Vacation Adventures

Bedroom in Arles, Vincent van Gogh

June is over and finished and so is the Paint by Sticker calendar page even though the last few areas were especially challenging to complete because I am significantly handicapped right now. In fact I am typing with one finger and that is a much slower process. However, there is nothing else I can do right now, so why not keep the blog going.

So this is what I look like. However, I do not feel as bad as I look, grateful for all the medical helps available.

So, what happened? We were on a two-day tandem tour of the Miami Valley trail between Piqua and Dayton, and only 5 to 10 miles from the finish, when we hit a muddy spot and the bike slid out from under us. I ended up with fractures in both arms--left shoulder, right wrist. When Michael tried to get me to stand up, I saw stars. I hadn't realized before then that it's a true thing! So, I lay down and waited. A local rider came by soon after our fall, called 911 and stayed with us the entire time until the ambulance made its way to where we were on the trail.
Michael has multiple open sores, serious road rash, and now he has to look after me for a few weeks!

Now, let's talk about the great vacation.

It was prefaced by a wonderful reunion with friends from long ago that are like family.

Babcocks, Cratons, Leah, Mike, Rebecca, Rita

Brenda, to my left, was on a team with me in Mexico when we were both single, the 1969 Christmas crusade, just before Mike and I were married. Later, Brenda was on our team in Europe while her fiance Dave was detained in Turkey. She helped me when I could no longer get around in the last weeks of my first pregnancy. When they were married a few months later, we stood up with them in their civil ceremony, and I played the organ for the church wedding.
Dave and Brenda are in the area for a Global Partners event, and made time from their busy schedule to meet with us.
We've known Bob and Linda from before they were married and also attended their wedding. We worked on teams and projects together, even lived in the same house at times. And we settled in the same town, both drawn here by work for Taylor University.
We treasure these opportunities to get together, reminisce and catch up. Leah wrote, "And to think most of this table used to hold me as a baby and have known me most of my entire life !!!!"

Michael and I set off for Ohio directly from Ivanhoe's. (Rebecca wanted a photo of the tandem but maybe did not want to be in it.)

Highlights of our trip: 
--stopping to read historic markers in Piqua and learning about the Miami and Erie Canal and the First Atomic City.

Footbridge across the Great Miami River. In the 1960s, steam was pumped across this bridge from the reactor to Piqua's main power plant.

(That's Michael walking our bike across the bridge.)

--food and sights in Troy, including traveling sculptures by Seward Johnson.

A few favs

--the eateries: Lunch at 4 W Main, which features a different vendor each day. When we were there we had wonderful Bodega selections. The next day in Tipp City we came across that provider.

Can you see the tandem in the window display/

Little York Tavern & Pizza--the only place on our side of the big highway; we walked there the first evening. I did not want to get back on the bike after we'd settled into our lodging for the night.

Maid-Rite Sandwich Shoppe in Greenville was one planned destination before the accident, and we still made it there though much later than intended. Michael had wanted me to experience their very popular sloppy joes. It was a first for him too, having to feed me. 

Our last stop on the way home was an A&W stand in Union City. The wonderful nurse who looked after me, owns the place and told us to stop for a root beer float on the house.
We only missed one stop, a Buffalo Wild Wings in Piqua to watch USA/France women's soccer.

--being together, enjoying the beauty of nature, experiencing life as one with my "captain"

--taking pictures is a favorite, but I did not get anywhere near as many as the interesting sights and views we encountered.

If we could go back to these towns, I would spend more time in the little shops and amazing bookshops.

Now at home, we wait, rest, peck out messages with one finger, and rest. The hope is that the bones will heal with time and rest, and surgery will not be necessary. We wait.

And the flooring project Michael began also waits.

A rest-filled summer ahead. Oh, rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him. . . remains a favorite musical refrain ever since my cousin sang it to his bride in their wedding more than 50 years ago.