Shortly there after Uncle King and dad joined me! We swam til 5:40, as we had to catch our ride to the top of the mountain at 6:00pm!
We started waiting at 6, along with several others as we were instructed. FINALLY at 6:18 a mini van pulled up. I got to ride in the trunk... not even a full trunk as it was packed with boxes about 1/3 a mini van trunk while everyone else crammed in as well and we drove up top! We enjoyed supper, veggie lasagna (what I had), normal lasagna, and italian sausage penne, salad, rolls, and THE BEST EVER Rasberry topped cheesecake!!!
Below MS Workers Christy (blonde) and Allison starting off the ceremonies!
First an awesome speaker, Duane Ruggier gave us a "3B" message (Basic, Bold, Brief-- he said he was focusing on brief;-)) He has had MS for like 15 years since he was 23 years old. He said when he first got it there were really like no therapies, meds, treatments etc. Now they have so much to offer and hopefully (soon) a cure. He has great trouble walking. He nearly fell getting up to the podeum. You can simply visualize the dibilitating ailments of this aggressive disease. He was an exceptional speaker, very inspiring, and gave you more of a reason to pedal, to finish, to raise funds, to continue the fight against MS! How cool is it the law firm he works for is one of the biking teams!?(AND A BIG $ money raising team at that!)
Our next speaker was Gabriel Redding (www.gabrielredding.com)Gabe's first real distance ride was the MS150 last year. AT that point he decided to ride ACROSS THE COUNTRY to raise money for the National MS Society! How crazy is that 3,000 PLUS miles:-0!! He went through 13 states, got lost twice, met a wolf, rode 25 miles with one leg after hurting his knee tendons. He average 81 mles a day. He was gone for 43 days riding. He would ride 8 days and rest for one. That means he only got 4 days off!
You should check out his webpage www.gabrielredding.com and check out his song dedicated to those with MS "Overrun".
Then came the awards. MY FAV with Burger King crowns is King of the Hill--- they had a Queen too;-)
They had two rising stars
There were some other awards for top fund raisers and volunteers and such. At the end I got my picture with the main speaker Duane!
We got back too the hotel after yet another super crammed ride to our hotel! We swam til 9:35. I was asleep before 10!
We were to meet our ride to breakfast at 6am. Dad set the alarm but never checked to make sure the clock was set right. It was 5:49 when we got up. We rushed to be at the front by 6... I was there Uncle King and dad were 2 mins late, but so was our ride! We ate eggs, hashbrowns and pancakes for breakfast with orange juice... we skipped the biscuits, gravy and bacon. We wrote back to our MS friends Debbie and Andy. Then it was time to get on the bus at 7am!
Here's dad and I just before 7am; andthe deer eating right outside; a thank you from the local MS patients we are helping raise funds for:
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