I hope you all hadn’t forgotten about me! Life has been a bit crazier than usual, but I hope to get caught up here soon.
First, we are now in London for a few months. I have started a new blog at http://www.theotherkateinlondon.wordpress.com. If you would like to follow us to London, click on over and subscribe. I haven’t been able to spend much time there yet, so please forgive its current state. This Paris blog will stay alive for a bit longer as I finish up with my older Paris material and share our upcoming Paris trip, as well. We have just now gotten wifi in our London flat, so I am a bit behind in my on-line life. I hope to remedy that in the next few days. Thank you for your patience. Your call is very important to us.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
We disembarked from our cruise in Seward and took a van to Anchorage, about two hours away. Our August 7 arrival in Anchorage was actually the impetus for the entire cruise. We were meeting my daughter and her Texas 4000 teammates as they crossed the finish line from Austin, Texas to Anchorage….on their bicycles. Four-thousand miles in seventy days across the United States on their bikes! You can read more about this amazing organization from the University of Texas here. Each year the group enables 70-100 young people to raise money for cancer research and to educate the public about cancer prevention and treatment. These kids devote a crazy amount of time to fund-raising and meetings before they even receive their bicycles, which are donated by the Livestrong Foundation. They then train on the bikes for nine months before being sent out across the country, in three different routes, to fulfill their mission of “faith, hope, and charity” from Austin to Anchorage. The kids do a lot of camping along the way, and also rely on the charity of others who offer accommodation and/or food. My daughter’s group slept on a lot of church fellowship hall floors, and ate more Subway sandwiches and Sonic burgers than they ever hoped to see in a lifetime. Their level of commitment and sacrifice is truly amazing. The team of 2015 has raised $723.901 as of today, and they are still taking donations on their website! Bonkers awesome, these kids are.
Here they come!
Martha’s fan club
First hug from Daddy
We spent just one night in Anchorage and actually did not see much of the city as we were a bit preoccupied with seeing our favorite rider again.
The next day we flew to a city I have been dying to visit–Seattle! Coming up next!
Be cool, y’all. Like Seattle.
Mais Oui Paris 