Day 5 was just a beautiful day in every way—yes the sun was shining and the wind not directly in our faces—but more importantly I felt the love and support of people near and far in every rotation of those pedals. On the “near” side, I’m traveling with a fabulous support team of family and friends. Adam from Velofix is taking great care of us and our bikes, Noah from Michigan is managing everything from hotels to social media, Debbie from California has been driver and supporter extraordinaire, Jimmy and Linda joined from Utah as part time riders and part time supporters and have gone above and beyond, sons Chris, Cason and temporarily adopted child Matej (Lawrenceville student from Slovakia, rendered homeless due to COVID-19) have all biked and supported and husband David has been by my side the entire time. We were unexpectedly joined last night at our remote campsite near Hope, AZ, by Doug from Minnesota who showed up with another support vehicle AND two electric bikes, available for use by those who want to experience the Ride comfortably and with a little less exertion; to be followed by Mike and Karen, dear friends from Phoenix who quite unexpectedly drove out to bring cold coke and cookies to our exhausted crew. It was a wonderful evening with friends and family replete wirh a magnificent sunset. Life doesn’t get better than that!
The icing on the cake is the love and support from afar that we are feeling on a daily basis through social media posts, texts, emails and calls and the amazing prayers and good karma being sent our way from family and friends far and wide. Thank you !!!
To top it all off, we even made new friends today!! First we met De Vona at our quick stop at her store Mas Paz where we hugged the 100+ year old tree in her yard to absorb the wisdom and strength of nature. Soon after we met a lovely family whose matriarch said a prayer for our safe journey and the success of our mission.
So the silver lining in these days of coronovirus disruptions when both adults and children are forced to stay home is perhaps the opportunity to reconnect with what’s really important in life—family and friends