September 21, 2008

Yo DaVita !!

I will cover the last 36 hours of the Tour DaVita first. Then I will fast forward to Sunday, September 21. 

Day three was the EPIC day. To complete the entire Tour you needed to do 71 miles. To complete the bonus Tour you needed to do 105 miles. All of this after visiting a Green Bay dialysis center in the morning, so no early jump on the distance. 

The visit to the Green Bay Fox River Center was wonderful! The Mayor of Green Bay spoke, a State Senator spoke, Diane the FA spoke and two patients spoke … there was a lot of speaking!  The center is very nice, with a lot of natural light in the treatment room. They also had some great “valences” on the windows that I have never seen before, but now we will make all of you aware of them, they brought some nice positive energy and color into the room. 

The Tour was reported on TV yet again, which was fun — they caught a snippet of another one of our police escorts that we had in a few situations to keep everyone safe. 

The morning ride was beautiful, much of it along the water. Lunch was at a special place for me, a tiny town (population about 10) of Thiry Daems. This is where my Great Great Great Grandfather settled when he emigrated from Belgium in 1856. He came, bought land, then went back a year later to get his wife and family. The town is named after him because he was…. you guessed it, The Mayor!  Daems was the last name of the catholic priest. So they had Thiry Daems just like when we had Thiry Yoda (for those who did not know it, Yoda was, and is, a Catholic Deacon). Too bad there were no Mello’s around. 

The farm we had lunch on is owned by some distant relatives of mine that I had never met. The farm has been in their family for 150 years. They were wonderful people. I also got to see the graves of several of my ancestors, which was pretty thought-provoking. 

I also had to take a couple business calls. The combination of all this stuff meant I did not leave lunch until 1:30 p.m. By far the last person to leave lunch who was doing the Bonus Ride, meaning I had about 68 lonely miles to go. Until Cedric Tuck-Sherman appeared, one of our Marketing Vice-Presidents. Cedric was one of the strongest riders in the entire group, but he had decided to “sweep” the back and see what he found — and he found me. He rode with me all the way to the end, and turned what would have otherwise been brutal into something that was…. well still brutal but a lot less so. 

We rode the last 45 minutes in front of a van so we could see the road in the headlights. We arrived in camp at 8:15 p.m., where about thirty wonderful teammates were yelling and clapping at the camp’s gate. What a glorious day!!! 

The next day was a “short” 25 mile ride that was beautiful along the water for awhile. We ended in Algoma, all of us riding in together, escorted down Main Street by the police, with a BIG percentage of the town’s children released from school to cheer and welcome us! We handed out Snappy and Reggie gifts, and whistles which no doubt made their teachers very happy for the rest of the day. 

We had a short but rousing closing event, and then everyone boarded buses to start the trek home. 

What a journey it was. “The Ride of a Lifetime” we call it. It was a testament to the power of the human spirit. A testament to the beauty of our imperfect Village. 

One for All, 

KT 

(Tis better to light a small candle than curse the darkness … Confucius)