10 May

Well today was the first of our 100 mile days. We left Edison, NJ this morning at about 7 and got to Wilmington, DE at a little after 4 this afternoon. With the rest breaks, not too bad. We had heard from several different people that have done the ride before about this "really big bridge" before we get to Delaware. I'll show pictures of that below, but all in all not a big deal.

It was nice to see people out in various spots along the route cheering and waving to us. We would go a little distance without seeing anyone and then come upon a neighborhood or business district and people would come out to the roadside and wave to us and wish us good luck on the ride. It was nice to see and break up the day a little bit.

Unfortunately there have been a few crashes along the way. I think between the four of us we have now witnessed about 8 or so wrecks. From what we have heard one or two people were actually taken to the hospital. I don't think those were from any of the ones we saw. I think I have seen the most so far and the others have told me they don't want to ride with me because I am a little too close to that action. Thankfully I have not been close to being involved, just a witness.

The weather cooperated with us today. It was sunny with a bit of breeze for the vast majority of the day. It looks like we all have a little "raccoon eyes" going from wearing sunglasses. We will see what tomorrow brings as the forecast says it is supposed to begin raining in the afternoon.

The riders started from three different hotels this morning. Here are a couple photos of the escort officers arriving followed by the group from the hotel up the street. Our group met with another group that was staying a block or so away to begin the ride.

This was a group of officers that was on the side of the highway waiting for the tour to come by. They had several cars parked up on the lot with their lights on and were displaying this flag as we rode by. It was very kind of them.

John at the Target sponsored rest stop today with the Target mascot. Target has been very generous this year and is a sponsor of the Tour. They are hosting the rest stops and the majority of the stops have been in Target parking lots. Thank you to the management of Target for supporting these officers that are riding in honor of fallen officers. And thank you to the Target staff that is working so hard to make these stops a success! They have been outstanding.

I mentioned previously that we are riding as part of the Northern California chapter. The chapter has two support vans that carry our bag during the ride and will pick up riders that are in need of support. On the side of the van they recognize the four Oakland PD officers that were killed in the line of duty in March of last year and our four officers that were killed in November. Several support vehicles are adorned in similar fashion to remember all of these officers.

One of the motor escort officers. These guys have done an outstanding job. They are responsible for getting us through traffic safely and block intersections as we travel through. Great work

The rest area.

The motor officers before and preparing for the ride over the bridge into Delaware.

Here are some pictures of the bridge. Although it was a couple of miles long the grade was not too bad. It was nice to know that once we were on the other side of the bridge we had less than 10 miles to go to finish the day.

All in all it was a good day. We got to the hotel and had a little bit of time to get cleaned up and rest before dinner.

So what kind of seasoning does this look like to you? Mark seemed to think it was bacon bits and put it on his pasta we had for dinner. Kinda funny! (It's red chili pepper).

Off to bed for us as we have another early start for the day. Half way there now!!!