Sunday, August 17, 2008

Here we are two weeks from the end of the tour, in Grand Rapids, MI. It's hard to believe that we are this close to the end. It has been fun to visit with family and friends. We came into the GR via Leonard St. and a friend of ours, Char lives in a nursing home just two blocks off the route, so I surprised her and popped in. She has lived with MS since about 1970 and no longer has any use of her hands or feet, so is totally dependent on others. When I walked in the home care worker was just getting her ready so she and her husband could get to Calvin College and watch me and the other 300 bikers ride in. She was so surprised, it was fun. We had a short ride yesterday, only 75 km, and 8 stops along the way. Most were stops organized by families of bikers along the way and three were organized by local churches. It's blueberry season in Michigan and I ate more blueberries than I could count. If you do that you will pay for it, and I did.

The ride in was impressive. All of the long distance riders in official jersey, followed by another 150 riders who were just riding for the day. We blocked up traffic quite effectively. Clara, 2 of my sisters and their husbands plus Clara's sister and her husband were all there to cheer us on, but I didn't see any of them until after we had all reached the parking lot.

We are getting ready for the service at the ball park. Over 8000 people are expected. I bought a new camera so I will post some pictures later.

For those of you who haven't heard, I've been riding since last Monday and things have been going great. Far better than I could have hoped or dreamed for. I thank God for healing which is occurring at a much faster rate than the doctor predicted and look forward to a couple of great weeks of riding.