My Old Kentucky Home:
It feels great to be back in the Bluegrass, even smells like home. Yesterday we made the journey from Illinois to Kentucky on a ferry that carried us across the Ohio River. After reaching the other side we all made it a point to mark our territory…by peeing in the grass. Spirits were high as we strolled through more familiar territory and last night made us feel more at home than any place on this trip. We were fortunate enough to stay at a friend’s house just outside Owensboro. The Paulsen’s cooked up a massive amount of food and the riders feasted, thankful for the chance to relax and play some corn hole!
After a good night sleep in the air condition, a commodity we have been spoiled with as of late, we set out at 7 this morning. Before starting the ride today, we were interviewed by a reporter for the McClean County newspaper AND we were interviewed as a group on a local radio station. It’s awesome to see the attention our cause is getting as we get closer to home and closer to our final destination. Kentucky really is the best..
At our second stop of the day, in Whitesville, a lady named Norma Henry met up with us to ride alongside the riders for the rest of the day. Norma is from Bowling Green and is an avid cyclist. She was incredibly encouraging and very inspirational in the way she showed support. Her story is intense and touching but she would hardly let us ask questions about her, trying always to keep the focus of the day on us. But it is people like Norma that keep us going every day, people that support us and have never met us, people that have a heart for our cause. She was diagnosed as a terminal cancer patient in 2008, after different attempts at fighting the disease. However, she refused to let this beat her, refused to give up. She turned to Livestrong and found clinical trials that she was willing to try in a heart beat. She had a clean scan two weeks ago! Thank God, because this world needs more people like Norma Henry.
Stories like this keep us going every day, knowing there are people who face much worse than we may ever face. Many times we let our circumstances define us. Our attitudes are so easily affected by the conditions around us. Norma didn’t let her grim circumstances define her. She let her experience define her. What she went through will most likely surpass any struggle I will ever have. However, her attitude was one that refused to give up, refused to give in. Life is full of situations that beg us to cave in. Who we are in those situations will make us the person we become.
There is no greater feat than that of staring fear in the eyes and refusing to be afraid.
Two weeks from now we will stand on the coast of Virginia, looking back on the past two months and trying to remember every moment that’s transpired, failing miserably. But over time we will recall the important moments; and always, always, we will have the experience.
Press On,
Jordan Minton
