But Leonard and I are done.
We'll head to the airport early tomorrow. He flies out at 7:30, I leave at 1:15. well, maybe I'll hang out at the hotel for a little while, but I'm meeting one of our relief guys, Denver at the airport to give him the lowdown on the bus. After Mike from FL went home, I took over the role of Dave's assistant/bus driver for a few days, so I'll go over the vehicle's quirks with big D.
I miss it already. I miss the spontaneity of the tour, never really knowing what we're going to do until just before we do it. I miss the guys, those that left and those we left. I miss the people we met. Even the guy that honked at us and yelled at us to move cause we were blocking his driveway during a home visit.
No, really. He yelled at us, three pink fire engines and a big pink tour bus, and told us to move so he could get out of his driveway. Never mind his neighbor with cancer, he had somewhere to be. Right. Now.
Sigh.
I will always remember some things. Always. Last year, it was my first ever event, outside of Bakersfield that will stay with me forever. This year, out of all the amazing things I saw and did, the one thing that will stick with me forever was the ride from Baltic, SD back to our hotel in Sioux Falls, SD and seeing Theresa and her husband ride by on their motorcycle and Theresa holding the hand made sign that said "THANK YOU".
If you know me, you know I'm not often at a loss for words, but that left me speechless and almost left me a sobbing mass driving down the highway.
And I'll never forget that moment, ever.
On to today's events...
We set up in the parking lot of the hotel we stayed in and ended up doing pretty ok in t-shirt sales for a spur-of-the-moment thing. Plus we met several local women that were fired up that nothing happened here to make this event a big deal. Two years from now, when the tour is back in this part of the country, Idaho Falls will be a VERY big deal, I'll bet.
The drive to Mountain Home was pretty uneventful except for near the end when a semi nearly ran us off the road while we were climbing a hill. Both vehicles were struggling up the incline, he was in the left, we were in the right. As we climbed, he slowed more and merged in front of us. No biggie, right? Well, he decided he needed to get on the right shoulder and he hit the brakes HARD before he cleared our lane. I missed him by a foot or two.
And, finally, our last installment of "meet your Pink Heals Tour drivers" except, he's not technically a driver... tonight, we meet Dave!
Here's Dave in McLaughlin, SD sitting on Rhino after John showed us all how it was done. He looks like he's having second thoughts, no?
Here's another action shot of Dave...
Now, bear in mind, that he's on tour for three to four months so even the mundane stuff has to get done out on the road. We had some time to spare and one of the ladies that stopped to see us today worked in a salon, Dave needed a haircut so she got him in.
But those pictures were me having a little fun at his expense. He is absolutely dedicated to this cause and he inspires me, and many others, to work our fannies off to make this thing a reality. He's a lot of fun to travel with, we laugh a lot, but when it's time to get stuff done, there's no question who we take our leads from. Dave is THE MAN in so many respects and I'm proud to call him my friend. Thanks for bringing me into the fold, buddy, call me anytime for anythinig.
OK, I'm done for the evening. By this time tomorrow night I should be home.
But I'm planning on carrying the momentum of the tour into my writing (you lucky people) so I'll be here more regularly. But always remember...
Pink Heals!
Peace.
For the last 15 days; I've gotten up first thing in the morning so I could read about your day. I think you found your second calling in life. I love you.
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