Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland, where the Civil War Battle of Antietam (i.e. the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties) took place on September 17, 1862. The history lesson was interesting, even if the scenery was largely just a bunch of cornfields! :)Following the to
ur, we returned to the hotel, packed our luggage yet again, and returned to the C&O Canal Towpath for another day of biking. The first leg of the day was a 17-mile trip from Shepherdstown, WV to Brunswick, MD, where we had a delicious lunch at Beans in the Belfry, which is a coffee/sandwich shop in an old church building. There, we met Dr. Jeff Toretsky, an oncologist at Georgetown University Hospital, whose sarcoma research is also partially funded by the Liddy Shriver Initiative. Again, it was so wonderful to hear how the Team Sarcoma donations are being put to real-world use to help eradicate sarcoma. Interestingly, Dr. Toretsky is an old friend of one of my former colleagues from Rider Bennett, so we had an instant connection with him – what a small world!
Following lunch, we returned to the towpath for an addition 6 miles of biking. At this point, Todd decided to call it a day, so I stayed with him, and I'm glad I did -- not only did we have fun visiting with members of our team while waiting for the shuttle to pick us up, but Brent (from New Zealand) biked a short distance to a nearby town and returned with some New Zealand wine, a couple cans of Budweiser, and several Dixie cups to pass around, so we enjoyed a fun, impromptu celebration with our new friends! From there, we were shuttled to Leesburg, VA where we were able to chec
k into anothe
r hotel, shower, and get ready for dinner. Meanwhile, Scott and several other strong cyclists had continued on for another 14 miles of biking and as you can see from the photos, it was a very muddy trip due to some afternoon rain!In the evening, we had a lovely dinner at Lightfoot Restaurant, where Todd learned that Donna Lee (Liddy Shriver's aunt) was the one who sponsored him to join the bike tour. THANK YOU SO MUCH DONNA LEE! Without her generosity, we would not have been able to participate in this event.
After dinner, each of us was given a luminary to decorate honoring those who are fighting this disease (or were taken to soon by it) and those who have helped and inspired them along the way. It was touching to see all the glowing tributes to these special people. It was truly an evening we will never forget. The photos below show the luminary I made in honor of Todd and our new Team Sarcoma friends (mine also included a message on the back for all my special pals fr
om the ACOR online osteosarcoma group - I love you guys!) Additionally, I've included photos of the front and back of the luminary Todd made, devoting one side to me :) and the other to our friend Betsy, who survived and is now thriving after a difficult battle with chronic myeloid leukemia.Tomorrow is our final day of biking, and we are excited to reach D.C., but sad that this experience will be over so soon.
- Karen
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