The lovely Dawn was up to greet us once more this morning…with some delicious sponsored breakfast :-) Had a few special guests today: Leffler was joining us for a crew-along in his sweet Park Avenue, and cycling we had Tom French and Scott Rossell, both KU guys and Pi Alphas from last year’s TransAm team.Rode with Scott for most of the day….around halfway through we passed through Lawrence, KS, home of KU. After taking a pic in front of the statue of Dr. James Naismith (the inventor of basketball and only coach in Kansas history to have a losing record), Scott broke off as he actually had summer classes today. Rest of the ride went pretty smoothly…though the hills got rougher and rougher as we closed in on Olathe. Right before getting into town we hit some of the steepest hills I’ve ever seen…Kansas is definitely NOT flat!
We staged up just outside of town at a local park, where Jay’s mom and girlfriend Becka were there to surprise him…awww! Pops and I got a few quick pumps of the bike in so the guns looked good for the arrival, haha. We had a cool police escort into town…cops on motorcycles: always the coolest….and arrived at the town hall building to a great reception of town officials and friends. Turns out Olathe goes all out for the Journey of Hope!!After slappin some high-fives outside we were led into the town council chambers where we sat front row for a reading of a proclamation and a warm welcome. We were directed around by the saucy Cindy…a young interpreter from Latin America. Afterwards we all at lunch at the town hall…I sat with sweet little Pat and Janice…snapped some pics with the boisterous missy…all in all good time.
We rolled over on the bikes to our lodging at the Kansas School for the Deaf…led by Bob…the director of the school. Super nice digs…dorm style rooms with 2 guys in each and their own bathrooms!!! Got all cleaned up and did some bike work before dinnertime.
Dinner was sponsored for us at the Texas Roadhouse, where we were joined by several members of the town commission for people with disabilities. It was here that I got to meet Mark Cameron, who had pretty much set up everything for us here in Olathe. Mark is quadriplegic as a result of a
diving accident a few years ago…but it is absolutely incredible what he is able to do despite that. His is a story of true hope…his family and friends (many of which are his Sigma Pi fraternity brothers - an incredible example of lifelong brotherhood) have rallied around him and allowed him a life of near-independence. I’d personally like to thank Mark for taking such great care of our team and for all that he does for the greater community - we’ll be keeping up with him through his website: www.teamcameron.org !I sat with Mark and his friend Anna, as well as the super charming couple Wes and Mike….we all enjoyed some delicious steaks and delightful conversation.
We had the night off after dinner so most of us are just relaxing around our super sweet accommodations.
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