Welcome to Episode 9 (“Disaster Averted” of the Podcast Series “What Really Helps: Bike+RV+Dog=50 States. For this podcast, it was Day 53 through Day 59 of the Duty, Honor, America Tour (Nov 28 to Dec 4, 2010). 

This week we leave the Atlantic Ocean on our left hand side and our route makes the turn at Orlando, heading back north for the first time during the tour. It took us from the East to the West of Florida part of the tour. Doug cycled from Georgia through Eastern Florida where we caught up with Debra’s senior civilian leader during command in Iraq. Then Doug traveled to Orlando,  where we met up with several classmates and instructors when Deb was at West Point who were attending an Orange County Convention Center event. Perhaps the most important stop of our entire Tour, was the Lazy Days RV shops, where Simba received essential RV repairs. This week was also special because Debra and Doug spent time with Deb’s parents at IRCC, a military retirement community, where we celebrated her Mom’s birthday. We also visited a Coast Guard base this week. On Day 58 when Debra traveled to pick Doug up, he had a big surprise for her.  But we’ll get to that in the podcast.

Cycling stats for the week are: 331.9 miles cycled and 4,341 feet climbed.

Be sure to visit www.dutyhonoramerica.com to watch the photo highlights video for this week.