An Unbelieveable Day

From the time Carmen showed up at Bruce's house at 5:50 a.m. to the time Alicia dropped us off at the hotel we are staying at in Norwalk, the day was filled with unbelievable happenings.
Carmen is a mid 40s mom who has already been through two stem cell transplants in her fight against multiple myeloma. She lives in my old home town of Little Silver and she wanted to be part of the ride so she joined us for only about 5 miles. You can see her on my Facebook page.
From there, Bruce, Diane and myself caught the 7 a.m. Seastreak to Manhattan and while on board, a conversation started with a couple of businessmen on the way to work. Seems like one man's friend is in stage 4 of multiple myeloma and the prognosis is not good. Next to him, a gentleman named Neil was listening to the conversation, heard what we are doing, and said he was going to donate to the cause. A short time later, a donation was received in the amount of $500!! Wow. Thank you very much Neil.
Dolores and Diane met us in Manhattan to escort us through the Bronx after riding up the Hudson River on the west side of the city. Bruce joined us all of the way until 125 street before turning around and taking the train back home. That was great and I really appreciate the time we spent together riding two of the last three days.
By the time we got into Connecticut, Tom joined us and led us to the beach party Alicia and Betsy from the MMRF had planned for us. When we rode into the park, about 15 MMRF folks were there cheering, ringing cow bells and making us feel very special. Thank you to everyone who turned out.
Waiting for me was Channel 12 to do an interview, which has already aired here locally. The first question from the reporter put me into a crying, choked up mode and it took me awhile to compose myself before I could talk.
Alicia and Betsy arranged a massage at Equinox in town and that was terrific as well.
And finally, to cap off the day, the two of them took us to dinner and we didn't arrive in our hotel until well past 10 p.m.
Special thanks have to go out to:

• Alicia and Betsy from the MMRF finding us tour guides in Manhattan and planning out the entire day for us. It continues tomorrow as well
• Tom Holland,the MMRF endurance coach who guides us from the Connecticut border to the party
• Dolores and Diane who spent all morning with us guiding us around Manhattan and putting up with all of the photo "ops" we had to stop for.
• My brother Bruce who had better things to do today but opted to ride his bike with us to Manhattan and then take the train back home to Red Bank
• Alicia and Betsy again for making a big deal over the three of us, giving us all medals of distinction for our work so far. Bobbie also received a special honor -- an angel costume because she is certainly one.

A special mention should also go to the Dunkin Donuts person at the Mobil gas station just inside the Connecticut border. Today, the temperature was hovering about 97 all afternoon and Diane and I were out of water. So, Diane went inside to ask for some ice and was promptly told it would be $1. She told the guy what she was doing and he still refused. Ice is expensive these days I guess.
A young lady in line behind Diane saw what was going on, made her purchase and then asked for a cup of ice, which she received and promptly gave it to Diane.
I went inside a short time later and asked for a cup of ice. The same guy looked me straight in the eye, walked aside and brought me the ice. I told him I would return any ice I didn't use because I knew how important it was to him to keep a close watch on that inventory.

Local television Channel 12 in Norwalk interviewed me immediately after reaching our destination. Hope to get a copy of the finished show to place on the blog.

Diane and Carmen join me at the start of the day around 6 a.m. before riding to the ferry in Atlantic Highlands. Carmen is going to beat the disease and we are counting on her doing that. What a great outlook she has.