I spent the past four days (Thursday through Sunday) participating in the Journey of Hope, which is a philanthropic project of Pi Kappa Phi known as "The Ability Experience." My friends Joe and Denise have a son, Jason, who is a student at Louisiana State University. Jason and three dozen other college students are riding their bicycles across country (from San Francisco to Washington, DC) to raise money for people with disabilities. Joe and I drove to Omaha this past Thursday and drove home yesterday. On Friday, we rode our bikes 51.63 miles from Omaha, Nebraska, to Griswold, Iowa. On Saturday, we rode 93.85 miles from Griswold to Des Moines, Iowa. The courses were very hilly, which made them a challenge. As if that weren't enough, we had a headwind or partial headwind the entire way. All told, I pedaled 145.48 miles, which gives me 3,363 for the year. (I'm on track for my best mileage year ever, of 36.)
The riding was only part of each day's activities. Afterward, we interacted with disabled children in a gymnasium (Thursday evening) and on a baseball diamond (Saturday evening). We also found time to swim in a beautiful lake in Macedonia, Iowa, and to attend a minor league baseball game between the Iowa Cubs and the Las Vegas 51s. The food was good, the accommodations comfortable, and the company pleasant. I was amazed by the energy, discipline, and compassion of these fine young men. I have no doubt that every one of them will have a successful career and become an upstanding member of the community. Though I was intruding on their journey as a ride-along, and though I'm old enough to be their grandfather, they treated me with the utmost kindness and respect. I will always remember them and the fun we had.
If you'd like to make a donation to this worthy cause, please do so in Jason's name. Here is his webpage.
Addendum: Here we are, a couple of miles from the finish of the second day's ride:
Click to enlarge.
