It's that time, folks!! The night before the trip begins. I'm going to make this short and sweet because we need as much rest as we can get. Well, I'll speak for myself--Miss Juvenile Arthritis needs as much sleep as she can get.
It's been busy but relatively low stress. Just takin' care of business (cue the music...). The Arthritis Foundation, NYC office gave me a lovely send off complete with balloons! I felt like so Sex and the City-like. Then it was pretty much planning/cleaning/packing mode. Keegan and I divided and conquered and are actually going to bed with almost everything done. We just need to put our pile of clothes and such into the panniers and duffle bag tomorrow, and that's pretty much it. Right now all our panniers have in them is a bottom layer of snacks. I am the ergonomist for Facebook, Twitter, Google and Bloomberg--all of which have very good snack. To these companies, I thank you for your "donation" to our energy supply :)
Tomorrow we aim to leave probably around 9am. We don't really feel in a rush, so will try to sleep in and get going when we do. There's a possiblity the major news stations here may want to pick up the story, and it's more likely that would be around 9:30/10ish, so we don't want to be too far out of town by then :)
Our first stop tomorrow will be Newark, NJ, where we will be meeting at least one family whose daughter has JA. From there we will bike until we stop for lunch, and then continue onto our first official stop in Trenton, NJ, where we will be staying with a lovely family who have had many years of experience with the disease as the daughter with JA is now in college. I love me some young adults with arthritis!!
I will leave you all with the image of what we have packed for our 3 weeks journey. All this will be bagged up and strapped to bike! Here's hopping it doesn't make it too heavy! That's all from NYC!
My 6 yr old daughter was just diagnosed with Uveitis and they suspect she has JA or another auto immune disorder. We are at the eye dr several times a week right now, and aggressively treating her Uveitis with eye drops 6 times a day. We have had blood work done and will meet with a pediatric rheumatologist next week. We are very overwhelmed and scared. We had never heard of this before. Thank you for doing this to raise awareness. I will donate to your cause. Safe travels!!! I'm going to be following your progress on Instagram
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your note, Amy! I am sorry you are all struggling with this, I have really aggressive uveitis as well. I'm so happy we connected, and hopefully you are able to connect with many other families going through similar situations. It's not easy but support is key! We are hear for you! xo
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