FAREWELL, INDIA...UNTIL DECEMBER 27!

We finished our exploratory visit to India on Saturday, February 11, 2006. What a whirlwind of activity! Much groundwork has been laid for the 2,000+ mile bicycle tour through the nation that will begin, officially, on December 29, 2006--less than 11 months from now.

Here are a few photos from the last week of our visit.

We drove past a herd of camels on our way to Chandrapur on Tuesday. About 30 of these animals then flowed around our Tata Sumo as we stopped to take a few pictures.

One of the street market stops we browsed in Chandrapur.

This little girl in Mumbai was not too sure about the camera at first.

Ice is one of many necessary items transported by bicycle in India. This block was used in the restaurant we visited in downtown Mumbai on Friday.

The Victoria Terminus, the last train station in Mumbai (Bombay) is the epitome of gothic architecture. I'm told the trains that leave from this station are so crowded you really don't walk, you just move with the flow.

FROM CENTRAL INDIA

We are in Nagpur, the geographic center of India for a conference. On February 2 & 3, Joe James and I rode bikes from Yavatmal to Umri (Thursday) and from Umri to Yavatmal--a total of 120 km. Here's the kicker: it was rolling terrain and we were riding heavy, single-speed bicycles. We were accompanied by 12 Indian village workers and support vehicles. The following photos cover the past four days. In two days we fly to Mumbai.

On the way from the Nagpur airport to Yovatmal, we made a brief detour to visit Sevagram and tour the ashram and home of Mahatma Gandhi. This is the extremely rural home from which Gandhiji led India to independence. This was a very moving experience for me.

Upon arriving in Yavatmal, we viewed the 15 Indian-made Atlas bicycles that had been donated for 15 villages outreach workers. 12 workers joined Joe and me for the ride to Umri and back. Joe is standing with some of the bikes.

We were welcomed graciously at the Umri Christian Hospital campus. We were given a tour of the Helen Rose School of Nursing. Started in 2001 under the passionate leadership of Amirson and Esther Jacob, it focuses on training young women who are disadvantaged to be certified nurses.

Dr. Selwin, the resident physician, gave Joe and me a full tour of Umri Christian Hospital. It is clear: while this facility has served well for over 50 years, its condition has deteriorated critically and needs to be replaced.

Dr. Selwin shows one of the treatment rooms. Along with the physical structure, Umri Christian Hospital is in need of new or more recent medical equipment of every kind.

As I pedaled between Umir and Yavatmal, this family rode up on their motorcycle and chatted with me for awhile. He is a civil engineer, focusing on road construction.

A typical landscape in central India. This area seems to remind me of Oklahoma in the summer--gently rolling, relatively dry, sunny, hot.

This is NOT typical of Oklahoma, but it IS typical to see monkeys along rural Indian roads.

Here's Joe James posing behind one of the 40 lb, single-speed bikes we road 120 km. Wish we had more days to ride. Next year we will--45 days worth of riding! Hope you'll support us and Umri Christian Hospital!