June 27th Day 2: Abbotsford to Hope around 75 km

We woke up around 7am and had breakfast with Loraine and Paul. Paul looked over our route and gave us tips of how I could stay safe. We decided to use the number 7 highway and it was a good choice. Loraine added a secret touch to her peanut butter and it was fantastic. I am a peanut butter nut and I am happy I learned a new trick. Loraine claims she isn’t a good sandwich maker but everyone knows the key to making a sandwich is just to have someone else make it-It was awesome Loraine!!!

I cycled to Hope and Elyse was able to get the Hope Standard to take a photo of me biking to help spread awareness in their town…our first newspaper article since Sarnia…Thank You Hope Standard!!!!

We drove over to the Home of Barry and Joan Mansfield, because they were kind enough to willingly host us. When Elyse and I arrived, we met Barry in the front yard of his house….this guy is a blast!!! He has a great sense of humour and loves to chat! Barry keeps very busy and it seems like there isn’t anything he hasn’t done…cycled over 1000 miles per week, sailed, loved to paraglide, played tennis, and more! His stories were very entertaining and he can even cook! Barry hooked us up with a shower and a great pasta dinner, showed Elyse and I the Othello Tunnels where Rambo’s First Blood Movie was shot,  then we spent the evening socializing.

One thing that we were talking about is that many people just think of Parkinson’s as the shaking disease; however, there are many more symptoms than that and it affects every person differently. Some people have tremors, some people may “freeze” where they literally can’t make the movement they want to do. Another thing we talked about was how not having a sense of smell seems to be a common similarity between some people with Parkinson’s. The one thing I had never heard of was people with PD having hallucinations. Apparently, some people will have a common hallucination….maybe it is a weird smell, or maybe it is that they think there is another person in the room from time to time….regardless my point it Parkinson’s is more than just a shake.

Parkinson’s affects every individual differently…within one day, and from day to day, Parkinson’s decides how severe it wants to affect people.  Unfortunately, we can only hope a cure comes soon!