Blog

Well its June 6th and we just checked into our accommodations in Victoria.  Wow what a great city this is.  My dad and I got here a little early today and had a chance to hang out down by the fisherman's wharf and enjoy some fish and chips.  We also met Svend here today so it was nice to see he arrived safely.  Svend and I will be heading out early tomorrow to start the first leg of Avery's ride for PKU.  We are heading over to the mile zero marker for some pics and then riding out to the ferry to take us over to Vancouver.  Its actually hard to believe we are at this day already.  Im really looking forward to starting this journey out.  Its going to be long and difficult but its also going to be a great experience.  I hope we can raise lots of awareness and funds for PKU.  I really hope that somehow this will make a difference for Avery as she grows up and for the PKU community as a whole.  

We did an interview with breakfast television yesterday and they will be airing the interview Monday morning.  We have also had some more interest from news papers so check out the media section for those.  I will try to add as soon as I have the info.  

Im having some trouble getting my GPS to work so that could be a bit of an issue. Hopefully I'll iron out the kinks over the next few days.  If you know me you will know I'm not to most gifted person when it comes to technology.  Perhaps some (Sarah) would describe me as not very patient with technology either.  

Sorry for ending on a sad note and some of you may know this already but I'm starting the ride tomorrow with a bit of a heavy heart.  When my dad and I reached Washington state we were about 3 hours from the BC border when I got a message to contact my mom.  I called her right away and she informed me that my grandfather had passed away. My grandfather was so special to me.  He was 95 years old and this was not totally unexpected.  My first instinct was that I needed to go home and be at his funeral but my mom told me that he has asked her to promise she would have me stay and finish the ride if anything happened to him while I was gone.  My grandpa was pretty excited about the ride and I know that if I decided to go home he would not be happy.  I had the 3 hour drive from Washington State to Vancouver  to process my feelings about losing my grandpa.  I'm thankful he no longer has to live in pain unable to get around on his own.  I'm going to use everyday of the ride to honor him as I know he would expect nothing less.   My grandpa was a great man, a hard worker and would never take the easy way out, he's an inspiration.  

Grandpa, thanks for all you have been to me and our family for so long.  We were lucky to have you around as long as we did.  I love you, and will miss you dearly.