The official Dancing Deer Baking Company Blog

Home!! OK so I did this crazy thing and miraculously arrived home safely on the wings of so many people who made it possible. Now what I’m thinking about is how to use this foundation to do more to end homelessness - after catching my breath.

HUGE apologies and thanks to the friends who arrived at the Commons expecting the event to be there. It was moved at the last minute, appropriately, to Project Hope and because of security issues the decision was made not to publicize the new location. We had a wonderful homecoming with the Mayor, Undersecretary of Housing Tina Brooks, One Family and the Deer family and friends. The Governor was unable to come due to the passing of his mother-in-law yesterday – very sad news and we are all sending our warm thoughts to Diane, Deval and their family.

HUGE apologies also that while naming my list of thanks I somehow forgot to shine a light on:

• UPS which delivered all the Gingerbread Houses and supplest to the shelters up and down the East Coast

• Our great vendor Arcade Snacks which supplied all those fruits, nuts, chocolate and candies. They also supplied me with power food and think personally ate a case of dried apricots and mixed nuts.

• Two volunteers who jumped in to man the logistics, do the outreach in 14 cities, manage content posting on the blog from the home base -- Lindsay Interland and Kate Brown – very talented young professionals who were extraordinary. I‘m still wondering how Beth landed them and impressed with the way they stepped in so seamlessly.

• Two friends of Beth, Amy Catlin and Kim Ludlow who volunteered to round out the road crew and joined us for about a week each to do everything from driving to technical solutions. You really can’t imagine how enormous a contribution that was unless you’ve been on a similar journey. It was a completely intense and exhausting 24/7 commitment. These people are angels as well as smart and talented. We just wouldn’t have made it without them.

Please forgive me for not calling you out at the ceremony today. The danger in remembering this now is that I’m likely to wake up in the middle of the night and forget another important sponsor or supporter. So you may be hearing from me on this topic again soon. At the moment I’m running out of juice and about to shut down.

Today’s ride started unofficially at 3:30 when I awoke and listened to the pouring rain. We weren’t actually pedaling the final leg until 5:20 AM and arrived n Boston 125 miles, 8,000 feet of elevation, 9 hours, 6,000 calories and many moments of riding camaraderie later. Some time mid day we began to dry out but the sun didn’t really come out from the clouds until pretty much the very moment we were over the city line n to Hyde Park. The first dry pavement I had seen in 9 days however showed itself back n Pomfret, CT. Very welcome sight. Having had only three 20 mile pulls on the entre tarp this long haul over a hilly course in imperfect weather conditions actually was a breeze because two great riding friends were pulling the whole way. Thank you Ashley and Scott! Also Beth and Kim hung in there and drove at 16 miles an hour for the entire day (which I am sure I would not be capable of doing myself) to make sure we arrived on time with none of the travel surprises or hiccups that are commonplace.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to be home with my son, clean and in my own bed.

I’m looking forward to being back at work tomorrow on the cookie selling side of Dancing Deer. We have lots to do and I miss everyone.