THE BIG CHALLENGE ALREADY A WEEK OLD!
Rise Across Texas Challenge - Day 7 (Saturday): Kerrville to Leakey - 60 miles
What another beautiful and scenic ride! Our day started with an inspirational speech from a fellow rider, Nancy Krenek, that you can see in the Day 7 Video. Faith and fortitude were the day's keywords as we rode the toughest hill of that we will see over our two week trek - a 15-20 minute climb upwards about 1.5 miles.
Nancy put it right, "its not about us, this is about the kids and families with special needs….when your quads are burning….those kids have bigger hills to climb."
Welcome back Sen. Ellis! Rested, relaxed and fresh-legged, Sen. Ellis rejoined the ride today after 3 days of air-conditioned "meetings" he had to take. Also back on the trail was Gerard Torres. After the ride was a great dinner at the Leakey Feed Lot, known for its amazing chicken-fried steak.
Rise Across Texas Challenge - Day 8 (Sunday): Leakey to Brackettville - 70.1 miles
A word about Leakey - one of Texas' most beautiful areas, Leakey is a nature-lover’s dream—the Frio River offers whitewater rapids to flats to swimming holes and great fishing. Other outdoor attractions in the area include Garner State Park and Devil’s Sinkhole State Natural Area. For the cyclist - Leakey-area elevations range from 1,500 to 2,400 feet, with deep canyons cut by the Frio and Nueces Rivers.
Our trip to Brackettville included more hills, which while not as steep as yesterday's, were longer and just as gruesome. As we continue to climb and pedal across the state, we will bring home with us the knowledge that challenges of such magnitude can truly bring out one's true potential.
Brackettville was originally a supply depot for the Army’s Fort Clark in 1852, which was home to the Buffalo Soldiers. The town had a larger proportion of Black Seminoles—people of mixed African American and Seminole ancestry—than the rest of West Texas. Their language, Afro-Seminole Creole, is still spoken by some in Brackettville.
Thanks to my mom & sister, Ida and Yolanda Alvarado, for coming out in our support this weekend. Monday it's off to Del Rio.
Below are some photos of Sen. Ellis getting an impromptu massage and plotting on Carol's food from Day 7 and one of Carol's "grease tattoo's on her leg from Day 8!
Also - check out the Day 8 Video Here!
Keep telling that history:
ReplyDeleteRead the novel, Rescue at Pine Ridge, "RaPR", a great story of black military history...the first generation of Buffalo Soldiers.
How do you keep a people down? ‘Never' let them 'know' their history.
The 7th Cavalry got their butts in a sling again after the Little Big Horn Massacre, fourteen years later, the day after the Wounded Knee Massacre. If it wasn't for the 9th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers, there would of been a second massacre of the 7th Cavalry.
Read the novel, “Rescue at Pine Ridge”, 5 stars Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the youtube trailer commercial...and visit the website http://www.rescueatpineridge.com
I hope you’ll enjoy the novel. I wrote it from my mini-series movie of the same title, “RaPR” to keep my story alive. Hollywood has had a lot of strikes and doesn't like telling our stories...its been “his-story” of history all along…until now. The movie so far has attached, Bill Duke directing, Hill Harper, Glynn Turman and a host of other major actors in which we are in talks with…see imdb.com at; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925633/
When you get a chance, also please visit our Alpha Wolf Production website at; http://www.alphawolfprods.com and see our other productions, like Stagecoach Mary, the first Black Woman to deliver mail for Wells Fargo in Montana, in the 1890's, “spread the word”.
Peace.
Erich