Sad News
Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 1:16PM Earthquakes occur everyday all over the world, with varying degrees of severity of course. But, you don’t expect to be woken up by one when you are in Noble, OK. That however, is exactly what happened the other day when a 5.1 shook the central Oklahoma area. I didn’t hear of any damage or injuries, just a bunch of confused people, myself included.
Our plan was to leave from Tuttle on the west side of town where I had stopped the ride on Sunday night, with Azure’s mom joining us so they could spend a little extra time together. Only during the ride we received some terrible news. Ben’s mother passed away. For those of you who don’t know Azure lived with her sister Amber and her husband Ben for several years. So she is not only very close with Ben and Amber, but was also very close with Ruth. So we had to change our plans.
When I spoke to the kids at Eaton High School I told them that above all life was the most important thing. I meant it, which is why I am sitting on a plane right now typing this blog. Ruth’s life and her passing, trump the ride. I told those teenagers that we can all overcome the trials of life if we are willing to be there for each other, and right now we need to be there for Ben and Amber.
I still have a ton of ground to cover so we actually rode as far as we could before heading back to fly out of Oklahoma City. We return on Monday night at which point we will jump in the van and head back to where I left the road yesterday. I have an event in Palm Bay, FL on the 29th and 30th of October so, I will be trying to cover more ground in 9 days than seems possible. But I am confident that we will make it. Ask me that on day 4 and I may have a different answer, all I can do is try.
Ben and Amber, we are so sorry for your loss. We will see you both soon.
Ruth while we are deeply saddened, we are glad that your suffering is over and know that you are in a better place.
10-13
69.65 miles
18.3 mph average
35.8 mph max
3:48:08 ride time
10-14
94.54 miles
18.1 mph average
32.1 mph max
5:13:26 ride time
10-15
36.89 miles
17.9 mph average
28.9 mph max
2:03:19
Reader Comments (1)
So sorry to hear of your loss. We're thinking of you guys constantly, and even more so this past week.