So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you.

So, I got home from Wichita. As much as I whined about being stuck there an extra day and making an unexpected trip to Houston, I feel obligated to point out that I could have real problems. I don't. 

What does a footloose and fancy free person like me do in her spare time?

The ladies. (We had one guy on the ride,
but he rode ahead to get to a kid event.)

First, she goes on a bike ride with her team. On a merger of an old route with some new parts designed to avoid a road closure (thanks, Matt, for the new ideas). I want to say that this photo is from around mile 33, but my bike odometer/speedometer thing wasn't working. It said that my maximum speed was 137 mph and, while I know I was going kind of fast down that one hill, I was not going faster than I've ever driven a car.

Then, she goes to a Mexican restaurant and eats a most satisfying chile relleno and splits some chips and guacamole with her teammate Carmen, not paying her fair share. After going home and not doing her fair share of the work there, she goes to a party. 

And not just any party, a party that Stacy and Travis host to help raise money for the MS Society. Thankfully, Stacy and Travis were prepared for the massive storms that rolled through the area, having the band set up in the garage with a big tarp roof in the driveway. I took our little pop up screenhouse tent thing, which ended up being a good place for kids at the party to hang out when they needed a break from sliding around in the mud.

Carmen's bike
by the cool sculpture
near Kaposia Park

Then what did I do? I mean what does a footloose and fancy free person do? Go home, sleep, wake up, go to Stacy's and ride bikes to Raspberry Island to join Millie for Lisa's Yoga in the Park class, overlooking the Mississippi.

Then she goes home and inspects the VIP materials that arrived in the mail and the registration stuff that Stacy picked up for her, including a nice event t-shirt this year (better quality and better design, despite all the wrinkles I, I mean she, added), a parking pass for premiere parking at the spot where her car will sit all weekend while she rides her bike back to it, a number for her bike that matches the number on the blue wristband, a pass to go to a VIP tent (special snacks!) after the first day of riding, a coupon for a free massage after the first day of riding, a yellow wrist band for access to the line-free port-a-potties, and a decorative bib.

Check out the bib, por favor. It says that I was ranked 39 out of the 3800 riders last MS150 in terms of my fundraising. Thanks, you guys! It also says that I raised $4,540 for the MS Society by doing the MS150 in 2013. I have a secret to share. I have raised $4,781.67 this year for my MS150 fundraising efforts (I've also raised some money for my July 300-mile bike ride). Wow, wow, wow!!