Thursday, June 18, 2009

Day 2 - Keepin' on Trekkin'

Just a short update to let you all know that Gene's Trek is going well. We're pretty much on schedule, with few snafus. We were joined today by his twin cousins, Adam and Sean Kell, from Iowa, on their bicycles. They rode about 15 miles of the route with Gene. Later in the day we were joined by elementary students Crystal, age 10, and Douglas, age 6, from Gladstone area schools. These two children rode about 5 miles, the final leg, into Marquette. The three wheelchairs Gene owns have been faring well. The greatest distance so far for one chair has been 20 miles.

A big shout-out to the Curtis Area 4-H Fishing Club (KEN-Kids Enjoying Nature). They manned the Harvey rest-stop for us, providing outstanding cookies and home-made trail mix. They had just returned from visiting Bay Cliff with a personal tour of the camp. Their leader, Sue Pann, had four members with her, Bridget, Hannah, Kris and Paige.

Drivers on the highway have been very courteous giving us wide berth. Several stopped along the way to drop a donation. Really cool was a loaded log hauler stopping on a narrow shoulder to run across the busy highway to donate $100. A big HONK to him! Overall today we raised $200 along the route, including folks who visited the various rest stops.

We're overnighting at Tourist Park in Marquette Thursday and Friday. Friday is rest day; however, SAIL (Superior Alliance for Independent Living) is sponsoring an Ability Fair where Gene will display ability art created by students of Big Bay de Noc Schools. He will also be on hand to "blog", updating with pictures from the last two days. The fair will run from 10-2, with brats and dogs provided by the Marquette Lions and Wright and Fillipis. Bink's Coca-Cola has provided an assortment of Dr Pepper and Coke products for the Trek. Dr Pepper is the "official drink of the Trek".

A few other tidbits: one couple stopped by the Harvey rest stop to drop off mardi-gras beads and a $25.00 donation for Bay Cliff. They were headed to Alabama, and usually give the beads direct to camp, but saw us along the way.

My Aunt Del and cousin Lauri, mother of the twins, are both crazy. They were in our convoy, honking, waving, making cars honk back. It was crazy!! But we had lots of fun, and it made the day a lot faster.

Well, it's 10:00 pm, and dark at the campground, so photos will be loaded up tomorrow when I'm at the Ability Fair. If you can make it down, you'll see some of the equipment and products of the labors of people with disabilities, have some fun, and visit. Soo Bakh Do will be there to make their presentation of pledges, along with Channel 10 and Channel 6.

I really want to thank the media for the great coverage they've provided this Trek. Your support has made my job so much easier, and the trip safer by keeping drivers informed of our progress. There have been some rude drivers, but the safe drivers make it all worthwhile.

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