About Lea's Foundation

In 1998, Lea Michele Economos, a young woman who died of leukemia at the age of 28, made a dying wish to her parents that others would not face the hardships she encountered by finding a cure for this disease. Her family started this charity to carry on that wish. Today, Lea’s Foundation takes an active role in finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and myeloma and to better the lives of people living with these diseases. At the UCONN Health Center, the Lea’s Foundation Center for Hematologic Disorders sponsors research in this field. A new program covers the cost of bone-marrow testing to help recruit life-saving transplants for patients. Also, annual scholarships are given to children with leukemia who are planning to attend nursery school. For more information on other projects carried out by Lea’s Foundation, please visit their website at www.LeasFoundation.org.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Day 42: Almost There (Port Jervis, NY to Danbury, CT - 83 miles)

The beauty of doing these short days is that we can take our time in the mornings and leave when we feel like it. Even still, the early mornings we've been used to for the past 6 weeks have made us accustomed to waking up before 6:00, so we were still the first ones to the hotel's breakfast. Having the extra time was nice though, and we casually rolled out to a beautiful morning with no sense of urgency.

After a little while, our route took us through a bike trail, saving the New York drivers a few spikes in blood pressure and a little less wear on their gas pedals. The trail was unpaved, but we enjoyed the time off the road.


We crossed over the Hudson on a bike path and caught some great views of the river.


Seeing as we had a bit of extra time today, we stopped at a deli for some lunch. We both had awesome subs and think that was the best part of New York we experienced on our short ride through the state. They call grinder rolls "wedges," which doesn't really make much sense to us. Whatever you call them, they know how to make it into a killer (probably literally) steak and cheese.

We crossed into Connecticut without a welcome sign, so we took our welcome picture next to the New Fairfield sign. We pointed to the towns we live in.



From there, we made our way into Danbury, where we are staying with our last Warm Showers hosts for the trip. They're avid bike tourists themselves, and have been on some really incredible journeys. It'll be interesting to see how much time Pat and I will need before we get the itch to go on other (shorter) tours.

We're psyched to be back in CT and can't wait to arrive at the health center tomorrow at 6:00 pm. Feel free to stop by and see our sunburned faces and helmet hairdos. Also, save the tentative date: Saturday, August 24th will be our final ride down to Hammonasset Beach to make the coast to coast trip official. We will be leaving at 8:30 am from the health center and there will be a get together at Malone's in Madison, CT starting at 2:00 pm (we've used 2:00 am itineraries on this trip so we feel the need to clarify). Anyone who has access to a bike is encouraged to join us- just let one of us know so we can give Malone's a head count. If you don't want to ride, you're still welcome to meet us at Malone's. Hope to see you there!

2 comments:

  1. Congratulation, guys, you have (nearly) made it - and you are SOOO fast!
    Greetings from German cyclists Gerold + Uschi (cycling Iceland right now).

    Our blog: www.weltradreise.blogspot.com.

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  2. Hi Pat and Dan,
    I am a friend of your mom's and Aunt Kim's, Pat. This has been a fascinating albeit vicarious journey for the rest of us! I am sure all will agree that we are all grateful for your faithfulness! Welcome home to Connecticut! Job well done.
    Blessings from the deep south,
    Patti

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