Another Day, Another Adventure

The Ride for Life got its beginning through a desire to do something that could have a lasting difference. After I retired from trucking, I realized I needed to do some activity so I

could stay somewhat fit (not like I have ever done that before, LOL). So we joined an exercise program and worked out 3 days a week. Well, our trainer said I needed to jog or walk on the off days to help keep my cardio up. I can’t jog or walk very far without a lot of pain because of arthritis in one of my ankles from a motorcycle accident that happened 20 years earlier. So I started riding my bike on those days. I have always liked riding, just haven’t done it for years!

When Covid hit the gym got closed down so we were working out at home and I found myself riding farther and farther on my bike. I started watching videos on YouTube about cycling tours. We watched one video series of a young couple riding across country on their bikes. I told Linda, ‘We need to do that!’ She just looked at me and said ‘you’re crazy, they’re in their 30’s, we’re in our 60’s.’ Good point, I guess.

After a few months I kept riding and pushing myself more, then got a different bike built for longer rides. And I still couldn’t get the thought of riding across country out of my mind; might have been from the years I spent on the road as a trucker. So I told Linda that I really wanted to do something like that, but I wanted to do it for a purpose.

After a lot of prayer and looking into different ideas, we thought of helping with the cost of adoption. At that time, we knew of three young couples starting the adoption process and that is when we found out just how much it costs. It can be anywhere from $30,000 to

$50,000 and sometimes more. That doesn’t include travel, if it is not local to you, so international adoptions would entail even higher travel costs.

So in May of 2021, I started what has turned into The Ride for Life, Making Life Affordable. I began with a ride from Washington DC to Longmont, Colorado and I did it solo. You can read about how we did in my previous blog ‘Valley of Decision’. We were able to raise a fair amount of money that we split between the 3 couples. As a result, what got birthed there was a vision to do even more!

We are getting ready to do another ride this year (with the lady who thought I was crazy!!!) I’ll say more about our vision and goals in my next blog.

We are EXCITED and can’t wait to see what God will do!!!

Randy