Flashing Lights and Buggies

Did I really say, in last night's blog, that we had been given enough sugary cereal to last til the end of the trip? I exaggerated. We had enough to last until bedtime. 16 boxes of sugar-coated cereal gone before breakfast even thought about getting onto the table. That meant that Bryce actually requested hot cereal (Samurai) for breakfast the day after we stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant, and all three boys ordered salads. Not one pizza, not one plate of spaghetti!

Today was a relatively short ride, so we slept in, and didn't hit the road until 9:30, an hour and a half later than usual. We managed to change routes several times and miss our rendezvous with Pat, but eventually, we found our target ... the end of Michigan and the beginning of Indiana.

Once there, the magic started to happen. First, another cyclist arrived. He had been a WarmShowers guest of Pat's in early June on his way to attempting a race across America. His bike gave out after a few days, but he lived in Indiana, so joined us for a few miles of this morning's ride. Therefore, when the police escort (yes, police escort, lights flashing, a siren) arrived and started snapping pictures, we ended up with FIVE riders for a change.

Then the real magic started. We arrived at the LaGrange American Legion Hall to find a welcoming party waiting for us, and an enormous planned fundraiser!

Three hundred people for dinner. Local, regional and former national commanders. Visitors from the community and from other Legion communities. Tee shirt sales. A pie auction. Donations. A hotel room to camp in for the night. The key to the city! A tour of the countryside! We started the day with approximately $7000 towards our goal of $10,000 in donations to Operation Comfort Warriors. As we ended the night, we will have to have a meeting to set a new goal, because we easily exceeded our old goal. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the folks who helped make the fundraiser in LaGrange such an enormous success.

About the only people who didn't contribute were the members of the large Amish community.

Gotta trade in my bike for something with more horsepower.