Monday, June 6

Breakfast at 8 and then off to the Grand Canyon of PA traveling all country roads. GPS set for no highways and no unpaved roads and found some beautiful roads with twists and turns, uphill and down, riding beside rivers and streams or mountain drop-offs with flowers blooming and the air sweet with their smell. As we approached our last mountain climb for the canyon we made a left turn onto a small, blacktopped road when suddenly up ahead I saw it turned to gravel. Now this girl doesn’t like gravel – twice I’ve turned the bike over on gravel and broken my ankle one of those times. Bernie has told me I have a phobia which I need to get over. I hit the brakes and the bike began to fish-tail, smoke streaming from the back tire which was screaming her resistance. I wasn’t going to get stopped before the gravel so I released the brakes and prepared to hit the gravel at a faster speed than I wanted to. I heard Glenn on the CB behind me saying to ride it out and don’t use the front brake. I have learned not to use the front brake on gravel but I kept reminding myself as the bike slowed to a manageable speed for gravel. I heard Don say 2.7 miles of this road with curves and uphill climbs. I didn’t think I could turn around so I kept going. I heard Andy and Bernie say something about meeting me at the other end so I thought only Glenn had followed me. We proceeded on weaving past pot holes working the clutch and the back brake to maintain just the right speed. It seemed like 20 miles but finally I saw the end and a blacktop road but it was going to require a sharp, hairpin turn to the right and I had not positioned myself as far to the left as I should have. I carefully walked Abigail around the turn and not wanting to turn the wheel too sharp while still on the gravel which was piled pretty heavy at the end, I got the bike within a hair of the left side of the road which was facing on-coming traffic if any came over the hill and on the very edge of a deep drop over the side of the mountain. Glenn said I made his heart stop – it didn’t do much for mine either – but obviously I made it. We headed up the hill to the park entrance of the Grand Canyon. I could hear very little of anyone else on the CB but I did hear Don asking if someone had dropped their bike. No one came up the hill so Glenn turned around and went back. He radioed up that Bernie had dropped his bike. Don came up to get me on his bike and I left mine at the park. Shirley was sitting up on the ground with Bonnie, our nurse, holding her. The ambulance had been called and arrived in just a couple of minutes. We all traveled to the hospital in Wellsboro where it was determined she had broken her shoulder in two places and was going to have to go home because it required surgery. The remainder of the day was spend finding a U-Haul for Bernie, loading the bike and his trailer, getting our girl out of the hospital and doing all the necessary stuff to make her as comfortable as possible. They planned to head home tomorrow.