiana to Silsbee, Texas
Sept 7th Day 1 (24) Silsbee, TX DeRidder, LA
Sept 8th Day 2 (25) DeRidder, LA` Mamou, LA
Sept 9th Day 3 (26) Mamou, LA Simmsport, LA
Sept 10th Day 4 (27) Simmsport, LA St. Francisville, LA
Sept 11th Day 5 (28) St. Francisville, LA Frankinton, LA
Sept 12th Day 6 (29) Frankinton, LA Poplarville , MS
Sept 13th Day 7 (30) Poplarville, MS Vancleave, MS
Sept 14th Day 8 (31) Vanclearve, MS Daphne, AL
Sept 15th Day 9 (32) Daphne, AL Pensacola, FL
Sept 16th Day 10 (33) Pensacola, FL Crestview, FL
Sept 17th Day 11 (34) Crestview, FL Marianna, FL
Sept 18th Day 12 (35) Mariana, FL Midway, FL
Sept 19th Day 13 (36) Midway, FL Madison, FL
Sept 20th Day 14 (37) Madison, FL High Springs, FL
Sept 21st Day 15 (38) High Springs, FL Palatka, FL
Sept 22nd Day 16 (39) Palatka, FL St. Augustine
Sept 23rd Depart St. Augustine, Florida to Huntington, Indiana
We most likely will not get a full day of riding on Sunday as the drive to Silsbee, Texas may take a little longer than one full day of driving. Also, I do believe we will complete the final leg of this ride in 14 days, but planned the ride for 16 days just in case we have some challenging weather.
September 6th Depart Huntington, Indiana to Silsbee, Texas
Sept 7th Day 1 (24) Silsbee, TX DeRidder, LA
Sept 8th Day 2 (25) DeRidder, LA` Mamou, LA
Sept 9th Day 3 (26) Mamou, LA Simmsport, LA
Sept 10th Day 4 (27) Simmsport, LA St. Francisville, LA
Sept 11th Day 5 (28) St. Francisville, LA Frankinton, LA
Sept 12th Day 6 (29) Frankinton, LA Poplarville , MS
Sept 13th Day 7 (30) Poplarville, MS Vancleave, MS
Sept 14th Day 8 (31) Vanclearve, MS Daphne, AL
Sept 15th Day 9 (32) Daphne, AL Pensacola, FL
Sept 16th Day 10 (33) Pensacola, FL Crestview, FL
Sept 17th Day 11 (34) Crestview, FL Marianna, FL
Sept 18th Day 12 (35) Mariana, FL Midway, FL
Sept 19th Day 13 (36) Midway, FL Madison, FL
Sept 20th Day 14 (37) Madison, FL High Springs, FL
Sept 21st Day 15 (38) High Springs, FL Palatka, FL
Sept 22nd Day 16 (39) Palatka, FL St. Augustine
Sept 23rd Depart St. Augustine, Florida to Huntington, Indiana
We most likely will not get a full day of riding on Sunday as the drive to Silsbee, Texas may take a little longer than one full day of driving. Also, I do believe we will complete the final leg of this ride in 14 days, but planned the ride for 16 days just in case we have some challenging weather.
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