Once Again, Into The Breach!
I was going to use Willie Nelson’s song, “On The Road Again,” but that’s been done *so* many times that I decided to do something different.
Yes, Dear Reader, I’m heading out tomorrow on another sojourn. I’m driving to Oregon over the next two days so that I can participate in the 2014 Tour DaVita (https://www.tourdavita.org/), a charity ride that I’ve been a (very small!) part of since 2008. The first Tour was in 2007 (Tennessee and Alabama), but Toni and I didn’t know about that one. She registered as a rider for the 2008 ride (Wisconsin) but I wasn’t eligible that year. Instead, I volunteered my services in support of the riders. Toni and I both rode in 2009 (Michigan), 2010 (Washington State), 2011 (Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut), and 2012 (Iowa). I rode in her honor last year in South Carolina, and ride again in her memory this year. The purpose of the Tour is to raise funds for two purposes: First, to educate people about, and test people for, Chronic Kidney Disease here in the States; and second, to build dialysis clinics overseas where there are none. Last year the Tour raised a million dollars!
(Shameless solicitation: If you would like to donate to these causes, go to https://www.tourdavita.org/, click on “Donate”, then “Support a Rider” (it’s under the pictures on the right), then click “P” (or scroll down) to find my name. Click on that, and then click “Sponsor Me Now” to be taken to the donation page. If you have already donated, whether to me or to anyone else, THANK YOU! Your donation is fully deductible according to current tax law.)
The Tour begins Saturday with a “Village Service Project.” This year we are helping a local Food Bank, both with donations and with packing boxes and bags. The ride itself begins Sunday and ends Tuesday, up to 250 miles later (there are long and short options on Monday and Tuesday, and you aren’t required to ride the complete route – you go as far as you can, and then you can get a Spirit Van ride back to camp). Wednesday we all scatter to the winds, back to the real world.
Except for me. I’ll be going up to the Seattle area with my daughter and son-in-law (Eve and Rick) to visit Rick’s brother and his (the brother’s, not Rick’s) family for a couple of days. My oldest, Ali, will be flying into Seatac (Sea-Tac? SeaTac? The Seattle airport, however it’s spelled) on the 20th, and she and I will take the next six days to drive down the Pacific Coast as my gift to her for her birthday. I’ll be back at home on the 26th, just in time to help Char (I can’t leave *her* out!) move to a new place.
So stay tuned for the next couple of weeks. I’ll post when I can, but don’t be alarmed if I don’t put something up every night. Y’all managed to deal with that all right back in July, so it shouldn’t be any big deal this time around. 🙂
The Peripatetic Traveler 
I love you, daddy!!
Thanks! I love you, too!