Greetings from Illinois!
I am very happy to be back in my home and our final state this evening! Each morning during our ride we’ve been waking up in different locations throughout the southland and this morning waking up in Sikeston, Missouri, was the first time I felt like we had made tangible progress northward towards our Chicago destination. The wet and humid forest lowlands of Louisiana and Mississippi had all of the sudden become the rolling, fertile farm fields of the Midwest. At no moment on the trip had the sense of geographical accomplishment more keen than this afternoon when we had crossed over the Highway 51 bridge leading us over the Mississippi River from Missouri into Illinois. The hundred upon hundreds of miles put in over the last 6 days has finally brought us to the Land of Lincoln! After crossing over the bridge we traversed 40 more miles of hilly farmland northeast to conclude the day’s 130 mile trek in the town of Freeburg, IL, home of the Freeburg Midgets and B4B co-founder Michael Schaefer.
Today’s ride was also unique in the fact that we had a special guest rider with us. Father Joseph Coffey, an active-duty chaplain in the U.S. NAVY joined us for our entire 130 mile ride and even had the strength to celebrate Mass with us in Freeburg. It was a treat for the entire B4B team to have Father Joe with us today. In the times we spent with Father Joe in prayer, he reminded us of how fortunate we are to be taking part in a ride like this. There are so many places with little to no clean water, food, or medicine, and we have people giving us water and food at the moment we need it. Most of all we have our good health to carry us along in this mission of fortitude. Those prayers sparked internal reflection throughout the remainder of the day that had me realize no matter how tough things got on the bike during our ride, we still have it much better off than so many around the world. And for that I am incredibly grateful. However, we are all called to use the blessings and talents that we have to serve the Lord in a unique way. On this particular ride we will remain steadfast to serve the Lord with our legs and with our hearts. We will stand to protect all of God’s children!
Thank you all for reading and most importantly your prayers!
Dan