Saturday - Annville to Palmerton

The final leg of the journey! We wake up and it is overcast. Hurray!

We set out, Kelly and I have picked up two more accomplices: Joe and Sandy. We ride with them for a while, I get to talk to Sandy for several miles, then I decided to go catch up to Kelly, The first ten miles were lots of fun. Nice rolling hills where the downhill momentum could take you most of the way up the next one. Beautiful countryside - and then the climb up Blue Mountain! That was a tough climb, but mercifully short. There was much rejoicing at the top.

We got to ride through Orwigsburg, near my old stomping grounds at PSU Schuylkill Campus. Lunch was at the Lions Club park in Orwigsburg. We took our time and enjoyed it. Then we set out on the home stretch!

And then the rain started. And continued. And continued some more. The last 15 - 20 miles was in the pouring rain, over some very rough (chipped and oiled) roads, and there were some tough, short climbs into Palmerton. But we made it! Riding down the main street in Palmerton was surreal. Kelly and I along with Dean went side by side, taking up the whole lane. We passed a porch crammed full of Dean's family who were screaming for him and waving "Way to go Daddy!" signs. It was awesome.

And then the final turn to the Trinity Lutheran Church - everyone started cheering. I zipped up my jersey and passed the church Tour de France style, arms raised, fists pumping! Wow. Turned the corner, dismounted the bike, and came extremely close to passing out. I'm not sure what happened, but suddenly I became light-headed and all tinglely. I almost fell over before I got to a step to sit down. Our fearless leader, Bob Freed asked me if I was okay, and I said no. So our head support angel, Kathy Freed, took care of me. She found a blanket for me, which I later learned was a table cloth they had removed from a table! Eventually, they moved me inside out of the rain, and let my soaking-wet self sit in a pew. Tony's wife, who I only know as the nurse - Mrs. Cerrone, watched over me, got me a banana, some birch beer, and checked me over. Another woman checked on me a lot too, but sadly I do not know who this angel was. Eventually I started to recover, got a shower, and enjoyed the welcome home ceremony. What a day!