*REPORT FROM THE ROAD: 6-16-2010 4:45 PM EDT*

Rob's wife Kate spoke with him earlier this afternoon and relayed the gist of the conversation to me by email:

"I just talked w/Rob.  He sounds incredibly well!  I can’t believe it.  I told him he sounds as good as if he were riding up Rt. 22 and only left one hour ago.  Unbelievable!  We didn’t talk too long but he did say that his eyes were still blue (I assume he meant vs. bloodshot)!  Also, he said that he has a couple different layers of hair on his face (unshaven) because the night crew won’t let him shave because it takes too long.  I told him that he can shave in Annapolis!

We even talked about how I mowed the lawn and he wanted to know how it went.  Just funny stuff and so impressive that he is sooooo alert and “normal”.

And I asked him if he’s been thinking about his Mom a lot and he said an emphatic 'oh yeah'.  He said that when he starts to feel poorly (his feet hurt, etc.) he just thinks of how much pain and discomfort his mom was in and he gets moving."