The highlight of day 6 coming from the South is riding through Amish country. Always a treat, and it was fun watching it through the eyes of Adam, and Ben and Sol Hayon for their first time. I discretely caught the following photos of two horse and buggies. We encountered quite a few, as well as some of the most well kempt farms you will ever see.
A highlight was stopping to talk to three adorable Amish boys sitting along a fence. Joan went right up to talk to them and before long four of us were chatting with them and taking their photos (which was okay with them and apparently their Mom who was watching from a distance). The youngest one on the right was Amos and he was cute as can be.
Here's a Ben's eye view of Amish country, to give you a sense of the view from the saddle.
Today we road with our good friends Joan, Michael and Lindsey (shown below), and Eric, Annie, and of course our constant companions the Hayons. So much of the Anchor House ride is about your riding companions. Also shown is a photo of me and a long time friend, Paul Shapiro, who is riding in his fourth Anchor House.
We came upon this gorgeous covered bridge later in the day. It had some of the finest truss work I have seen in a covered bridge. Inside it was a true work of art.
Oh, I promised a photo of my boom bottle. This little gizmo fits into a water bottle cage and connects up to your iphone through through either a hard wire or blue tooth. The sound is terrific and the music becomes very motivating, particularly when your son puts together a 60 hour playlist of energetic songs. Everyone loved it, especially going up hill when randomly songs like "Move on Up", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Higher Ground" are playing. Well played Adam!
We had our award banquet tonight. So far we have raised $497,000!! Various achievements are annually celebrated. We celebrated a number of them: Adam stood up for "riders under 20" and "first year riders", and I stood up for "people who have ridden for between 6 and 10 years" and Adam and I both stood up for "parents and children riding together" and "people from out of state". Jack, Ben and Sol had similar celebrations. We all stood up for people who curse out loud at monster climbs. Of course, there are friends who celebrate ride milestones. Below Russ Buckley and Erin Drulis show off their plaques for 20 and 5 years respectively. Also good friends Newell Benedict and Ken Naglak celebrated ten years, and Debbie Pisacretta and Ken Natalie celebrated 20 years of doing the ride. Two other people celebrated 25 years!!
And of course why do we do the ride? The answer is always "For the Kids!" of Anchor House. Shown below is a note written for the riders by a current Anchor House resident. Reading it makes you want to cry and to do more for the disadvantaged children who are out in the world. All they need is a chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment