LAURA ON THE ROAD WITH TEAM EFFIE – “Down to the Wire” (Day 15)
DAY 15 - The start of the second to the last day! Go Team Effie!
Today I was noticing something. I’m noticing more wire, beer cans, pop cans, crescent wrenches, tape, just miscellaneous stuff holding these bikes together. Bent rims, bent forks, broken fender tabs and motor mounts, missing bolts, back aches and tired spirits marked today, but there were still SMILES. The finish line is near and while you can feel and sense the exhaustion, you can still feel the excitement as well. Wow. It’s SO INSPIRING! I’m just not good enough with words to describe this.
So, I’m using pictures. Take a peek so you can see what I mean.
DAY 15 - "Down to the wire" is the theme of this day. Bent forks, dented rims, lost bolts, sore backs and tired spirits - along with parts held together by wire and other creative ways - marked day 15. One more day before we ride into Santa Monica! And these riders are doing whatever it takes to get there!
DAY 15 - "Down to the wire" is the theme of this day. Bent forks, dented rims, lost bolts, sore backs and tired spirits - along with parts held together by wire and other creative ways - marked day 15. One more day before we ride into Santa Monica! And these riders are doing whatever it takes to get there!
The highlight for me personally was at the end of today. A couple things. 1. Willa and Cassidy Rodencal joined our girl crew tonight for Effie’s Maintenance and a little 101 on wrenching. But they didn’t really need a lot of teaching because these girls knew more than we expected. How could they not though? Their dad is #33 Bill Rodencal. His whole family has been with this entire trip. Bill has ridden as much as possible but he also shared this journey with his family, taking a day off riding to explore the Grand Canyon for instance. It was so cool to watch, and these girls are precious! 2. My husband Brian arrived tonight. He flew in to be at the finish with us. Brian has followed the journey by reading the daily blogs along with everyone else, because honestly, we haven’t had a lot of time to talk on the phone during this trip. At all. He was back at home taking care of our business and family, pets, and everything else we do together to run our lives, and I’ve been busy as part of Team Effie, which most nights went until way too late to talk on the phone. It was good to see him, and so cool to watch as he got to realize and feel, see firsthand, all of the things I’ve been writing about.
DAY 15 - End of day Effie maintenance. As we got ready for the final day 16, Willa and Cassidy Rodencal came to assist Athena and I. I have to say that having these young girls around wanting to learn and getting in there to be hands on was one of my best memories of this trip. Anytime I can share something I've learned with a young person, especially a young woman, it's such a blessing. These girls truly blessed us with their helping hands. Effie got SO MUCH love during this whole trip, and an extra special dose of it as we prepared her for her LAST DAY!
I didn’t see Brian arrive, so he got to stand back in the shadow of the lights we were working under and just observe. And tonight was special because those young ladies were right in there with us helping and getting full of oil. It was really a cool moment.
Effie’s been having trouble holding her tranny chain adjustments. Usually it gets real loose and we’ve been adjusting for that each night. The last 2 days something was different. It was getting tighter, and that told us that something else wasn’t right. After some time investigating we consulted with Dale Walksler and together we found a bad spot in the chain near the master link and it was causing the problem. We fixed it, and after the end of day 16…wouldn’t you know, it held.
DAY 15 - Laura on Route 66
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DAY 15 - "Down to the wire" is the theme of this day. Bent forks, dented rims, lost bolts, sore backs and tired spirits - along with parts held together by wire and other creative ways - marked day 15. One more day before we ride into Santa Monica! And these riders are doing whatever it takes to get there!
DAY 15 - End of day Effie maintenance. As we got ready for the final day 16, Willa and Cassidy Rodencal came to assist Athena and I. I have to say that having these young girls around wanting to learn and getting in there to be hands on was one of my best memories of this trip. Anytime I can share something I've learned with a young person, especially a young woman, it's such a blessing. These girls truly blessed us with their helping hands. Effie got SO MUCH love during this whole trip, and an extra special dose of it as we prepared her for her LAST DAY!
DAY 15 - #38, Rick...at the Ludlow cafe. I had to laugh at this photo...read the title of the book next to him. I'm only laughing because Rick is the oldest of the Ruffians, so he wouldn't get mad at me if I was amused at the geezer comment
DAY 15 - The start of the second to the last day! Go Team Effie!Today I was noticing something. I’m noticing more wire, beer cans, pop cans, crescent wrenches, tape, just miscellaneous stuff holding these bikes together. Bent rims, bent forks, broken fender tabs and motor mounts, missing bolts, back aches and tired spirits marked today, but there were still SMILES. The finish line is near and while you can feel and sense the exhaustion, you can still feel the excitement as well. Wow. It’s SO INSPIRING! I’m just not good enough with words to describe this.
So, I’m using pictures. Take a peek so you can see what I mean.
DAY 15 - "Down to the wire" is the theme of this day. Bent forks, dented rims, lost bolts, sore backs and tired spirits - along with parts held together by wire and other creative ways - marked day 15. One more day before we ride into Santa Monica! And these riders are doing whatever it takes to get there! DAY 15 - "Down to the wire" is the theme of this day. Bent forks, dented rims, lost bolts, sore backs and tired spirits - along with parts held together by wire and other creative ways - marked day 15. One more day before we ride into Santa Monica! And these riders are doing whatever it takes to get there!The highlight for me personally was at the end of today. A couple things. 1. Willa and Cassidy Rodencal joined our girl crew tonight for Effie’s Maintenance and a little 101 on wrenching. But they didn’t really need a lot of teaching because these girls knew more than we expected. How could they not though? Their dad is #33 Bill Rodencal. His whole family has been with this entire trip. Bill has ridden as much as possible but he also shared this journey with his family, taking a day off riding to explore the Grand Canyon for instance. It was so cool to watch, and these girls are precious! 2. My husband Brian arrived tonight. He flew in to be at the finish with us. Brian has followed the journey by reading the daily blogs along with everyone else, because honestly, we haven’t had a lot of time to talk on the phone during this trip. At all. He was back at home taking care of our business and family, pets, and everything else we do together to run our lives, and I’ve been busy as part of Team Effie, which most nights went until way too late to talk on the phone. It was good to see him, and so cool to watch as he got to realize and feel, see firsthand, all of the things I’ve been writing about.
DAY 15 - End of day Effie maintenance. As we got ready for the final day 16, Willa and Cassidy Rodencal came to assist Athena and I. I have to say that having these young girls around wanting to learn and getting in there to be hands on was one of my best memories of this trip. Anytime I can share something I've learned with a young person, especially a young woman, it's such a blessing. These girls truly blessed us with their helping hands. Effie got SO MUCH love during this whole trip, and an extra special dose of it as we prepared her for her LAST DAY!I didn’t see Brian arrive, so he got to stand back in the shadow of the lights we were working under and just observe. And tonight was special because those young ladies were right in there with us helping and getting full of oil. It was really a cool moment.
Effie’s been having trouble holding her tranny chain adjustments. Usually it gets real loose and we’ve been adjusting for that each night. The last 2 days something was different. It was getting tighter, and that told us that something else wasn’t right. After some time investigating we consulted with Dale Walksler and together we found a bad spot in the chain near the master link and it was causing the problem. We fixed it, and after the end of day 16…wouldn’t you know, it held.
Tonight is the last night that we will service Effie on this trip. Along with the extra special moments tonight, it’s also very bittersweet. Very bittersweet. What is next? What will we do and what could compare to this trip?
DAY 15 - Laura on Route 66 DAY 15 - "Down to the wire" is the theme of this day. Bent forks, dented rims, lost bolts, sore backs and tired spirits - along with parts held together by wire and other creative ways - marked day 15. One more day before we ride into Santa Monica! And these riders are doing whatever it takes to get there!DAY 15 - End of day Effie maintenance. As we got ready for the final day 16, Willa and Cassidy Rodencal came to assist Athena and I. I have to say that having these young girls around wanting to learn and getting in there to be hands on was one of my best memories of this trip. Anytime I can share something I've learned with a young person, especially a young woman, it's such a blessing. These girls truly blessed us with their helping hands. Effie got SO MUCH love during this whole trip, and an extra special dose of it as we prepared her for her LAST DAY!DAY 15 - #38, Rick...at the Ludlow cafe. I had to laugh at this photo...read the title of the book next to him. I'm only laughing because Rick is the oldest of the Ruffians, so he wouldn't get mad at me if I was amused at the geezer comment
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