Bill left about 7:30
this morning and I gave him a call about 2 hours later to see how he was doing.
He had made it to Spencer, Indiana
and saw a sheriff’s vehicle pulled over with its lights on checking on a car in
the ditch. Bill pulled up to talk to him and after telling him what he was
doing, Deputy Andrew Deckard told him the Sheriff would want to meet him because
he kept a Bible on his desk and if he was on a call with someone, he would
always go in first as he didn’t want his men doing something he was not willing
to do.
He and Bill traded patches,
and then Bill headed to the county sheriff’s
office where he met Sheriff Sam Hobbs. He was a mountain of a man with a deep
voice and a kind heart and they talked at length. Now, this morning, I was
packing up patches and coins for Bill to take with him and I saw the Para
cord bracelet that one of the bicycle police had given us in St.
Paul, Minnesota. I added it in
with the other items which I have not done before. While Bill talked to Sheriff
Hobbs, he felt it was time to pass the bracelet on to him. He told him how
special it had been to the bicycle officer and they pulled up this blog and he
saw him in the picture. The Sheriff was turning the bracelet over in his hands
looking at it so there was a connection being made there. He hugged Bill
several times during his visit and then shot a picture of them all together.
They told him how to get to the police station a few blocks away and Bill
pedaled away. Thank-You gentlemen for what you do and for your generosity to
us. When he arrived, Chief Marshal Rich Foutch opened the door to his office
and said, “We’ve been waiting for you.” He then introduced him to his wife
Deborah who was also an officer and the canine officer, Officer Bonebreaker! He
was a big guy too. He had a drug dog that was later in the picture. While the Chief
and Bill talked, he shared how they had met a gentleman who was walking across America
to raise awareness for the Romans Warrior Foundation.
Brian Romans offers free
help for veterans struggling with PTSD and his website can be viewed here. Bill then traded patches with the Chief and
even received a hat.
He gave the Chief one of our challenge coins and refilled
his water and then they had a picture taken together.
A big Thank-You to all
the officers there for what you do! He pedaled out of town headed for our
meeting place. We were to meet in
Belmont, Indiana, but Miss Garmin had no clue so I just drove until I got
there. It was a very small place with nowhere to pull over so I drove a couple
of miles and pulled way off the road. Sometimes the traffic is heavy, sometimes
there’s no traffic at all. I should be seeing Bill pretty soon…I’m starvin’!
LOL! I started looking through the road up ahead on the Garmin and saw a state
park about 5 miles ahead. I thought there might be some shade there too as it
was now up to 90 degrees. Just 2 miles down the road, I came to a large parking
area so pulled in. Bill pedaled up shortly thereafter and said his phone had
sent him into gravel again and he had lost his tail light. Since he had 54
miles in, we packed up the bike and looked for a bicycle shop. We saw one on the way to Columbus, so turned around and went in. Found another
tail light and bought a couple of tubes and patch kits since we had no more
spares. A few more miles and we came to Ceraland
Park and Campground. Wow! What a
big place! Over 300 camping spots and all kinds of things on the rest of the
property. No wifi, but the little hotspot works so we will use that today.
Thanks for reading.
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