The trip started in 1994 when I first saw an advertisement for Odyssey 2000® in a magazine. That was the first year I bicycled both ways across Michigan and reinforced my thoughts about bicycle touring. I liked cycling and I liked camping. What better way to see the world could there be than signing up for a world bicycle tour?
The $500 down payment in 1995 was followed by three annual payments of $1,833, with a balance due of $25,001 by the end of January 1999.
Because a fund-raising option was in the contract I decided to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, Southwest Butler County (PA). I got publicity and advertised in newspapers, but raised only about 2% of what I had hoped to raise. When I realized that my fund-raising had not produced the desired results I decided to mortgage my house.
By not applying for a mortgage soon enough I missed the deadline by a few days and had to pay a penalty of $500. In addition there was a $500 medical insurance policy, so my total cost was $32,000.
The trip was planned by Tim Kneeland and Associates, Inc. (TK&A), of Seattle, owner of the registered trademark. The logistics of providing a tour for 250 cyclists in 45 or so countries on six continents were beyond comprehension. It's hard to imagine how much preparation is needed to find camping places for 60% of a year and beds for the other 40%, to find people to provide food for breakfasts and dinners all year, to figure out and arrange for transporting that many people and their gear between continents and between countries, to transport baggage almost every day between overnight stops, to arrange for manufacture of 250 bicycles and to provide a bike shop and emergency transportation (SAG). The more I thought about that the more I was glad it was TK&A doing the planning instead of me.
I made a decision to make 7 December 1999 my last workday of the year, not because it was the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but because I needed time to pack. I wanted to drive to California to be sure to have temperatures that were warm enough to ride for a couple of weeks before the trip started on 1 January 2000 in the Tournament of Roses Parade. It was 11 December when I finally got on the road. My cousin, Herb Sampson, had agreed to let me stay at his place in San Bernardino for the training rides and to park my Jeep for the year.
The trip to California is almost a blur. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico. No blur in New Mexico. I had been adding automatic transmission fluid (ATF) by the gallon and decided that it was time to do something about that problem. The yellow pages had an ad for a transmission shop that had been in business since 1945, which was good enough for me to stop to have the transmission checked. After the seal was replaced I was stuck with three or four gallons of ATF, but maybe they'll still be good the next time I have that problem. That evening I got to Albuquerque, where I visited my ex-wife and called Larry Gore, another member of the tour, to arrange a ride with him the next morning. We rode about 20 miles along the Rio Grande. Later I learned that I had picked up a cactus thorn on that ride. The thorn worked its way through the tire into the tube and made a hole just big enough to flatten the tube.
From New Mexico there were only two more states: Arizona and California. I got to Herb's on 17 December and went for my first California training ride the next morning. Unfortunately I had ridden only 10.75 miles when I flipped the bike on a sandy surface and landed on my hip. The driver to my left pulled in front of me to block me from traffic and another motorist pulled behind me to do the same. I think I had three physicians in attendance at the site and that at least one of them had called 9-1-1 on a cellular phone. When I rolled over onto my right side they had me roll back so I would be on my back. The pain was excruciating. I told them where Herb's phone number was so they could call him when they found out where I was going.
One thought I had while lying there was that I wouldn't even get to the 4000-mile mark for bicycling in 1999. My total at that time was 3728.66 miles and was destined to remain at that figure.
The ambulance transported me to Loma Linda University Community Hospital. There were so many people with flu-like symptoms in the emergency room that the only room available to wheel me into was between two similar spaces in the obstetrics area. My thought was that this was intentional so I would learn how to scream and breathe deeply. After I was taken to the x-ray room and pictures were taken I was returned to the OB space in the ER, but that didn't last long because there were so many fractures in the acetabulum that the orthopaedic surgeon wanted an x-ray from another angle. Talk about pain! It hurt every time I was moved. I was moved from street to backboard to gurney to x-ray table to gurney to x-ray table to backboard to bed. Then Dr. Tim Peppers told me that he thought it would be a good idea not to operate on me but he wanted to get another opinion on Monday. He said that the acetabulum is the part of the pelvis where the leg bone fits into a socket. A ten-pound weight was hung on my left foot to keep my left leg in place. All the orthopaedists agreed on Monday that maintaining traction and letting me build bone to heal the fractures was the best thing to do.
Dr. Peppers understood my situation and sympathized with my desire to catch up with the tour as soon as possible. He had had fractures while skiing and knew how devastating inactivity is to an active person. At the same time he wanted to be sure that I would not do something to set back my recovery. Looking back, I'm glad the accident happened so close to Loma Linda University.
On Tuesday, the night of the last giant full moon of the century, I was moved from the hospital to Linda Valley Care Center (LVCC), a skilled nursing facility a few blocks away. (I consider 2000 to be the last year of the century, but there's not supposed to be a moon like that in 2000.) Because I was going to be immobilized for about a month a special air mattress was ordered so I wouldn't get bedsores. The weight on my foot pulled me to the bottom of the bed and I had to relocate my body every once in a while so my foot wouldn't be jammed against the bottom of the bed. David Young, a physical therapist, gave me exercises to keep my right leg and upper body from freezing like the left leg was doomed to do. The air mattress, David's exercises and the attention I got from all of the staff at LVCC were a big factor in my keeping a positive attitude. The bicycle trip and all it meant to me were also part of my care. Several riders from the trip stopped to visit me.
Dan Fazio at the Butler Eagle newspaper family wrote an appeal for financial help because I told him I was going to have a problem paying medical bills. When I left Pennsylvania my Medicare HMO had to be canceled, and I hadn't had time in California to add a supplement to standard Medicare. I hadn't thought about that because I expected to be on the tour in a little over two weeks and would then be covered by the medical policy for the tour group. That appeal brought in enough money to pay for about 10% of the medical bills.
On 20 January, 33 days after the accident, Dr. Peppers reviewed new x-rays and allowed traction to be removed and made me mobile in a wheelchair. I was able to tool around LVCC, racing the patients with Alzheimer's disease and suffering from strokes. Actually we didn't race because they all thought I was joking. One day I counted the floor tiles in the corridor and calculated that it was 300 feet for the loop. That worked out to 17.6 times around for a mile. The next day I did more than a mile. Because I was not allowed to put weight on my left leg my exercise program consisted of transferring from bed to wheelchair and back, standing on the right leg and continuing the exercises I had been doing in bed. It was also possible to wheel into the bathroom to brush my teeth instead of using the little basin in bed.
Three weeks later, on 10 February, another set of x-rays led to a decision that I was allowed 50% weight bearing on the left leg and could ride a stationary bike, which meant I could get crutches and leave LLVC. Crutches arrived just as I was ready to leave with Herb the next day. We stopped at Drayson Center, the Loma Linda University gym, so I could sign up for membership at the senior citizen price of $10 a month. Drayson Center has stationary bikes, treadmills, swimming pools and lots of exercise equipment.
Next door to the Loma Linda University Orthopaedic Center was Rehabilitation Technology Works where physical therapists specialize in sports medicine and workplace rehabilitation. Torhild Kvafekvål and Patty Raisor are the two therapists who helped me three times a week, following Dr. Peppers' prescription. Torhild suggested that I come in after my next appointment with Dr. Peppers on 2 March because I thought I would be given full weight bearing privileges. That's what happened and I felt I was getting closer to joining the bike tour. I knew, though, that I would not be able to connect in Greece on 16 March. Next appointment was scheduled for 30 March.
I made one cycling connection the next week. Redlands Bicycling Classic, the largest bicycle event in USA, needed volunteers. I volunteered to sell at the souvenir booth for two hours each on Saturday and Sunday. The Sunday assignment was changed to the press room so the newspaper office could be kept open for news people to pick up race results. I was able to see the end of Sunday's race.
A little over a week before the scheduled appointment with the doctor I got a new schedule of "Space-A" flights from March Air Reserve Base, Riverside, California. That base is about half an hour's drive from Herb's home. As a retired Naval Reservist I'm eligible to fly when space is available (hence the term "Space-A") on military aircraft. A flight was listed from March ARB to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Goldsboro, North Carolina, for 29 March, the day before my scheduled appointment with Dr. Peppers. That would be ideal, because Sean, one of my sons, lives a few miles from Goldsboro. He was planning to visit me in Washington when Odyssey 2000® reaches there in May, so I could stay with him until May. That would let me transfer my clutter from California to North Carolina and keep my Jeep in San Bernardino so it would be there after the tour ends in Pasadena. All I had to do was get a new appointment with Dr. Peppers. I saw him on 23 March and was cleared to go.
On 29 March I was at March ARB at 0600. There were only two "Space-A" passengers to fill ten seats. The other passengers on the C141 were members of an inspection team. Sean met me at the visitor center. My duffel and bike didn't arrive until the following week. The bike was damaged by UPS but it's easily fixed by buying a new stem. I had insured it for full value. The UPS representative filed the damage claim to reimburse me for the cost of the stem.
First days at Sean's show me that I'm not quite ready to ride. When I sit in a chair I get stiff and have difficulty walking. I do walk daily, as much as two miles, so Sean's dog, Maynard, and I get some exercise. When I get the bike part maybe I'll find that cycling is easier than walking.
Sports medicine therapy continued at Goldsboro Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, and I can use the gym at Seymour Johnson AFB, where there are some of the same tools I had at Drayson Center, such as stationary bike, cross trainer and treadmill. This started the final preparation for Odyssey 2000®. Getting the bike on the road and continuing therapy and exercise should get me in condition to join the ride in May in Washington.