Sunday, July 29, 2007

Update - Cross Canada Motorcycle Ride
For Organ & Tissue Donation Awareness

Living liver donor Robert E. Crawford and recipient Marilyn Olivo-Crawford are motorcycling across Canada July 21st to August 16th and I’m pleased to support this initiative to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation.

Robert says that access to the internet is difficult to find at times but he will do his best to keep us updated. His most recent report is below. For a complete chronology of the ride click here.

July 27, 2007
After a very hot sleep in the un-air conditioned, University of New Brunswick residences, we started on our way towards Quebec City. This would be one of our longest riding days scheduled. The Blue Knights police group escorted us out of Fredericton. They were a great bunch of people and we appreciated their support. We all rode for about 45 minutes and then they gradually dropped off to return home or work except one. Claude, rode with us for another hour and we all had lunch together. After lunch we rode until Claude waved goodbye. It was great to have his extra company for so long. The Blue Knights know the local highways very well and make navigating very easy.

The weather was still hot but good for riding. We jockeyed for position with large 18-Wheelers carrying huge pipes and logging trucks. The scenery along the way was very nice and we tried to focus on the road and not the landscape rolling by. We rode for almost 9 hours and everyone was very tired when we neared Quebec City. When I looked at the map of where our Rotarian’s home was located I was a little nervous about trying to navigate through the city. I called him to update him with our ETA. Dino must have read my mind as he offered to drive out to the highway to meet us. We were relived and followed him at a good pace to his wonderful home. After a great dinner we were chauffeured around Quebec City to see the sites. We were all tired but eager to see as much as possible. About 12:00AM we flopped into bed. It had been a long but very enjoyable day & evening.

July 28, 2007
We got up at 7:30-8:00AM to get another whirl-wind tour of Quebec City by day. It is a very historic city and we had terrific and knowledgeable tour guides. Jacob was busy taking pictures and trying to capture all the scenes. I was glad to not be riding my motorcycle up and down the wet cobble stone streets.

After packing up and saying goodbye we headed out at 1:30PM for Montreal. Jacob and our host’s dog had one last run around and game of tug-of-war.

On the way to Montreal we hit some more heavy rain and lots of traffic. The rain suits got a good work out this day. We won’t try the oven this time to dry our boots. The temperature is still very warm. (25-30 Celsius) We made some wrong turns on the South Shore but arrived at 5:30PM to Nancy & Eric’s home. We pilled in and sank into their sofa’s in front of the TV. Everyone on the team was tired and just wanted to sit, eat pizza and relax. Jacob discovered the Sony Play Station and enjoyed a few games.

At each stop we are meeting and talking to many people about our ride and trying to educate Canadians about signing their donor cards. Everyone is very friendly and eager to hear our story. We have been giving out the one-page summary sheets as well. The media attention is still increasing and CBC even asked if we could do an interview in French! Unfortunately we are not fluent enough in French to conduct an interview. I should get some French language tapes to listen to while riding….

Next stop for the “Cross Canada Motorcycle Ride” is the rally in Delta Ontario.
Take care and talk to you all soon.

Robert Crawford,
Cross Canada Motorcycle Ride
for Organ & Tissue Donation Awareness
Email Robert

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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