Crusty Cassette

Hi Everyone,

We continue to have great weather although it is somewhat humid. I'm getting tan right through my clothes!

We see storks and stork nests all the time now - they are the country's 'state' bird. Beautiful.

Also many farmers still use horses to work in the fields. They have a horse that is bigger then a riding horse but not as big as a Draft horse. Their wagons have rubber tires. One shot I got is of a girl in a bikini using a pitch fork to toss hay in a horse drawn wagon. There was also a guy in a bathing suit helping her. They love the sun! Lots of older women out working in their gardens in dresses. Since they don't have fences they tie the cows out in the pasture. Some had halters but most had a small chain around their neck.

We have seen quite a few long low cement buildings that have obviously been abandoned for a long time. We asked our Estonian guide about it and he said they were used to raise mink and fox.

My last email was sent after 9:00 p.m. so I think I forgot to tell you that the holiday they were celebrating was victory over the Germans--- in 1243!! Seems a bit ironic but I'm sure they felt if we did it once we can do it again.

It's hard to imagine what these countries have endured being caught in the middle of Russia and Germany. Our guide is 31 and he remembers the only way they could celebrate Christmas was to pull the curtains and not let anyone know. When the Russians finally left in 1991 the school kids burned the red scarves they had to wear to school ((the scarf was like a 'rank' in the boy scouts) but then they were terrified because they thought the Russians might come back and find out what they had done.

The biking is going very well and now the playing field is leveling out. :-) Yesterday -20k from the end- I was still in the middle of the pack! Actually I think some of them are just finally saying what's the hurry. We finally got into some 'rollers' which was nice for a change. One day the distance was 175k. I did 128. For 5 people in our group it was their first century.

I think we have 4 guys in their 70's. One is 75. and 2 are 69! I'm not sure if I am the oldest woman but I think so. Most of the time we stay in a hotel on the outskirts of town because it is easier to get to on our bikes. Coming into Vilnius was unbeliveable - I was longing for the sand and potholes of good old EURO VELO #1!!! Narrow roads, lots of trafic and construction, a few cobblestones. We all made it and except for the last 30 min. in town it was one of the favorite rides.

Last night our Van got broken into. It was parked right in front of the hotel. Actually they CUT the window out. All that was inside was a breifcase full of our Poland maps and they took that. Rick spent most of his day trying to get us new ones. The next stretch has us going for 7 straight days (I think). I'll pick a 'rest' day and ride in the van.

Oh yes, my Twin Rivers jersey is a big hit!

Bye for now.

Love Helen/ Mom

Better late than never, that's Steve's motto. Hmm doesn't that explain his cycling pace? Oh, never mind.

Of course old tech Steve sent it to me as a WordPerfect file. To be fair, he also sent it to me as an html document. Of course he forgot to include the pictures so that didn't work. My copy of Word asked for the install disk so it could add the WordPerfect conversion tool. Of course that left lots of funny boxes where things didn't convert well. The pictures were there but now I just had a Word document.

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Jim was abducted by aleins........

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Jim made an appearance today. Those long sleeves were to protect him from further exposure to the sun. He's been riding with someone else?

Elaine made her first road ride with us today. It was something of an awakening for her, but we got her through it.

It's 7 in the evening and the seat beneath me oscillates with the slapping of the waves. I've been abducted and forced to go for a ride on Mike and Nicky's boat. Cliff's tied his boat up to Mike's. Debbie's doing her bathing beauty imitation and Linda's exposing her sunburned shoulder blades.

See more photos here

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It's always nice to have a professional photographer snap a few pics. Here are some of those Chris took on Saturday at Bite the Bullett.

Thanks, Chris.

Hi everyone, I finally am at a real internet cafe, so that means there is not a line of people waiting to get their 15 min.

In the last 4 days I have ridden 100K out of 130K, 94K out of 110K, 54K out of 90 and 75K out of 75. The last day felt easy!

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