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Golden, British Columbia to Kelowna, British Columbia 198 Days on the Road!Journal
Entry for: Sunday,
September 3 – Sunday, September 10, 2000 Week
28 Total
Miles Cycled to Date: 17,261 km
(10,655 miles) Community
to Community: Golden,
British Columbia to Kelowna, British Columbia Weather for the Week: As we cycled closer and closer to Vancouver, the weather got sunnier and sunnier! Last Sunday greeted us with heavy rain but by the end of the week we saw nothing but clear blue skies. We hope this beautiful weather follows us all the way home! Media Successes:
The Cycling for Kindness Homecoming Celebration!!Can you believe that we’ll be cycling into Vancouver in just one week?!? We would love to see you as we celebrate the end of this inspiring journey on September 17th! We will be pedaling into the Renaissance Harbourside-Hotel Vancouver at 1133 West Hastings Street at 2:00 pm (and we will be stopping at Capers on Robson Street to visit the “Living Naturally Fair” from 12:30 – 2:00pm). What a celebration it will be! Erin’s Reflections From the RoadErin ferried, flew, and bused from Bowen Island, B.C. to join us for a week of cycling! She brought her fantastic energy and enthusiasm (and her infamous chocolate chip cookies) – we just loved having her on tour with us. We asked if she would share her thoughts in this week’s journal… “In
the five days that I have ridden with Brock and Wilma, I have come to
recognize just how committed one must be in order to complete such a
journey. From my first day of riding when we made a 6.5 km very steep
decent in pouring rain and very cold temperatures - when I was shivering
so badly that I could not even butter my own pancakes - to the climb up
and through Roger’s Pass where I was reduced to hysterical delirium
vented by crazed laughter. By the fourth day, I was feeling a bit stronger
and was thoroughly mesmerized by the beauty of the valley between Salmon
Arm and Vernon and then through to Kelowna, but then it was up that
blasted hill to the Coquihalla connector against the harsh winds. I got just a tiny feeling of what it has been like for Brock and Wilma and the support team - Janine, Chris and Jonathan - who make sure that we are fed and all the multitudes of details are taken care of. It has been just absolutely incredible for me to experience this because a part of me enjoys the pains of pushing one’s self. A huge part of me loves the after-effects of that pain and hard work, the satisfaction of knowing that I have pushed myself as hard as I can to achieve something great. Thank you Kindness Team for welcoming me as a part of the journey of kindness. It has been another excellent experience to add to all of the others I have had in my pretty great life. Now I am anxious to return home to my husband Ian and my four boys. I am so excited to share all of the fun experiences I have had on this trip. I’ve had some of the best belly laughs I can remember and I love to laugh! Brock and Wilma – I am without words to describe how I feel about you guys. There are no words extraordinary enough in my vocabulary to really do you the service that you deserve. Let me just say that I love you both. PS: It is Wilma’s birthday today - she’s now 35 ‘fantabulous’ years old!” Inspiration and Celebration - A Letter From Brock Hello Everyone! I think I speak on behalf of our entire Cycling for Kindness road team when I say that we are really excited about returning to Vancouver on September 17th! Yippee! I wanted to remind you that on September 23rd, we are holding the 4th Helping of Clam Chowder for the Soul. This is a day of West Coast business and community leaders sharing stories from their hearts. The day is filled with beautiful music and of course, a clam chowder lunch! When Tom Matzen and I founded this event, I never expected it would be so well received – the event has grown from 200 people at the “first helping” (in February 1998) to 950 people at the third event. We hope to have a full house of 1200 people for the fourth helping so please call Ticketmaster (604-280-3311) if you would like to share this wonderful day with us! Many people have been inspired by this heart-felt event. Many people who attended wanted to share a follow-up day in a more intimate setting so that they could share “their stories”, network with kind-hearted people, and meet others who want to take action and make a difference in their communities. So on September 24th, our team will be at The Celebration of Life Centre for a wonderful morning gathering. We are so fortunate to have Nadine Marshall and her committee organizing this event. Nadine founded the Vancouver organization, KindActs and she is one of the most dedicated and committed people I know - she has been a personal inspiration in my life. We hope that you can join us for this inspiring weekend of sharing and connecting. We are so excited to see you all in Vancouver – you are the greatest!! With love, Brock What are we celebrating?The
power of the human spirit and the wisdom of the heart. When and Where?Saturday, September 23, from 8:29am – 4:30pm
Clam Chowder for the Soul – The Fourth Helping Chan Centre for the Performing Arts University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Sunday, September 24, from 10:30am – 1:00pm
The Celebration of Life Centre Jericho Hill Centre 4196 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver, BC The weekend starts off with Clam Chowder for the Soul, an inspiring day filled with speakers and musicians sharing their personal stories of how they are choosing to make a difference in this world. Visit our website (www.clamchowderforthesoul.com) for more information about this heart-felt event. Continue the magic by joining us at the Celebration of Life Centre to celebrate the first World Heart Day and the completion of the incredible 17,000 km North Amercian Cycling for Kindness journey. After 6 ½ months on the road, Brock will share the team’s story through an inspiring collection of slides set to beautiful music, a brief documentary video and personal anecdotes. Be sure to visit the KindActs website (www.kindacts.net) for more details. And remember that you can send us your story of kindness through our website too! Many Acts of Kindness…· We were lucky that we were able to stay at two beautiful B.C. campgrounds this week! Greentrees RV Park in Salmon Arm, is owned by Guy and Deanne - two of
the friendliest people around! Monika and Wolfgang also let us stay at their wonderful
KOA campground in Revelstoke. What a treat to be surrounded by so many trees (as
opposed to tarmac!)
· Joe, the Manager of Cooper’s Foods in Revelstoke gifted us with $25 of groceries and Ray at Keller Foods in Banff matched his kindness with a $30 gift certificate! We
enjoyed fresh produce all week thanks to these two wonderful establishments. Thank
you so much!
· Be sure to visit Don at the Boston Pizza in Salmon Arm and ask for the “Popeye” pizza: fresh spinach, roasted garlic and feta cheese! Yum-my. Don gifted us with a
pizza to complement one of Chris’ great dinners. What a feast we enjoyed that night…
· We have been so lucky to be gifted unlimited meals at the White Spot Restaurants all the way from Edmonton to Vancouver. We ate delicious meals at the Vernon White
Spot and were hosted wonderfully by the managers, James and Eileen. We then
visited Joe, the manager at the Kelowna White Spot and we enjoyed tasty meals and
fantastic service all weekend. Thank you White Spot (we’ll see you again
in Abbotsford)
· To all of the friends and family of Brock, Wilma, Chris and Janine in Vernon and Kelowna: we thank you for the fun, food and laughter! We all enjoyed a happy
weekend of work and play thanks to all of you - we’ll see you again soon.
· Martin Rissley, the General Manager of the Coast Capri Hotel in Kelowna, gifted us with two rooms during a very busy Kelowna weekend. We really appreciate your
generosity, Martin! Thank you for allowing Brock to speak to your staff and special
thanks for treating us to a buffet breakfast in your restaurant where we were able to
happily celebrate Wilma’s birthday!
· Thank you to Kevin, the General Manager at the Big River Brewing Company in Kelowna, for the delicious meals and the free bowling! We had so much fun and
enjoyed excellent service and incredible food. Thank you Kevin!
· To wonderful Renee, our Kelowna host, for organising the successful speaking engagement for Brock on Sunday and special thanks for treating Wilma to a heavenly
birthday massage! She loved it. You are amazing.
· Reverends Kenn and Deborah at the Okanagan Centre for Positive Living were so wonderful this weekend. They welcomed Brock into their congregation and we enjoyed
an event with 200 kind souls in attendance! Thank you for all of the incredible work
that you are doing in Kelowna.
Our Favourite Letter of the Week
Dear Brock,
I read about your wonderful journey in a Saskatchewan paper and am thrilled.
There is a deep need for people to hear about, see, express, and experience
acts of kindness. Over the last few years, I have seen the disease of
hopelessness and despair afflicting more and more people, and I tend to
attribute this societal illness, at least in part, to what the media mistakenly
calls "the news". We are bombarded with negative messages, disaster, and
violence on television, radio, newspapers, etc. day after day, year after year.
For some reason, the media finds negative messages newsworthy, while positive
messages rarely get mentioned. Individuals have gradually succumbed to believing
that the hopeless world presented to them by the media is the 'real' world.
We need a balance. We need to hear that kindness and altruism are not dead, but
alive and well. And we need to hear that every day. Kind acts are newsworthy too.
Monica B.
This week’s journal is dedicated to all of the amazing reporters around North
America who have supported our tour with their enthusiasm and talents. Thank
you to all of you who have helped spread our message of kindness into the tiniest
of communities and the largest of cities. The ripples continue thanks to you. We
honour you for helping us to make this world a kinder place - you truly made a
difference, one story at a time.
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