PEOPLE OF INTEREST
92
JERRY GROENDYKE
Age:
Lives in: )ort 3ierce
Occupation: 5etired air trac
control manager
Family: :ife, Elisa and son,
*rant
Education: bachelor of arts degree,
Stetson University
People
Hobbies: )lying and bicycling
Who inspires me: ´3eople who attempt to do something that
others say can·t be done.µ
Something most people don’t know about me: ´, once volunteered
to worN as a ¶ducN wrangler· for a friend who was
putting on an animal act at an airshow.µ
Elisa says ´7hey were soaNed to the sNin and turning blue
when they got to the 59. ,t was darN, and , had no way to get
in touch with them or even Nnew where to go searching for
them.µ
But, after this inauspicious start, the trip continued and, e-
cept for an accident near Austin, 7eas, that damaged *rant·s
bicycle and left him with some bruises, there weren·t many
other mishaps.
´:e would leave early to try to get in about miles a day
before the sun was too brutal,µ -erry eplains. ´Elisa would
give us about a twotothreehour head start. Eventually,
she would pass us and set up at the net campsite. :e were
never more than miles apart in case of a breaNdown, which
did happen once.µ
Louisiana was everyone·s least favorite state. )or Elisa, it
was the narrow twolane roads clogged with logging trucNs
and, for the bicyclists, it was the dogs.
´7he diͿerence between the dogs in Louisiana and the
dogs in Ariona is the dogs in Ariona had manners. 7hey
would barN at you and run toward you, but they stopped at
the edge of their property,µ says *rant, who has inherited his
father·s dry sense of humor.
7he three did some sightseeing along the way, and the
cyclists stopped to read historical marNers along the roads.
After crossing a bridge over the 3ecos 5iver gorge, they visited
the -udge 5oy Bean 0useum in Langtry, 7eas.
7hey went through Emory 3ass, in 1ew 0eico, the highest
point on their trip at , feet, by walNing the bicycles
five miles up the mountain and riding down the other side.
´,t tooN us five hours to go up,µ -erry Tuips, ´and minutes
to go down the other side.µ >>
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