Words by Tracy Fawns
Well, tonight I finally got the chance to talk with Cat. By chance, when I called her cell phone, she happened to be in the van getting her knee iced!!! The conversation with Cat was brief, but her voice sounded wonderful, strong, lucid, and cheery!!! She said, "Trace, I have had so much fun! There's been some hard times, but it's not as hard as I thought it would be. I'm having fun!" We told each other we loved and missed one another and then she said "Oh... I need to get back on my bike". Understandable. ;-)
It was so incredible good to talk to her. Something about hearing her voice made me completely emotional, yet elated and relieved! It was the best 45-second conversation I think I have ever had!! :-)
I chatted with both Lissa and Patty, crew members for Cat, for almost 25 minutes. They wanted me to post this message to all of you: DO NOT tell Cat about Dr. Bob Breedlove if you get the chance to talk with her. She does not know and they do not plan on telling her. They have been screening calls a bit, until I had a chance to post this message.
Otherwise, she is doing great. She has had a couple of 30-45 minute sleep breaks during the day due to fatigue/sleepiness and is getting 3 hours of down time each night. Her knee has gotten better and her saddle sores are remaining status-quo. So far, so good!!!
Cat doesn't like the flats right now. She felt much better in the mountains while climbing. The flats tend to irritate her knee and her saddle sores, because there are fewer opportunities to get out of the saddle and stand. She is actually LOOKING FORWARD to the Appalachian Mtns once they get east!!!
She has had her low points.... but Patty Jo said that when Cat is happy, she is REALLY happy!! :-) Cat has cried, she's laughed... and, can you believe it, she actually got a little mad! :-)
When I talked to them, at about 8pm PDT, young Benjamin cycled on by Cat while she was in the van. Chris Hopkinson was in his van sleeping. Cat is now ahead of Benjamin and she may be ahead of Chris at the present time due to his sleep break. Her sleep break will be coming up tonight, so it looks like they will be shifting places a little bit.
At the 1,000-mile mark, they had a little party for Cat.... the girls on the crew did a little Indian dance and cheered her on. They have big plans for the 2,000-mile mark, but didn't share
'em with me. :-)
Cat is now en route to Yates Center, Kansas, Time Station #29, where the weather seems to be around 77F right now with just a slight south wind at 9MPH. This puts her at over 1,600 miles with about 1,400 to go. She will be crossing the Mississippi River a little after the 2,000-mile mark.
I talked with Susanne, Cat's sister, and with Bjorn and
Gunnel, Cat's parents, last night and again with Susanne this morning when she was at the airport getting ready to depart from Sweden. They will be arriving in Washington D.C. and driving out to meet Cat on the course, starting Sunday. I'm sure this will be a HUGE motivating factor for Cat and she will be very, very happy to see them, as well as them to see her.
Patty and Lissa both wanted to let everyone know to keep the prayers coming and they said "hello!!" to all of you.
-Tracy Fawns