We woke up today and were on way to Portage La Praire. A few seconds outside of Brandon, I caught up to another cyclist biking across Canada. I am proud of this guy! Visit his website at http://www.riding4mentors.com/ to see how he turned a very negative situation into a positive experience. Jamie reminded me of one of my best friends who got tangled up with the wrong crowd and made a few bad decisions that spiralled into a downward mess.
I can’t speak about addiction because I have no idea what it is like; however, I am super proud of Jamie and my buddy for being strong enough to one day wake up and realize this was not a life they wanted to live. They both use cycling to stay strong, stay straight, and keep positive, and I think we can all learn a little bit from them in one way or another. Good luck with your goals Jamie and thank you for pushing me to cycle beyond my comfort zone!
Anyways, Jamie and I ripped to Portage La Prairie and then I turned off the highway to meet up with Peggy and Bryan Mitchell (our hosts for the night). We met the Mitchells at the Portage Daily Graphic, where Angela Brown covered our story…Thank you Angela!!!!
Bryan is by far the most avid collector of owl memorabilia I have ever met….I would be willing to throw it out there that he may be the most avid collector of Owl memorabilia in the world. Virtually everything in their home has an owl spin on it, and they also have a gigantic owl in their yard (probably will be the world’s biggest owl). I can’t remember how much metal went into constructing this owl but it was intense! http://www.roadsideattractions.ca/greyowl.htm
That evening the Mitchells invited a few folks from the local Parkinson’s support group over. We learned a ton about owls and a few things about Parkinson’s too! One person there had difficulty speaking and she carries Excel Gum with her because it specifically helps increase moisture to her throat which helps her with speaking…another big theme discussed was how difficult driving can become. One of the people gets her husband to do all the driving, but for the other people the thought not being able to drive was extremely difficult.
Two of the folks there had the deep brain stimulation surgery. I asked one of them how they felt about having an invasive surgery like that, and the reply was…I was basically at the point of not being able to do anything, so this surgery gave me the chance to get my life back for a few years at least….I wasn’t that scared going into it because I was already in a terrible place, and I couldn’t be more happy with the results now that I am able to drive again!
I don’t know what the success rate is like for the DBS surgery, but I was happy to hear that it was able to help this person live a better life!
Mrs. Mitchell was an incredible cook and she even claimed she loved to have the opportunity to cook for Elyse and I…the food was awesome and I got a great sleep for the short ride to Winnipeg. Night!
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