After roughly 5 hours of sleep, we started our morning off with a pleasant alarm clock at 6:08a.m. (strange time, but Michael insisted). As we dragged out of the hotel room towards the lobby at a very slow pace, we managed to fuel up on cereal, waffles and juice, just enough to hold us over until after our hospital visit to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). Today's hospital visit was and will always be memorable, from the warm greeting of Ed Flood, who was with the hospital foundation, to the shy smiles of the kids in the hospital, we will continue to keep this day forever close to our hearts! We were welcomed by all the families and children in the hospital and reminded why we are biking 1,000 miles for childhood cancer research.
After our visit to the hospital, the excitement continued as we tracked down a Bank of America to make our deposit of nearly $7,000 for the Rally Foundation. We left the bank invigorated and on a mission to raise more over the remainder of our journey! After circling the city nearly four times, we finally found our way to the proper highway to travel towards the beginning of our biking route, which was located in Newark, DE. Once we arrived at the location, we unloaded our gear and began cycling! It was filled with flat roads, a convenient bike lane, and flowing traffic until we crossed the state line into Maryland, that was pretty amazing I might add!
It was not too much longer after proudly crossing the state line when the mean, dark clouds began to roll in, the thunder started to roar and sprinkles of water began to come down, that we had to pack-up and get in the car with Claire. Luckily we had the opportunity to visit the waterfront and gain some warm welcomes from the historic community!
As Claire carefully navigated through the rain-filled streets of Maryland, we began to brainstorm about which city to head towards as we trekked to Washington, DC. That is when we looked at the atlas and decided on Annapolis, where Michael's dad Keith donated us a room at the "fancy-schmancy" Hilton. The van Tonder generosity did not end after the accommodations, it continued through dinner to a local favorite called "The Boatyard," where the bill was paid by Michael.
We are now off to bed and will catch up with you later tomorrow after we arrive in Arlington, VA!
Rally On,
Magan, Claire, Michael & Jai
3 comments:
remember, when in doubt, take the interstate. Just kidding!
Great pictures - love reading the blog and hearing about your success each day. Ride on! Rally on!
Thank you Rally team for the wonderful visit yesterday. The kids and their families were so excited to see you. It was very nice of you to stop by and you really did a great job in entertaing the kids!
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