Ride For Kids 2007

Steven and another brain tumor survivor, David with Bandit the Biker Dog

On October 21 we attended the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation's Annual Ride For Kids.

Sean and Buddy

It was a stunningly beautiful day, clear and warm. In previous years, we've had rain. We decided to bring Buddy

Buddy and Bandit sizing each other up

Local businesses provided breakfast and coffee and we socialized before the ride. Buddy got to meet Bandit The Biker Dog.

Buddy and Bandit

They hit it off, and Bandit got to take off his motorcycle jacket and sunglasses for a while and roll in the grass with Buddy.

Jordan and her brother Ben

Our friend Jordan was there with her family.

Emma, Jordan's sister

We went on an hour-long ride, through Elfin Forest and Lake Hodges. The weather couldn't have been nicer.

I rode on the back of this bike, piloted by a retired CHP officer

The retired CHP officer I rode with was worried about fire with the extremely dry and warm weather we were having. He commented on it frequently during our ride.

Sean rode in a sidecar

Doug stayed with Buddy while the kids and I rode.

Sean and his rider

Steven's ride

Steven rode on the back of a motorcycle this time. Last year his rider's bike broke down and they waited by the side of the road for someone to pick them up, this year things went more smoothly.

Steven draws a winning ticket

After the ride there was a lunch and a drawing for all the riders who raised money.

The volunteer California Highway Patrol escort poses with the kids

They raised over $61,000 for pediatric brain tumor research.

$61,530.48 was raised for research into pediatric brain tumors

Conspicuously absent from this year's event was our friend Regina and her brother Gabriel, who attended the event last year.

They had just gotten the papers to sign up for the event when she was found to have relapsed with over 30 new tumors in her head.

Regina is hanging in there, for which we are tremendously thankful. Our prayer is that she'll be there in October 2008.

Go, Regina!

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I started this post 3 months ago, but the fire and all the resultant upheaval really threw us for a loop.

The retired CHP officer I rode with commented frequently during our ride that he was worried about fire. The weather was more beautiful on the ride than we could ever have asked for, but his worries unfortunately turned out to be justified.

View Larger Map

Above is a map of the route we took in purple, overlaid with the burn and evacuation areas from the fires. It remained a beautiful and clear day, but as we were driving home from the ride, there were clouds of smoke blowing across the freeway from the East and the kids' Little League game was cancelled.

We stayed up late watching the fires on TV and in the wee hours of the morning, our friend's house burned down and now he's living with us.

Most of the area where we rode is blackened now, but all that burned organic material also acts as fertilizer and with our recent rains, green is sprouting up again among the ashes.

- Kathleen