Bowling, Bowling, Bowling

Hey everybody,

Sorry we haven't blogged in a few days. It took a little while to collect everyone's photos since our (un)official photographers had to leave us in Naples. We still managed to get some pretty good shots of our event site - Splitsville in Tampa, FL. Thanks so much to GM Kris Knox and Courtney Dempsey, our event coordinator. This was such a fun event for the crew! See pictures of us bowling here (check out the awesome form - yeah right!). Can anyone tell me how Traci Smith bowls with those fingernails?!?



In addition to breaking in the lanes, we met some new friends. See photos here and pay special attention to the young man in the red shirt. His name is Adrian and he is THE STRIKE KING! He showed Nikki and I a thing or two and promised to give us some more pointers next time we're in town.

Once again, we had a fantastic time, raised money, and reminded people about the continuing fight against breast cancer. This was our last official event and just as it did last year, it brought a sense of relief as well as a twinge of sadness. We were all getting a little road weary but so enjoy each others company. And, of course, once we arrived in Knoxville, we would be saying goodbye to Nikki as she headed back to her new home in California.

That's all for now.

Holly

Saltwater Cowboys

Day 5 - We are officially more than half way through our ride and on our way to Naples. Here are some pics of our trip including the trek across Alligator Alley. Except for a brief stop for road work and a glimpse by some of us (supposedly) of a gator, it was pretty uneventful. We made good time for a long day and made it to our event site of the evening almost on time :-).

Saltwater Cowboys, for those of you who don't know it, is a "real biker bar". Ask anyone who's been there. Here are some pics.



We couldn't believe how much orange welcomed us upon arrival. Here are some pics of some of the UT lovers who came out to visit. We were even lucky enough to have an old friend, Bobby Denton stop by for a visit as well. Any long time Knoxvillians reading this blog will know exactly who he is. He looks great. It's clear the Florida climate agrees with him.


Thanks again to Saltwater Cowboys for helping us fuel the fight against breast cancer!



The Cruisin' Crew

Making it to Mile 0

We left Miami early to avoid traffic and, of course, get to Key West as early as possible. Here are some photos from our trip down. Our original reservations were made at a hotel near the airport but our friend and honorary Cruisin’ Crew member, Kathy Witt and her friend Donna Moody had other plans. First, they made contact with City Commissioner Teri Johnston who arranged for a police escort for our caravan. These guys made the trip to Mile Marker 0 and the Southernmost Point possible. They also made connections with some unbelievably generous people and we wound up staying at two magnificent properties. Cindy DeRocher at The Gardens Hotel on Angela Street was our main host (thank you Kate Miano, owner). Part of the crew also stayed at another property right down the street called Ambrosia Key West (thank you Claude Vansteaden, manager). We were all equally thrilled with the accommodations. The next time you make plans to visit Key West you HAVE to stay at one of these locations! The property is beautiful and every staff member is friendly and professional. We cannot say thank you enough for the generosity we enjoyed but want to say a special thank you to Alicia, Billy and Jessica for taking care of us.

After checking in, Nikki and I along with some of our crew headed over to Bahama Village to do a 2 hour clinic at the Frederick Douglas Gym. Thank you to City Commissioner Clayton Lopez for helping make the clinic possible. We had a great turnout and the kids were very enthusiastic. Thanks to Beth Bass and the WNBA we were able to provide 20 basketballs and cool giveaways to every participant. These were two of the most satisfying hours we spent on the road. A special thank you to Mr. Major for facilitating the event.

Once the clinic was over, we returned to the Gardens Hotel for a reception in our honor and Nikki and I were made honorary citizens of "The Conch Republic" by Secretary General Sir Peter Anderson.

Check back for more updates tomorrow!

Go Cruisin’!

Holly

Catching up

Okay. We’ve got a lot to catch up on so Holly and I both are writing tonight. We finally had a chance to get some of the photos organized. Here are some pics from the TaTa Tour - what a great event! If you missed it, plan to ride with us next year – this will be a repeat event for sure.

You've already seen some photos from Day 1 posted by the Cruisin' Crew (thanks Cindy). Here are some more pics once we got on the road.

We also have photos from day 2 (including the mind blowing experience of Daytona International Speedway).

We started day 3 thinking about the Florida families who have been affected by the fires currently burning there. We saw some of the devastation pictured here. Our prayers go out to everyone affected including the fire fighters who are out there trying to gain control. The smell of smoke permeated everything for miles. Luckily we made it through the fire zone about 30 minutes before they closed the road and were glad to leave the area behind us.

After the sobering start, the rest of the day turned out to be gorgeous. The weather was great and apart from a brief pit stop for an oil leak, we had a great trip into Miami.

Deli Lane, a local Miami restaurant hosted us for our first event on the road. Thank you Patty and Linda for working so hard and having such a great setup. Cindy Russo, the head coach of Florida International University as well as members of the FIU football and baseball teams joined us. The athletes were enthusiastic and supportive and helped in the fund raising effort with great giveaways. Thanks FIU for your help!

We will be updating more tomorrow so check back in to see pics from Key West, Naples, and Tampa.

Thanks for following along with us!

Holly and Nikki

Rain, rain go away

And here we are pullin out of the lot at Smithbilt only to hit the rain 3 miles down the road.

Check back over the next few days as we play catch-up with the blogging.

~ H & N

Getting Ready Part 3

Getting ready part 2

Getting ready to roll

Thought you would enjoy seeing some photos of what it takes to get us ready to go. Sadly we only made it 3 miles (defintitely the shortest leg of the entire trip) before we had to pull over and put on the rain gear.

Blog Apologies!

We want to give you all our sincerest apology for the technical blog issues that we have faced during the ride! Obviously there was no way to anticipate them, so we want to assure you that we will spend the next few days getting you all caught up!

Once we got out of rainy East Tennessee, the weather has been spectacular! It doesn't get any better than cruisin' through sunny Florida. Please bear with us while we play catch-up, but know that we are going to overload you with ride photos and facts.

Thanks for your support during the past week!

We're still cruisin'!

Holly & Nikki

Test

We have had some rather serious technical difficulties during the ride. This is a test posting to ensure that all systems are go!