2015 Key-To-Keys Ride Day 4 (For Uncle Richard)

Greetings from Charleston, SC! It's day 4 of the 2015 Key-To-Keys Ride (K2K). In this morning's dedication circle, I dedicated today's ride to my Uncle Richard.

My dad is so fond of his brother, he named my middle name Richard in honor of him when I was born.  Unfortunately, he's been fighting a battle with prostate cancer.  Fortunately, he is winning his battle and his prognosis is great!  Go get 'em Uncle Richard! :)

Today, I cried.  It was a good day.  We started the day a little different than the others. We visited the Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion in Savanah, GA. We were there to talk to the patients and pass out chemo care bags.

This was our group at the center.  I spoke to a man named Greg.  He has Stage 4 colorectal cancer. He was being infused while I chatted with him.  He told me only 6% of Stage 4 colorectal cancer patients survive.  He felt blessed to be one that 6% and that God takes care of everything.  He took a bucket list trip to Las Vagas with his wife which he said he throughly enjoyed. I thanked him for chatting with me and then left that area. As soon as I made it to the door, I broke down and started crying. I felt so horrible for what happend to Greg and the rest of the patients there. It was a powerful and emotional moment for me. The patients were very appreciative of our visit with them. It also shows we're making a difference with the money we raise. God bless the patients and staff at the Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion.

After we left the center, we drove to our ride start point on the grounds of Fort Stewart military base in Hinesville, GA.

Our ride crew included (from l-r) your humble blogger, Holly, Monica, Steve, our driver Teresa, navigator Steve (not pictured) and some guy with a cool yellow Camaro. We had a hard time constraint today which limited our ride to 32 miles. We had to be at our hotel in Jacksonville, FL by a certain time which was the cause for our limited riding.  It was also hot today.  It's been a while since I've rode in hot weather.  But it was still a fun day!  We all shared laughs, tears and our stories during our 3 1/2 hours of van rides today. These are some great people I rode with today!  Thank you Team #3! :) And with the close of today's ride, we have reached the halfway point of the Key-To-Keys experience!

Tomorrow is optional century day.  I signed up for the "100 miles of fun" century. I have no idea what that means but it will be interesting to find out!  Talk to you tomorrow from Daytona, FL! :)

Car Up!

Gary