The Other Side of the Bridge

This is a photo of an old photo -- an old favorite.

This past weekend I blipped photos from my "girlfriend weekend" with Trudy. I mentioned in my Sunday write-up that Trudy has been a widow for 17+ years. Her husband, Mitch, was our good friend. The four of us had lots of fun together. He's been gone since January 1992.

Because the last two days I've blipped photos of bridges, I thought today was timely to show this photo of Mr. Fun, me, and Mitch leaving San Francisco on the first morning of our epic 1986 two-week bicycle trip from San Francisco to Southern California along the Pacific Coast. This was before we had talked Trudy into becoming a bicyclist.

With the Golden Gate Bridge behind us and two weeks of pedaling in front of us, we were extremely excited. The journey was a phenomenal experience. I left Southern California on a plane with two men and found myself leaving San Francisco with two males who had shed their adult world responsibilities and had become boys again. It was my privilege to become a "tom-boy" for those two weeks.

I was tagging along with two boys. Mr. Fun & I were riding a Santana Tandem bicycle. Mitch was riding a mountain bike. We were with a group of about 20 other bicyclists we had never met before. We would be hugging the H2O as we pedaled the Pacific Coast Highway. We slept in tents in campgrounds each night and everyone took turns cooking the meals. I would be lying to say that it wasn't hard work. But it also was a feeling of adventure and accomplishment like none I had ever experienced before.

We became the three musketeers as we pedaled, played, prayed, and pondered many aspects of life during those 600+ miles.

Today, I just wanted to share this photo and express how thankful Mr. Fun & I are to have had a friend like Mitch.

Good night from Southern California,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol

P.S. I thought you might like to also know that since that bicycle trip, Mr. Fun & I have pedaled the Pacific Coast two more times on two week trips -- in 1988 from Eugene, Oregon to San Francisco and in 1992 from San Francisco to our home in Southern California.