Rain, rain go away and the power of our journey.

The ALSFRS-R , is a tool that measures the loss of functional ability in people with ALS. The scale consists of 12 items: speech, salivation, swallowing, handwriting, cutting food, dressing and hygiene, turning in bed, walking, climbing stairs, dyspnea (difficulty breathing or shortness of breath), orthopnea (trouble breathing when lying down), and respiratory insufficiency.

We had some more room shenanigans at breakfast when Foz tried to charge his bill to his room. Of course, there was great confusion as his room number didn't match his name on the reservation. Scott eventually just paid the bill to avoid a scene! We were happy to say goodbye to the Holiday Inn of Johnstown.

Today started out cloudy with lots of rain and thunderstorms in the forecast. The guys got an early start from the hotel at about 8:00am and made great time trying to outride the rain.

They made it to the lunch stop, over 44 miles, in record time where the Luggage Guys had set up and were killing time playing whiffle ball. Rodney rode in looking a little bit like a pro football player as he had grease all over his face from a run in with his chain. They did pass some beautiful sites along the Erie Canal Trail.

With just about 20 miles to go to our "terminus" (I'm loving that word...) for the day, the wind picked up and you could hear distant thunder. The riders quickly donned their rain gear and headed toward Albany! Within minutes they were in a soaking rain with about 5 feet of visibility in front of them. I'm told they had at least one massive and very steep hill! Sad... not so sad, I was not on my bike! We were grateful they all made it in one piece.

We drove about 15 miles through isolated back roads and down an unpaved road to reach our Air BnB for the night. We had a feeling things would be a bit unusual as the owner kept asking us to text him along the way to let him know where we were as he wanted to meet us before we went in. (He lives right next door.) Scott and Doug needed to unload the luggage as fast as possible so they asked me to be the one to meet with the owner and keep him occupied so they could attend to their business at hand. Well, the house was dark and filled with dated furniture, velvet and dark coverings/curtains and odd pieces of art. Clean but not my style. The owner made a point of showing me a large bathtub and telling me he has stocked adult books in each of the bedrooms as he was tired of Air BnB's with only romance novels. When the guys finally arrived, they opened the garage door to put the bikes in and found a box of very unusual drawings and paintings of a very disturbing sexual nature. It has left me with a bit of the heebie-jeebies and I'm not totally comfortable in my surroundings!

Steve left us for the night to visit his brother who lives very nearby. We hung around the Air BnB for a bit and the guys played cards before we headed out for dinner to what seemed like the only show in town, a small Mexican restaurant named Norte Azul Cantina. It was a great place with good food and a fun atmosphere. Foz got up to take a photo of our table and I asked him to have someone take the picture for us so he could be included. He kind of shrugged it off and sat back down. About 10 minutes later, this woman sitting at a table nearby stood up and asked if she could take our photo for us. She then asked how we knew each other. I proceeded to tell her our story about our 1000 mile bike ride in honor of Doug and Mary and their ALS journey. She then shared that she lost her beloved husband, Joe 2 years ago to ALS. The interaction brought me to tears but is just totally indicative of what has happened during this adventure. I told Foz that it felt like nuclear fission where one thing just sets off another thing; taking on a life of its own. When I arrived back to the Air BnB, I found this lovely new acquaintance, Margaret, had found our blog on the web and sent us a lovely note. This journey has truly showed us the best of humanity.

Rick was wearing this T shirt today with a wonderful message that resonates with this experience! Keep lifting others up and you never know how high you will climb.

With love, hope, and gratitude,

Dolly