4-03-08 Thursday

Today we got another early wake up call because the time was changed at the last minute due to weather conditions.  I guess they're having a bunch of thunderstorms to the south of us, right where we're going, so Thomsen and the others are re-plotting our route. Jeff and Sydney started biking towards Augusta, Georgia around 8:45Am this morning. We took the two support vehicles to get washed because they had pollen all over them and a bunch of people are allergic to it.  They were so covered in pollen that they looked yellow.  Anyway, after we washed the cars we went to escort Jeff and Sydney the rest of the way. Sydney stopped about 1.5 hours and 18 miles into it. Jeff went around 2.75 hours and did 40 miles. We picked Jeff up just as it started down pouring. It was raining so hard that we couldn't see the road while we were sitting in the car. Because of the rain, we couldn’t bicycle due to safety reason. So we took off driving to get out of the storm and began heading towards Chase Street Elementary in Athens Georgia.  Along the drive we saw a cow running in the middle of the highway going opposite of us. All the traffic was stopped and there were a bunch of people out trying to catch it.  Only problem was it didn't want to be caught. It was one of the funniest things I’ve seen on the trip so far.  Finally it quit raining and we got back on the bikes. We were a bit late because of traffic and weather but the police who were giving us the escort into Athens were still there waiting for us and we followed them the last 7 miles to get to the school.  Along the way we rode by this huge university, I think it was the University of Georgia.  When we arrived there were camera people and reporters standing out in the street and 75 or so grade school kids standing in front of the school to greet us.  As I pulled up to stop I couldn't get my foot un-hooked and I fell right in front of everybody.  It was pretty embarrassing and everyone was laughing.  I had to admit it did look funny. First we helped the kids plant a tree in front of the school. Then we had some pictures taken with the kids, principal, and police who escorted us. They then brought us into the school and generously gave us a great free lunch (Thank you Athens!!!). Once finished eating we began the long and painful process of driving to Atlanta, Georgia. This was because the weather was still crappy. We got to Atlanta around 6:00PM and got free rooms at the Marriott, courtesy of Thomsen's friend, which has unbelievable beds. We took Paul to a local clinic to get him checked out because he seems to have a fever and his cold's not going away but it was closed so we're going to take him in first thing in the morning.