Parkinson's Humor: Visiting with Roy and Lynn

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Visiting with Roy and Lynn

I first came in contact with Roy Roden six months ago through my Facebook page. He had just had DBS surgery and told me how pleased he was with his results. Roy and his wife, Lynn, were in Miami, Florida which is pretty far from Yuma, Arizona. However, they would be coming through Yuma in a few months, so we made plans to meet.

Roy and Lynn had an ambitious plan, they were going to ride bicycles from Seattle, Washington back to Miami, Florida, a distance of over 4500 miles to raise awareness about Parkinson's. Now for those of you in other countries, that's like riding from London to New Delhi, or from Sydney to Perth and back again, or from Cape Town to Casa Blanca. In other words, it's a very long way to drive in a car, much less ride a bicycle.

They started their trip in November, and spent a great deal of time riding in the rain (it was the rainiest November/December the Pacific Northwest ever had). I promised them sunshine when they came through Yuma and, fortunately, I was able to deliver.

YumaBev singing

They arrived here on Thursday, Jan 3rd, and my Wonderful Husband and I met them for dinner at Daybreakers Cafe (which also has karaoke). We ate dinner and then went and sang karaoke. We had a good time, no one threw tomatoes at us and we stayed until closing time of 9 pm (Yes, 9 pm, Yuma is a town filled with seniors, so places open very early and close early, too).

Friday and Saturday, we both had other things to do, so we didn't get together again until Sunday, Jan 6th. We invited all four of them (Roy and Lynn have her brother David and a friend Holly traveling with them) over to our house to go Jeeping. Most of my neighbors have Jeeps, and since the area around Yuma is desert, Jeeping is a favorite pastime around here. The four of them piled into Jeeps and my Wonderful Husband and some neighbors took them on a ride down the Wash and over some dunes to a nearby place where people fly radio controlled planes. When they came back, my Wonderful Husband took David (Lynn's brother) out for a ride in a Polaris RZR, a smaller all terrain vehicle designed just for playing in the sand and climbing over rocks.

Then we all met for dinner at Pizza Hut. We had a great time and even though we could have gone back to the cafe for karaoke again, we passed. We were all tired, so we called it a night.

Monday started off early for all of us. Roy and Lynn were our guest speakers at our local Parkinson's Support Group meeting (which also happens to meet at Daybreakers Cafe). He talked about their bicycle ride, the wonderful people they'd met along the way and the importance of exercise. Then our support group gave them a donation, we exchanged t-shirts and posed for pictures and they got ready to continue their bike ride back to Miami.

Please go to their Facebook page and if they will be riding near you, please give them a call and meet them for lunch or dinner, or invite them to speak at your local PD support group. They are all wonderful people and it was a privilege to meet them in person.