Saturday, June 18th, 2016

Today was a short 40 mile ride day to Oak Forest. We rode for a past rider’s friend, Debra, today. Yesterday we rode for Tino Garcia, the husband of Rachel’s middle school art teacher and close family friend. He passed away from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and yesterday was their wedding anniversary. I really enjoy that everyone gets the opportunity to dedicate rides to family and friends. It really puts into perspective that no matter how difficult our day might be, it is nothing in comparison to what these people have gone through.

We stopped at Alison’s house for lunch before going to our stay over. Her family provided an amazing spread of chips, salsa, mac and cheese, pulled pork, a chocolate fountain, brownies, and cookies. We could get used to having family in the towns we stop in!

Our stay over is at the mayor of Oak Forest’s house. His family is involved in Relay for Life, so we all headed over there around 2:00 for the opening ceremony. This Relay was much bigger than the last one we were at, and, again, it is amazing to see the amount of survivors. The opening lap was done differently than I had ever seen before. The survivors started walking around the track in one direction, and the caregivers (children, spouses, etc.) started walking in the other direction. They met half way around the track, and it was incredibly touching to see them hug and begin walking together. I can’t begin to understand what they have all been through together, and it’s encouraging that their cancer stories ended happily. We are aware that not all patients are survivors, and we are thankful to be a part of events that celebrate the victories over cancer as well as remember those that have passed.  We collected a lot of portraits, and yet again are blown away by people’s willingness to share their stories.

When we got back to the stay over we swam and sat in the beautiful backyard with a bonfire and torches lit. We were provided more delicious food and just relaxed.

These two stops after Champaign have been great, but we could not be more excited to get into Chicago tomorrow. Hoping to see many of you at Millennium Park!

DR