The plan

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We started planning RICH’S RIDE, a 1500-mile handcycle journey along the length of the Mississippi River. Except, “planning” is a generous description of what really happened.

Honestly, Becky and I had no idea how to organize an 8-week quadriplegic handcycle ride.

Becky would be our one-person support team. We borrowed a small trailer. Some generous local companies sponsored us, so expenses were covered. We decided to begin on 9/11/2011 at Lake Itasca, Minnesota, the headwater of the Mississippi River. We knew the Day 1 route from Lake Itasca to Bemidji.

When we left Fort Collins, that was the extent of our plan. Daily routes, destination towns, lodging…no clue.

We knew we needed to travel 40-50 miles per day to reach New Orleans in 8 weeks. I should mention – my longest single-day ride, ever, prior to starting the trip, was 35 miles.

Remember the context. We weren’t 20-somethings taking off on an adventure. I was a 60-year-old quadriplegic who could manage fairly well given a certain amount of accommodation…if nothing went wrong.

Friends confided, after the trip, that they prayed for success but really didn’t have much confidence it was gonna work.

It was insane. We weren’t prepared. We weren’t equipped. Every bit of logic and common sense told us to wait. We needed a better plan.

But…The Dream.

We called it RICH’S RIDE, but it wasn’t about Rich and it wasn’t about a ride. It was a story waiting to be written, something we had to discover.

We were absolutely convinced Jesus was in this thing with us. We didn’t have to see the whole route. We decided to take the first step and trust that He’d show us the next one.

That’s just what happened.

To be continued…