Round Top Campground......Our Gettysburg Address

Andy says: The day started with an experience with grace that, like so many of our experiences along the way, was stunning and restorative of our faith in kindness and humanity. As we departed the lovely Otter Creek campground we were flagged down by a very determined Lori Heiland, director of Otter Creek. She approached the van with obvious urgency. "Here" she said and handed me a 100$ bill. "My husband and I want you to have this. It's such a great thing you are doing." I was overcome with gratitude as I hugged her tightly. "You be safe and good luck!" Wayne, her husband and co-director, came over and was well met by us all. She requested a supply of brochures to further support our cause. The intimacy of this act can not be written, it can only be felt looking into the eyes of a near total stranger who takes a leap of faith to trust that the message and messanger are true, as did Lori and Wayne on this day. THANK YOU BOTH!!!
Up at 5:30 and on the road by 8:00, a little more hilly but still the corn. The soft geometries of the fields and the impossibly straight rows never seemed boring, despite the similarities. I wondered why it was such a comfort to drive through, without any of the angst or apparent snares of commercial suburbia. Simple and beautiful, but there was something else...Honesty. There was no moral ambiguity, no complex analysis required to know that your work provides for the good. Hard work. I thought about Dale and the correctness of the metaphor...
From Airville northwest up to Red Lion and a few, unintentional, zig zags under Hanover and west into Gettysburg. Making good time in excellent weather Barbara elicited smiles from all along the way with a wave and a ready smile - Beep-Beep!

Barbara here: and I think I will pick up where Andy left off. Many of you may remember that this story began with the gift of my motor scooter. Part of what inspired this ride was the positive responses I received from people who saw the scooter. Smiles, thumbs up, and just plain old happiness. There was no better vehicle to spread the memory and spirit of Dale than the scooter that we now call Joy. I am happy to report that in the 600 plus miles I have gone so far, Joy still elicits the same responses from people that I experienced when I first started riding her. I can't tell you how wonderful and worthwhile it makes me feel to cause people to smile!!

I also want to share how incredible it is to have my mother and my brother as the pilot and co-pilot of the sag wagon. I am totally dependant on the sag wagon to know where to go and to support me in this journey. To know that they are there, 100% dedicated to my safety and wellbeing, brings us together in a way that we have not experienced in many years. I am so fortunate. I am also blessed to be able to look forward to the same level of dedication from my Aunt Betsy and my daughter Liza and son Jake when we rendezvous with them when Grandpa brings them down to Staunton, Virginia on Monday.

Finally, I want to mention how much all the support we have received from on line donations, followers of the blog, and people we have met along the way contributes to the positive energy and intention of this mission. To all of you who have given us your time, energy and consideration, we thank you. Through our collective awareness concerning breast cancer, we can effect change. Thank you!!

p.s. Gettysburg is beautiful and sobering at the same time. Haunted by a treacherous past of brother against brother. It is hard to imagine that this harmonious landscape is reflective of the bloodiest battle of the civil war.