Sault Ste. Marie

Sault Ste. Marie now has a special place in my heart, after meeting some phenomenal people in this city who made our stay extremely special. There were several highlights, including walking around the boardwalks next to the river downtown, and setting up to gain donations at the Canada Day Festival.

On our arrival day, I was approached by three lovely girls who were excited about what we were doing with Chase the Cure, and generously donated. We further chatted about the Sault and the uniqueness of this city.

The next morning we woke up early and traveled downtown to see what this city had to offer. It had an older downtown with some beautiful buildings. One thing I realized was how much this city loves its pizza. It felt like I was seeing more pizza restaurants than people within the city! Just off the St. Mary's River we found this huge table with two chairs...... I sat there for the remainder of the morning waiting for my lunch date (She never showed).

Later that day, we went back to the coffee shop to work yet again on some of the logistics of the Chase. Here we met a girl by the name of Alex. She was one of the kindest, charismatic people we have on this trip, to date. After hearing what we have been up to this summer she invited us to a get together with a bunch of her friends. We arrived to meet a mass of wonderful people, and played Cranium into the early hours of the morning.

We woke up the next morning and traveled to set up at "Celebrate Canada" (the local Canada Day festival). Here we were met by Summer, the festival's organizer. She was an absolutely wonderful woman. We set up our RV right next to the water. Unfortunately the weather was not the best on this Canada Day, and the rain had different plans. Yet, before the skies opened we met many generous individuals of Sault Ste Marie. My favorite couple that came up to us were this gentleman and lady. After giving an extremely generous donation the guy proceeded to rap to us. It most definitely brought a smile to my face as he was extremely funny.

One unique thing we started to do was to have those who have been affected by cancer or lost a loved one to this disease to write their names on the handle bars of my bike to take them on this journey with me. This brought a lot of emotion to those who wrote the names of those they loved and have passed from this terrible disease.

After this, we traveled to Alex's friend's cottage (who we had met the night before at the games fiasco night). It was here we were told to look for this pig to find her cottage. And on this night, we met yet another group of friends. We swam in a misty Superior, and had a delicious supper. I cannot thank these people enough for their generosity and letting us into their homes.

I am a firm believer you can tell how great a person is through their friends. While sitting at a coffee shop in Sault Ste. Marie, I met Alex and Paul who were two young individuals beaming with life. We got talking, and I told them what I was doing. They immediately told me of a girl named Victoria, who is currently fighting in Sault Ste. Marie. By the way they talked about Victoria, you could tell that she had greatly impacted their lives, as well of the lives of others I hadn't yet met. For these reasons, I would like to dedicate my ride out to Victoria, as I travel you will be my inspiration to keep going. I have written your name on the front of my handlebars along with others that have been effected by this disease as a reminder of the strength and courage you have shown in your fight.

Together We Ride.... with Victoria