The last couple of days have been filled with excitement! From the time we hooked the camper in Honey Brook, PA, and towed it to Operation Second Chance headquarters in Germantown, MD, to seeing Earl Martin driving in early Friday morning with Johnabilt on a trailer at 6:15 AM. Sinclair Broadcasting Group was set up and ready to do some live national news segments. A big Thank You to Andrew Lourake for getting up early to meet them.

I’m not sure where to begin it was all such an exciting morning, and definitely an emotional one for me. Realizing there are so many people willing to contribute to make this happen, and that we are a team right down to our prayer warriors.

As we pulled out of the OSC headquarters, the Patriot Guard riders were leading the way on their Harley’s along with 10 cyclists from the Ride Allegheny biking group, Firefighters on their trucks, and a big Military truck driven by Eddie Cochran. The Veterans there really filled my heart. Seeing their sacrifices from the war, really tore at my heart.

Cindy, Vanessa, Andrew and many more from OSC brought up the rear as we all drove through a parade of flags, clapping and lots of cheering.

As we were going through towns, there were fireman in front of their fire stations and folks along the sidewalks waving clapping as we were driving by. We had a Police escort going through Fredrick, MD, and then I was in tears and filled with emotion. There are so many good people in America and so many folks willing to make a difference in the lives of our nations wounded and our First Responders.

The OSC team provided rest stops with food and drinks for our riders and I, and as we pulled into Gettysburg, I stayed the night (my first of many) in the camper. Believe me, I slept well.

Saturday morning I was invited to wash my rig at a nearby Chevy Dealer. It was nice to be able to clean up the rig before our show on. We had a great day and lots of folks came by willing to donate.  Greg and Kim Kidinger did a great job organizing the day. Thank You for all the hard work and for your support of our Veterans and First Responders.

Sunday

After a exciting day on Saturday I was up early Sunday morning. Yesterday Dave Stoltzfus rode his bike from Lancaster to Gettysburg, PA, and he is planning to ride his bike to Eastern Ohio, but it was raining hard so Dave decided to ride with me in Johnabilt instead of getting wet and cold. I don’t blame him. Boy did it rain hard. But Johnabilt did well over some of the hills coming out to St Thomas, PA east of Chambersburg, PA.

We drove around 60 miles and arrived at C. V. Antique Engine & Machine Association. It is so nice of them to allow me to camp here. They even provided us with electric and hot showers! I’m going to get spoiled if I stay here too long. 

I’m hoping to get some rest tonight. Tomorrow will be a brutal 80 miles, heading over the 3 worst mountains in PA, and it looks as if it will be raining. I will be ready to get on the road early in the morning and will take it one mile at a time. I’ll try to take videos along the way so you can see what I mean. I feel confident but at the same time not sure how much I will sleep. As always, I  seek prayers from my prayer warriors and I will be saying mine. I think these will be the worst mountains on this trip because there are no shoulders and the road is narrow with a 10% slope. I will be giving Johnabilt a back rub before we hit the road and will be feeding the roaster some extra protein tonight so he can help pull.