Me = the other guy = you = responsibility and action = results.

I'm back in New Orleans.
I rode from Mayfield, KY to the city last night, which was around 550 miles. The last hundred miles were pretty hairy with a lot of fog, and I got in late and I was tired. I'm staying in a great hotel that I used to use when I worked for Tea & Coffee Trade Journal as a sales person. I have always been lucky to get a great discount on staying here at the Le Pavillon and I love it. They have peanut butter and jelly sandwich makings and hot cocoa at 10pm and I was so excited when I saw it out on the table in the lobby - but I got there just as it was being taken down and didn't have time to get any. I hadn't had dinner so I was feeling sorry for myself. Well - I've been watching TV all morning and looking at what the people down here are trying to do to get back to even a semblance of normalcy. My worries were pretty darned petty at this point. I'm in a nice room - lots of the people of New Orleans don't even have a house. And the people in Latin America that Ground for Health are trying to help have never had a house, or anything we would consider a house. While we eat dinner and watch TV, they are trying to survive. You know --- there are so many similarities between both of these places right now. New Orleans looks like a third world country in some places right now - and it's Our own country. How do I get to the people of our country and make them care and make them think they can help even if they are only ONE person?

I keep trying to figure out how to make the best use of my ride - how to make this "one person" get lots of "one persons" care and see that it's up to each of us to help as much as we can. It's being good neighbors.

There are millions of dollars pouring in and out of New Orleans, but look at the city - look at the people who are still in trauma and still have nowhere to go. It's obviously not enough even though to us regular people it seems so huge - millions of dollars - it must be enough but it's not. It's all a matter of perspective and the normal person will never see or work with those types of numbers. That's why I'm hoping that I can help convince everyone that there are ways for us to help each other. It may be a dollar sent to my ride and I will be the conduit to move it on to people who can help; it may be that someone can take their vacation in New Orleans and spend their tourist dollars here - it may be that you have a skill that can be used here and can show up for a short period of time - it may be that you have taken a Katrina victim in – it may be that you WILL take in a Katrina victim if they need to move from where they are now - it may be that you buy a latte from a company who is supporting the countries who get you that coffee - it may be that you send me your latte money for a day so that I can get it to the people who can make it work – the point is just to help how ever you can whether through me or not.

I'm just here watching how the people in New Orleans are trying everything they can think of to inspire those who live here to carry on, clean up, take care of themselves, take care of each other and on and on. What more can we do to help them? What do we do if it happens where we live - in your town - to your family and friends because we don't control Mother Nature? For one thing, it's not the fault of the people who live. Even if you don't think this city should have been built where it is or should be rebuilt – it’s about what happens to the real people who lived and still live here? They still need help. The children are traumatized, families of real people have been torn apart. People have died and people were born in the midst of all of this disaster but life still goes on. Can you imagine living in this kind of turmoil and trying to get on with just the everyday part of living? Wouldn’t you be hoping for help?

Those of us who are not in the middle of this have the luxury of reaching out to help. I'm trying to do what I knew how to do. Maybe it's bizarre, but I've raised some awareness and some help - not nearly enough - but I'm the other guy who everyone else is waiting to do something. But you're the other guy too. Even if you never support what I'm trying to do, remember to help wherever you are in any little way you can. Little things add up to big things. You can make a difference.

So I'm going to keep trying to figure out how to do this better and keep riding and keep talking and keep trying to help even a little bit. It's funny - it's not about me and it's all about me. I'm the only one who can make me do anything either positive or negative. Me = the other guy = you = responsibility and action = results. There must be some algebra in there but I hate math :=)

Help me out - let me know what you think - give me suggestions on how to make this ride work better. That may be your contribution and it's a valuable one if it's a positive one. Write to me here or to my e-mail: robin@robinsrideforwomen.com or to Robins Ride for Women at P O Box 2073, Bothell, WA 98041. I have my mail being picked up. I will get your words. And I would like to thank Ray, my boyfriend who is doing this for me and helping as much as he can in what ever way he knows how - and I apologize if I get short tempered as one can when you are tired, and thank you to all of you who have kept me in your homes and who have fed me or talked to me or contributed to this endeavor and these two charities we are supporting...You have made a huge difference.

And good for you that you made it to the bottom of this huge note! Sometimes it happens :-)