Nora Vrakas

Today Nora Vrakas along with the rest of us woke up to another cool and cloudy day. Yay! Nora Vrakas made eggs for everyone to eat for breakfast. She is a very skilled campstove cooker. We quickly packed up camp and took off on our bikes. Nora Vrakas (plus Christine) quickly passed us in the car on their way to our next destination.

The winds had shifted today and we had a nice tailwind. Since we had a tailwind our goal was to make it 90 miles to Louisiana, MO (or as Jackie informed us in swim-speak, 9 sets of 10). When we met up with Nora Vrakas and Christine, they informed us that the rest of the route was hilly and parts of the road were closed and washed out. Bummer! Thankfully I had my iPhone and whipped it out. We quickly found a different route that took us to Louisiana. The only problem was that it didn't go back by where Nora Vrakas had parked the car (They didn't make it to Louisiana the other way due to the closed road). Nora Vrakas quickly decided they hadn't done enough miles (only 25 miles so far for them) so they decided to come with us and take the new route to Louisiana and then from there figure out a way to get to the car.

All of us (including Nora Vrakas) made it to Louisiana. It was 87 miles for Jackie, the mom, and me. Nora Vrakas and Christine then had to figure out a way to get to the car, through the closed road. Nora Vrakas struck up a conversation with the motel manager where we were staying and he said he would drive her and Christine and their bikes to the wash out about 15 miles away. Nora Vrakas and Christine arrived at the washout and had to push their bikes through a mile of clay with no road in sight. When they arrived back at the road it was super hilly. Eventually Nora Vrakas got to the car and returned to Louisiana where we promptly ate a feast of pasta and homemade Italian sausage sauce. Yum.

PS I was informed today by Nora Vrakas's publicity manager (her family) that they would like to see more mention of her in the blog :)