Countdown to March 29 Launch

I am embarking on what I hope will be a 4 month, 17,000 mile motorcycle ride through the US and parts of Mexico and Canada to visit family and friends and to benefit Children International.  Please consider supporting me – learn more here Will's Charity Ride for Children International - PledgeIt

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It was suggested that starting this blog and recording my retirement ride might incentivize people to contribute, and so here I am.  (Conny, you know who you are!)  It is 4 weeks today till I embark on my retirement ride that I am hoping serves dual purposes; to usher in the next chapter of my life, and to raise funds for children in need by supporting the charity Children International.  I have been a supporter of Children International since 1991 and have sponsored several children since then.  

I have been very fortunate in my life, by the luck of being born into my family in the US, having the opportunities to experience life, to make new friends, achieve the education that allowed me to have a career that enables me to pursue my personal interests, to meet and marry my beautiful wife, Charlene, and have the furry children that we live with.  

With all this good fortune, I'd like to take this opportunity to help out those that are less fortunate and I am asking for your support in doing that by pledging to contribute to the Children International fundraiser that I've invited you to contribute to.

Children International

The link to the charity campaign is at PledgeIt, it is now live. 

Check it out.

Here is the first child that I sponsored via Children International.  After visiting Guatemala for the first time in 1991 and seeing that there were people that I might, in a small way, help out, I began my sponsorship of children in need.

Here I visited her and her family in Guatemala in 2003 when I was on my walk about through Latin America.  This was taken in front of her home a stucco covered cinder block house with a corrugated tin roof, two rooms, no running water or heat.

These are the 3 children that I sponsor now.  

This is Dulce, she lives in a small village in Guatemala.  She is 16 years old.

This is Madelyn, she also lives in Guatemala and is the oldest of 3 children.  She is 15 years old.

This is Ximena, she lives in a village in the Mexican state of Jalisco.  She is 6 years old.

March 4, 2024

This is a trial launch as I am still working out the details of the charity ride with Children International and the fund raising portal PledgeIt.

March 7, 2024 

The charity portal for Children International went live today, and so I was trying to think how I could incorporate how it became self aware....But no, here it is.  PledgeIt

That said, things are becoming to be real, the launch countdown is T-minus 22 days and counting.

One of the precautions that I am taking on my solo ride is to employ a Garmin InReach device that uses GPS satellites to keep track of my location.  It can also be used in an emergency to get help.  If at any time you'd like to see where I am in my ride, go to this URL, https://share.garmin.com/JFSTY.