Day 9 and 10

Well I have completed this part of my journey safely.... praise God!!! It has been a bit of a whirl wind since the last big day of riding and I have been trying to collect my thoughts so I can share them with you all...

I never shared about the close of Day 8 ... The team had put the wrong address in the GPS so we ended up in the neighborhood were we were supposed to sleep that evening.... this actually ended up being a good thing as this was a some what questionable neighborhood and there were some concerns for our safety so we quickly made other arrangements for the evening....it actually ended up being a blessing .... what we ended up doing for that evening was driving on to are start point for day 9 (we were leg 2) that way we could sleep in a bit later.... :-)

Anyway ... we ended up at a very nice church in Cleavland (very different form the neighborhood that we were supposed to sleep in) the people were wonderful and the food was abundant.... we were a bit late arriving but everyone was happy to see us.... I had some great conversations with some of the church members and I got to share my reason for doing this ride and how much it has changed my life.... After the event we got back in the van and headed to our destination in Canton Ohio where we would begin our 9th day....

Day 9

The last big day..... We started in Canton Ohio and ended our day about 98 miles from there... I'm not very sure of the name of the town.... It was a gorgeous ride lots of rollers absolutely no flat ground... :-) we had some good climbs which made the descents that much sweeter... Day 9 was a bitter sweet day for me because it was the last big ride day.... so I was glad that I was not going to have to torture my self another day... but I was sad to see the trip coming to an end.... One highlight from the day was when a news paper reporter from the local paper saw us and decided to follow us for a few miles... she caught up to us at one of the SAG stops and started asking us questions about the ride.... then she took some pictures of us and we may actually be in the local paper.... amazing.... well we rapped up the ride packed our gear and headed for Annapolis Maryland for our final church event.... This also was a bitter sweet event as well... it is amazing how all the events and rides are starting to blur into one another.... This was a small church but as usual they were very hospitable and had the door wide open for us.... We shared our story and our reason why we ride with the people .... spent some time socializing and getting to know one another... got some great advice and where to eat and what to see in Maryland..... it was the perfect ending to such a beautiful day....

Day 10

Well we got to our hotel had a great nights sleep.... we assembled out side the hotel at 10am... and were lead to our final destination to dip our front tires into the ocean.... it was about 30 miles and all the riders rode together... there was a lot of horse play and joking around... it was a wonderful ride.... all the way until we got close to the water.... then the head wind kicked up and we fought our way to the beach.... :-) all the family and friends that traveled with us were there to see us in... it was the end of an amazing ride.... we all lined up, counted to ten and rolled into the Atlantic ..... then a few of us (me included) dove in had first.... some of us were smart enough to empty our pockets while others.... not so smart... we lost a few cellphones that day... LOL!!!

This ride has truly changed my life .... and I pray that the lessons I have learned and the relation ships I have made will stick with me as my journey continues... you see this is the beginning not the end.... and I pray that next time God calls me I raise my hand and say.... "Here I am Lord send me... I will go for you" because if I had not said that last year I would never have gotten to experience the joy that this ride has brought to others as well as myself....

I want to thank you all for following me and supporting me on my journey.... I would not have been able to accomplish this without all your kind thoughts and prayers.... Jen and I will be posting more pictures and video later this week but for now this is what I have....

Miss you all,

Mike