Danny’s Ride

1,000 People
$30 Donation
$30,000 Closer To A Cure
Danny’s Ride has set a goal of raising $30,000 for cancer research by June 6th,2009.  This is a big goal but we have a big challenge – finding a cure for cancer.

Sponsors names will be presented on a certificate with the check for the total amount of money raised.

Please be one of 1,000 people who have had enough with the hurt and destruction cancer has caused.  Thank you.

FACT: Cancer is now the leading cause of death in the United States.

Miles: 104.42 Total
Biking Time: 8 Hours, 15 Minutes, 23 Seconds

Total Trip Miles to Date: 1,548.29
Flat Tires: 17
Drew: 13
Danny: 4

We were on the bikes around 7:00 a.m.  It was a beautiful Memorial Day – low temperatures by Texas standards, a slight wind at our backs and plenty of sun.  Danny said he felt better than he felt all trip.  Our goal was to reach Tyler, Texas, which was 71.5 miles from our hotel in Corsicana.

Forty miles into the trip, we stopped at a vegetable stand on the side of Highway 31.  The owner, David McMichael, was there but showed us an Honor Box that people put money into when he wasn’t there.  David offered both Danny and I Gatorade, slices of watermelon, peaches and plums.  The fruit and vegetables were delicious.  We learned that David had a great paying job selling houses but was laid off several months ago when a new boss came in and refused for David to be making more than he did.  David’s brother has owned and run a vegetable stand for several years and David thought he would try as well.

Danny and I enjoyed talking with David so much that we didn’t want to leave.  We ended up staying for over forty minutes.  When we asked David what we owed him, he said nothing.  It was on him.  We thanked him and got back on our bikes.  Around 11:45, we stopped at a Subway with Ken for lunch.  We were over fifty miles into the ride and feelin good.  Over lunch, Danny brought up biking to the next town.  We were only twenty miles from Tyler.  We planned to bike to Tyler and see what how we felt.

When we arrived at Tyler, there was no question that Danny and I wanted to go on.  We stopped in the motor home for fifteen minutes to relax and drink a Gatorade.  Then, we got back on the bike and continued on to Kilgore.  Just outside Tyler, we saw identical vegetable stand signs to the ones we had see David display to attract  customers leading up to his stand.  As we slowed down, the owner motioned us over.  It turns out, it was David’s brother Dale.  David had called Dale to let him know we were headed his way.

He gave both Danny and myself an ice cold bottled water and gave us each an entire cantelope.  We called Ken and when Ken arrived, Dale brought a cantelope to Ken as well.  We talked for a half hour with Dale.  We learned that Dale had been doing this for six or seven years and his wife operated a stand as well.  Dale’s nephew, Blake Gideon, played this past season as a true freshman on the the University of Texas football team.  Again, we were amazed at the hospitality and kindness of a complete stranger.

Danny and I continued on.  It was such a beautiful Memorial Day.  We stopped to catch our breath and grab some water right near a gas station on Highway 31 about fifteen miles from Kilgore.  As we did, we heard the loud siren of a fire truck and looked as it rushed right passed us.  We continued talking and within five minutes, got back on our bikes.  We biked another mile and a half before we came upon an accident.

As we approached the accident, a car slowly passed us and pulled onto the shoulder near the accident.  An sweet-looking elderly woman with gray hair got out of the car.  Her eyes were fixed on the car off on the side of the two-lane highway.  She started crying histarically and began to run to the car.  A police officer stopped her with a bare hug.  As we passed, we could hear the officer telling her, “You don’t want to go over there.  You don’t want to go over there,”  The wife stood there in the officers arms crying.  It was one of the worst things I have seen in a long time.

As we walked our bikes passed the wrecked car, a body lay right in front of it with a white sheet over it.  Danny asked another police officer if he was going to make it.  He wasn’t said the cop.  As we continued to walk down passed other cars that had stopped, we learned that it was a one-car accident.  The driver lost control of the car, hit a mailbox, flipped the car and rolled it several times before landing in the ditch of the opposite side.

We got back on our bikes and kept heading to Kilgore.  It put in to perspective just how close each of us are to turning our world’s upside down.  This man, probably a grandfather, was driving along, enjoying a beautiful Memorial Day.  He may have taken his eyes off the road for a second, the car might have malfunctioned or something may have jumped in front of his car, either way, he loses control of his car and is never able to regain it.  Now, his family’s world is shattered on Memorial Day.

I could not stop thinking about it as we continued to Kilgore.  We finished the day at 104.42 miles.  It was the longest ride we have done this trip.  Danny’s all time record was set when he was 37, is 191.4 miles!

We will be doing a light day tomorrow with just around 50 miles.  Well, I guess that is a light day after doing over 100 the day before!  Pictures will be posted during the day.  Sorry for not having them right now.