Bikes, Bubba, and Barbara

Who is Bubba?? Well, if you ask teammate, Christina Gokey-Smith, she can tell you all about Bubba, her furry friend, pet squirrel.

It was in the summer and she went mountain biking with her husband and a friend. Her friend noticed a baby squirrel in the back of his pick up truck that appeared to be having some life threatening injuries. "He was a pinky, which means he had no hair and maybe a week old" said Gokey. She covered him up to keep him warm and proceeded to go on her mountain bike ride assuming that the innocent baby would die. After their ride, they came back to a surprise of life, he was still alive so she took him home to take care of him and nurse him back to health. They went to the pet store to get baby squirrel formula and a heating pad for him to sleep on. She and her husband, Toby, named him Bubba, because they liked the sound of the name. She fed him every few hours with a little baby bottle and she would wipe him with a Qtip to get him to go to the bathroom.

Bubba's eyes were not open, but he could sense Gokey's presence. "Bubba started to become more and more apart of the family. I had a bird cage in the house for him to live. I would let him out of the cage and he would run all over the house, climb on my shoulder. Like any puppy, I would have to potty train him after his meals so he could become manageable". She would let him outside to go up in the tree, his favorite snack: pecans. Bubba traveled to all of the mountain bike races and became a regular! "Everyone liked Bubba. If I was in a conversation with someone, Bubba would be chilling on my shoulder and he would jump to the other person's shoulder that I was talking with. He was just great!"

Q: What kinds of things would you do with Bubba:

A: I would take him out to the barn and he would cuddle in my shirt and he would just hang out with me. I knew he liked me because he would give me little kisses on my ear.

Q: What happened to Bubba:

A: Bubba had an addiction towards dog food. I tried to break the habit; he would have little pieces in his mouth and when I tried to take it from him he would just run away from me. I would say "Bubba.... Drop it!!!". One day, I was feeding my dogs; he went in to the dog food to start eating his own meal and my dog snapped at him. It was completely an accident, and unfortunately the snap was too much for Bubba, and that was it. We burried him under his favorite tree.

Q: How long did you have Bubba?

A: Probably 7 months, it was about the summer/fall of 2007

Q: Anything else?

A: I miss Bubba.

Gokey became know as a squirrel care taker a friend gave her some squirrels to rescue. One squirrel, named Sophia pronounced like Sophie, fell out of a tree. Gokey took him (Sophia) to the chiropractor and the doctor adjusted his lower back area. It was a great story Gokey told and it shows a great friendship between a baby squirrel and a Texan woman!

Here is an interesting video that we like to joke about with Gokey! We love her so much! Thanks to our mechanic Erik for making this reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfgELYaSYhM

Below, we had watermelon for desert one night! It was delicious and past the due date....

Olivia Dillon takes charge in making dinner, while AnneSlam orders everyone what to do!

Last night was Taco Tuesday, except it was Saturday.... but the Tacos were delicious!Gokey-Smith mixes up the salad and our swanny, Emily is ready to dig in on the awesome Tacos!

One thing I have learned about my teammates this week is they need coffee in the morning ASAP!

This is Alison Powers' face when she does not get her coffee in time!Riding a bike path in Ventura, CA

Pit stop for some "Real Western Beef Jerkey"! Gokey and AnneSlam are happy for some fluids!

We enjoyed the rest of the day chilling at the pool/hot tub!I tried to work on my tanlines today.

Thank you for reading, if you have not been following along, our team mate Beth Newell has been killing it at the PanAm Championships. She is bringing back 3 bronze medals and some great learning experience! Congrats Beth we can't wait to have toast with you on Tuesday!