Final Day June 25th

Laurel MD to Sandy Beach S.P. on Chesapeake Bay

Well this is it. We’re about to take on the last 30 miles of road leading to the wheel dipping in Chesapeake Bay.  I believe that last nights work on my wheel which included the new Rim Tape and a new tube is going to work as I have kept air all night long. Yahoo!

A group of us all went down the street in the minivan to a local eatery for a good breakfast where we were treated to a waitress that had an ordering system that seemed organized and infallible. So we ordered in the order that she used and behold some 10 minutes later there appeared our orders in perfect synchronization. We all consumed our meals before hitting the road back to the Motel where we would join the rest of the teams for a celebratory finishing 30 mile ride to Chesapeake Bay.

We all were geared up the vans loaded and at the appointed 10:00AM we rolled out of the parking lot being joined on a rented bike by Will’s Father Ken Keifer.  Other than a few misshaps the ride to the beach went well and relatively uneventful. We arrived at the State Beach to the cheers of some of the wive’s and families of riders.  We all took our riding shoes off and walked or carried our bikes across the beach for the traditional tire dipping in Chesapeake Bay. Team One had dipped their rear wheels in San Francisco Bay and we were all together dipping ours at the eastern terminus of the ride.  Afterwards we all gathered for a photo followed by a circle where we prayed for our safe ride and success of our efforts and thanked God for all those that we had ridden for. I also was thankful for Terri who couldn’t be on the East Coast as she had been two years ago, but knew that I would see her in a little over 24 hours.

Well it was done. Team Will had successfully navigated our way across the US for the second time in our effort to raise awareness and funds for Childhood Cancer.  We had made visits to our young hero’s along the way as our jerseys attested to with their many an varied autographs.

I hope that you my readers have enjoyed this time and that you’ve found a few extra sheckles in your bank account to donate to our efforts. I know that the look on the young peoples faces and those of their families made it worth it to me and that we brought some joy and hope to families that are fighting for the lives of those little ones we were privileged to visit.

Thanks for coming along.

See you on the road,

VAN