I’m still in shock and in complete disbelief over Donita’s accident. We have talked to Donita and her family about how she is doing and I am so thankful she is alive, alert, and healing. Her strength and determination are absolutely incredible. She has come through one of many surgeries. Thanks for your prayers.
Like Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons was a fantastic place to continue to process things. Kelly and I had been to the Tetons in 1983 with our family. It was nice to reminisce and talk about what we remembered instead of “oh my God, what the world just happened!” We both wanted to hike a trail and take pictures. We decided to take a few days to decompress in this beautiful place and to regroup and come up with a new “plan”. 

On May 27th  we woke up to see more of the park and found a beautiful pasture of horses. They have the best place to live and graze!  We roamed around a bit and found some spots to take photos. This day was a much needed break for my mind.  We had no plans that day but to just enjoy the mountains. I got a phone call from a college friend, who I haven’t spoken to since college. He had just read of Donita’s accident on my Facebook page and just called to encourage me to get back on my bike and just ride, whatever that meant for me.  He is a cyclist so it meant a lot to hear from him and be encouraged by him. He had lots of suggestions on how to frame my trip which really helped to talk it through with him. I promised him to get back in the saddle and that if we decided to come through KY on our way East we would stop by and have a short ride together. By the end of the conversation I was ready to rock-n-roll on my bike again and take the fear by it’s horns and get it under control.

My husband called shortly after talking to Eric and he, too, said I absolutely, 100%, needed to ride as much as I could coast to coast whatever that looked like. So my mind became less cluttered with doubts and fears. Having Kelly with me to bounce ideas off of has helped me these last few days along with the therapy of crisp mountains fresh mountain air, and spring flowers. It’s all too beautiful to describe and these photos just don’t do it justice.

I took Eric, Scott, and Kelly’s suggestions to heart and decided to pull out my bike and go for a short ride. They were right, it was the best thing for me to do! It made me come out of the fog I had been in the last several days and get me excited about the possibilities of riding alone. I cried some, stopped to take photos of deer, saw the beautiful Jenny Lake and that was that. 9 miles of beauty and head clearing time! Amazing! After that Kelly and I went back to Mormon Row and took some photos. I got a message from one of my son’s childhood friends. He had seen a post I made on Facebook and told me he was now living in Jackson Hole. He was working that night at a restaurant and so we went to see him. I can’t tell you how nice it was to see him again. Crazy how small the world is. He made us feel right at home in his beautiful town of Jackson Hole; a highlight of our time here.

So my mind is becoming less cluttered with doubts and fears. Kelly has been a huge blessing to me by letting me bounce ideas off of her. The Grand Tetons have always been one of my favorite places to see in America. This time I not only marveled at its grandeur, but sincerely thanked them for the peace they gave me which helped cleared a thick fog that surrounded me. Hope you enjoy the many photos. I know there is A LOT! We enjoyed taking them. They don’t do this mountain range justice, but hopefully you can feel some of the same peace that I received by looking at this. I am truly saddened to be leaving this place. Until next time, Tetons you will be in my dreams. Now onward to Salt Lake City, Yosemite and then San Francisco.