PALM Day 2. June 25, 2018.

Today's route from Middleville to Portland was 44 miles. This was by far the hilliest day of the ride. The kids were prepared for it with a hearty breakfast and a lot of encouragement from grandma (me). Delia and I started out with Adam, Toby and Dianne, but it was not long before Delia, Adam and I were riding alone.

Zane was settled into the truck for a shorter ride later on.

Bill and Alison went in the truck with Zane while everyone else got on their bikes and rode out about 8:30 AM.

I was proud of Adam and Delia--we never walked a hill and plenty of others riders did! There were a couple of times when the people at the top of the hills applauded us when we reached the summit under pedal power! We stopped at a general store in Freeport for a rest stop and Griffin and John soon arrived.

The fruit stop was at Lake Odessa, 24 miles into the ride. We had lunch from the truck, ate some watermelon and got back on our bikes. The fruit stop coordinator does a lot of work on this ride--there are many volunteers who make it all possible.

As we got into Portland we stopped at an ice cream store and had a break--it was well deserved!

I had to rush the kids to finish their ice cream because Delia wanted to be at Portland High School in time for the Children's Activities--today was tie-dye day! We arrived just before 4 PM and got her there in time.