Bicycle ER

This is a video from our hospital visit today. Read "something special" below :).



~ Austin

Something Special

The morning started with a tour of the brand new Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, which just opened in December. This impressive facility seemed to get better and better with each floor we visited, but we finally reached our destination: the kids fighting cancer on the 11th floor! Adam was really excited about our visit, especially since his brother and Austin share the same name. After checking out the bike and singing the whale song, he gave our visit a thumb's up.


Once we made our way back downstairs, Tony D met us in the hospital parking lot to lead Austin and Paul on a ride through downtown Charlotte. Tony D was sure to be a big hit with his nephews later today after we outfitted him with Rally tattoos!


A downpour this afternoon hampered our plans to ride from our host in Charlotte to our host in Rock Hill, which is just south of Charlotte in South Carolina. So we took advantage of this new found time to finish off last night's feast prepared by our Charlotte hosts, the Shropshires. When we arrived in Rock Hill, we were excited to discover that gas in SC is much cheaper than NC, VA, and DC!

We then made our way to our next host family, the Shaws. Ethan, who is 6 years old, will finish his 40 month chemotherapy treatment for ALL on February 20th. His family has planned something special on the 20th of each month for his last 12 months of treatment, so we were excited when we realized that we would be in their town on the 20th of June and could be their "something special"!


Tomorrow morning we'll check the newspaper for something special about our visit to Rock Hill before riding to our next destination: Columbia, SC.

Rally On!
Claire, Austin, and Paul

to the Queen City - South

We left the Samuelson's today with a few extra food items for the trip. We logged a solid 60 miles for the day. The morning ride was especially pleasant, with relatively cool weather, the wind to our backs and few hills negotiate. The afternoon was a little more hilly and warm as we passed through places like Pittsboro, Siler City and Asheboro (all in North Carolina still). We took the time to stop for a few adventures including a playground obstacle course competition between Paul and Austin (undocumented) and some shopping at a hard-to-classify "store" that was right on the highway. Ricky, one of the proprietors, showed us around, and let us take pictures with him the knight, which was a main attraction for us.

We got in to Charlotte around 6pm and found the Shropshires' home just 20 minutes south of downtown Charlotte, the "Queen City - South" (informed readers will know that Cincinnati, Ohio is also referred to as the Queen City). A fantastic meal was had thanks to this wonderful family, which included some of best tasting Chocolate cake ever created; chocolate cake that is also believed to increase performance in road bicyclists. Afterward, we drove in to downtown Charlotte and hung out with Tony D and his wife Jamie (old friends and Rally supporters), who treated us to some performance enhancing beverages at a nice local spot.


Back to the homestay, tying up loose ends and firming up plans...

~P, C and A

in the Research Triangle...

After a quick and lovely breakfast provided by the Samuelsons, we were on our way to UNC-Chapel Hill to visit the North Carolina Children's Hospital. It is too bad that they didn't win the NCAA national championship in men's basketball this year. The children were a little bit scattered around the clinic; some receiving treatments, some just finishing, some waiting to do so. A group of kids were painting with watercolors, guided by a generous volunteer (who will play another generous role in today's story), one was painting a basketball, one a fish and one created a very impressionistic and somewhat experimental-looking "colorscape." The whale hats were particularly well-received, and we had a surprising request to replace a defective Aflac duck (it wasn't screaming "Aflac" anymore) for one of our gift-bag recipients.

The Outback Steakhouse fundraiser luncheon drew in a particularly generous donation from the children's art instructor volunteer whom we met at the hospital. A good time was had by all and the staff and food were, once again, great. Angela, a friend from the Blair School (P and A's alma mater) stopped by to buy some Rally t-shirts and to chat. She is an actual researcher from the Research Triangle (Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh)...

With the help of our hosts we decided to give our "Sag Wagon" (this is what Austin's car turns in to when Claire drives it very slowly, full of support items, behind bicyclists) an oil change. Our miscellaneous afternoon activities included catching up on sleep, getting organized and thinking about important things. Dinner from the Samuelsons was wonderful (again) and we visited with some of their extended family over wonderful, home-made chess pie (2 flavors - we all ate both again).

Tomorrow we will ride again. We are ready...


~Paul, Austin, Claire

Crossing the border

Last night we stayed at a place called "Motel Food".  It was very nice. Comfortable beds.  We had three types of omlets and some light and fluffy biscuits for breakfast, and then we slid on our bikes and wheeled down the road ...

(Claire and Paul at "Motel Food")

We had to stop and make a few phone calls at lunch time.  I had some important business deals to take care of while on the road, and Paul had to catch up on the latest gossip with his girlfriends ...

     (gossip)                                      (business)

We finished clocking about 100 miles and then settled in with the Samuelson family just south of Chapel Hill.  They are related to Alexa Rohrbach, one of our heroes of years past.  Alexa is fighting neuroblastoma in Atlanta.  Ken and Mickey fed us a great southern cooked meal, and then Mickey introduced us to homemade chess pie.  One was chocolate, the other was ... vinegar.  Both were outstanding.  We took the opportunity to pose for a picture with the chef:

 

We'll be at North Carolina Children's Hospital tomorrow, and then we'll have an Outback fundraiser at lunch.   more later.  bedtime now.

~ Austin

RichMonday

The day began when Claire awoke the boys (Austin and Paul), reminding them of their impending engagements for the day. Packing, breakfast eating and planning ensued until the team left for the hospital at the Medical College of Virginia (at Virginia Commonwealth University), joined by Al Strickler. We hauled all the goody bags out of the car, parked, and went in to see the kids. They were a particularly lively group today, based on some of our past visits at other hospitals, and many of them didn't seem to show any visible signs of illness, despite the battles their bodies may have been fighting within. Most of them seemed to enjoy the company, the gift bags or the combination of the two. Al knew the facility well and ran in to a lot of familiar faces since Harrison had received his treatments at this same hospital. Raising money for something great is exciting, but often not very personal. Hospital visits like today's help remind us why it's great and make the whole effort a little more personal.

After the hospital visit we went back to the Strickler's where we feasted, finished packing and finalized our highly malleable travel plans. Austin demonstrated some unique preparatory stretches while getting ready for the day's ride, which resulted in a small accident involving a "kitchen vessel" that could not be revived, but perhaps the stretches were necessary. Last night's late night was likely the cause of at least one short, unplanned nap... (see picture)

(yes, he is asleep...)

...but Paul and Austin made it through the heat and logged over 30 miles each for the team. Since none of our last-minute efforts to find a host for tonight came through we did a bit of motel shopping around south central Virginia and came across Sheldon's Motel and Restaurant (in Keysville, near Farmville) where we had a wonderful home cookin' kind of meal and found a room for the night with wireless internet access (this was the real selling point). Showers, administrative Rally activities and sleep... stay tuned...

~ A, P and C

Tour de Harrison!

Wow ... I can't put this into words. Over $15,000 raised by Harrison and the Strickler Team in Richmond. We got on a few of the TV stations and we are going to hit the news stands tomorrow ... click on the slide show: Richmond Times Dispatch

Harrison and his dad, Big Al are real father's day superstars. Here is a less professional version of what happened ...




Tomorrow big Al is going with us to the hospital to see some more kids.

~ Austin