Day 12 - October 3rd

 This morning I had a difficult start. While I am focusing on healing and doing this ride to bring awareness to those struggling with PTSD, I can't ignore that I have trauma of my own to deal with and last night it came screaming at me in a series of nightmares. I tossed and turned all night and even managed to throw myself out of bed. I jarred my shoulder on the landing and was already feeling sore when I got up. The route started out on some very rough roads and we made the decision to stay on a main street instead of following the pre-designed route. At one point I did turn off the main road to follow the path on my navigation but right away it put me back on uneven pavement. I also popped both the front and back tires of the bike I began the day riding.

I switched bikes and took off again but shortly after I started riding I once again hit loose gravel and before I could get my feet out of the straps on pedals I slipped and fell down, feeling my shoulder scream in protest. Honestly I should have called it a day right then but I got up and walked the bike to the street and began riding again. Not too much further the route tried to take me down dirt roads on the property of a ranch and we had to rack the bike and drive to the next stop.

I began riding once more and was doing fine along a frontage road that ran parallel to the freeway but eventually that road ended and I had to ride along the side of the I-40. It wasn't nearly as scary as it sounds and I have ridden in worse conditions. The shoulder is wide so I felt perfectly safe as I made my way along the side. We reached Santa Rosa where we had lunch and made a side trip to the Blue Hole, a spot I have heard about many times after Steve did the Run For The Wall motorcycle ride. I wanted to experience it but didn't have the courage to jump into the icy water. While in the visitor center we met a wonderful couple that asked about the ride and donated $20 to the charities. Mark and Sherry were kind enough to take pictures with me and wished us luck on our journey. They also warned us about some bad weather in the direction we are heading so we will be keeping an eye on that.

If you want to check out the picture with my incredible donors as well as the rest of our adventures while we promote PTSD awareness you can go to the Facebook page Ride 22 On 66 where you can also find out more information about the charities and how to support them.