Big Ride Day 29

What a glorious day! I slept a full eight hours last night and got up feeling refreshed. I actually slept in a little later than usual (5:30 AM) because today we have been asked to be at the Dairy Queen in Mankato at 12:15 today for a special presentation (more on that later). We got some sad news in the morning before the ride. Our director of camp services, Ruth, and her husband Bob had to go back home because of health problems. Ruth is one of the highlights of everyone's days here in camp. She is an absolutely wonderful woman who is just so caring and helpful and has so much energy that it's unbelievable. She is always there to answer a question, help you find something, whatever you might need. Her husband is a great fellow too. We all loved both of them and are sad to see them go.

We set out about 7:30 and shortly after departing, encountered a woman and her family by the side of the road. They had made a great inspirational sign for us so we stopped to thank them and get a picture. They were just great and we found out that last year, the son had run into a rider somewhere along the route and had given him $10 for the ALA. He was such a youngster that it really made an impression on the rider and the story somehow made it into the papers in Palm Beach Florida. He started getting letters in the mail saying what a good boy he was and some of them actually sent money to him. So this year, he made another donation. What a nice story! If I may digress, I heard another story from another day that was similar. It seems that a little boy only 5 or 6 years old gave a dollar to Ed, one of our riders. How cool!

We continued on after that and eventually got to the Dairy Queen in Mankato. There was to be a big media event there and they wanted as many riders as possible to show up. We had some food and then decided to go to Mankato State to check our e-mail. We did that and even went in to the bookstore and bought some T-shirts at 40% off. By the time we got back, the event was done! They had given Dairy Queen a plaque thanking them for being there with ice cream along he route for all the riders. They are hoping that next year Dairy Queen will be a sponsor of the ride. It sure makes sense. I've never eaten so much Dairy Queen in my life. I've also never eaten a cheeseburger and a blizzard before 10:00 AM. Amazing what all this riding will do to your eating habits!

After leaving the dairy queen, I just wanted to get to camp as soon as possible since it was getting late. We've been getting into camp later and later these days due to a lot of little side trips and I've been getting behind in my journal. We made it to camp with only one additional stop in a small town along the way (forgot the name). We went into a local grocery store for some food. While we were standing around eating it, we got a lot of inquiries about what we were doing. People are always asking us what we're doing and it's fun to talk to them about it because they are always so interested. Outside this particular grocery store, there were two newspapers with headlines and articles about us. Some of the articles are so well done. It's rewarding to see.

Due to the articles, everyone knew what we were doing (as they usually do) and on the way into town, we got many honks and waves from well wishers. As it turns out, we are not the only game in town today, though. There is also a group of riders raising money for Habitat for Humanity who are here tonight as well.

When we got to town, we really got the red carpet treatment. The mayor of the town and the president of the chamber of commerce came out to speak to us and they had live music for us -- a local band called the Straight River Mud Dogs. They had a tremendous spread of a dinner for us and I finally got to enjoy a good lasagna (first time on the trip). The band played during dinner and was just fantastic. They played lots of old favorites and had everyone rocking -- people got up and danced -- even a 60-year-old named Dick. They got a standing ovation and ended up playing one more for us. Afterwards, I bought a T-shirt and got the band members to sign it. Lots of other people did too.

What a great night! After dinner, it was time for a shower and to get ready for bed, dream of another great day tomorrow...

Oh, one more anecdote. A woman named Phyllis who lives in Germany had her husband, who just happens to be named Ted, visiting her on the ride. Today was his last day and he saw her off by jumping out of his car completely naked along the route when she was riding with several other people. How funny!

This page modified November 25, 2000