days left to go!!

Gary Schmidt and I will each be riding for a good cause while we are on the road this fall in addition to all the other reasons to be out long-distance bike touring.  Gary is a long-time supporter of a local food bank near his home in Maryland and is soliciting donations to that worthy cause here [link].  I will be riding in memory of my beloved grandchild Aidan Barnes, who succumbed to an aggressive form of brain cancer before his second birthday in 2011.

In the year before he died, Aidan benefited from the incredible care and treatment offered by the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta.  The Stollery treated Aidan and his family like it was part of its family during this otherwise terrible time and I came away from the experience convinced that there is no finer an institution anywhere working on the cure to childhood cancer.  Hence, my request.

I know that the internet seems full to overflowing these days with people trying to raise money for one thing or another.  GoFundMe in particular has contributed to this feeling that you are seemingly being panhandled every time you go online.  I don’t mean to add to that burden.  But I hope that folks can see that both Gary and I are doing something- long-distance bicycling- that we love, something that we aren’t asking for a single dime from anyone to support, and that we each hope that, if you enjoy reading about our little adventure as you follow along, you might indulge us by recognizing two good causes we have a particular belief in and throwing a few bucks their way.

David