Phil & Carol Ann's 50th Anniversary Ride
Several years ago as Phil and I were driving to Philip’s house in Portage, MI I commented to Phil that we needed to think about what we wanted to do to celebrate our 50th Anniversary coming up in a few years because there was no way I was going to let our kids send us on a cruise!! We decided that we would like to go on a bicycle ride to visit our family and special close friends. As we talked about our plan we decided we would start our ride in May of 2014. Since we still are the owners of The Kickstand Cycling & Fitness (which we founded in 1981) we would break our ride into sections and ride during three-day holiday weekends.
On May 16, 2014 Phil and I celebrated that 50th Anniversary. Our children, Phil and Carmen Pattengale along with Cathy and Bruce Mitchell as well as Tammy and Gary Shoemaker helped us celebrate by hosting the Coffee Hour between services at our church, the First Presbyterian Church of Sturgis, MI. We had made plans to ride to Philip and Carmen’s house on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, then to South Bend, IN on Monday and on to the farm at Kouts, IN on Tuesday. During the festivities Cathy announced that unknown to us they had contacted Chris Herrmann (who has worked for us off and on during the last couple of summers at the store) and made arrangements with him to work for us the week of June 21 through June 29 so that we could have that entire week to ride the next section of our 50th Anniversary Ride.
Memorial Day Weekend was a beautiful weekend and we had sunny skies, warm temperatures and no rain!!! all three days. Sunday afternoon we rode 41.4 miles Northwest to Portage, MI. On Monday morning we left for South Bend, IN. and rode 68 miles southwest with a few hills along the way. Along the way we rode into Lawton, MI and discovered a fund-raiser pulled pork dinner being served at the fire station. We contemplated whether we should eat our peanut butter sandwiches we had packed or go for the Pulled Pork sandwiches. I’ll let you figure out which one we chose!! Tuesday we continued our ride southwest towards the family farm in Kouts, IN stopping that afternoon at the Oak Grove Cemetery where we sat on a cement bench and had a snack of bananas, almonds, and hard-boiled eggs. The Cemetery was beautiful with the veterans’ tombstones decorated with flags. We had fun riding on a brand new road that was closed to traffic as they finished rolling the top layer of asphalt. Unfortunately, the 8-10 mph winds of the day were coming from the southwest so we rode into the wind all 62 miles that day. BUT, LaPorte and Porter counties in Indiana are pretty much “flat as a pancake”! We arrived at the homes of Larry & Charlene Hamann and Kevin & Christi Hamann shortly after 6:00 pm. After chatting for an hour or two we loaded our tandem and BOB trailer into our van (which we had dropped off on Saturday evening) and headed back to Sturgis. We were tired, sunburned, happy, and proud that we had ridden 171 miles in three days. We had a great time on our three-day ride and had no problems…body, bike, or weather.
And now we are looking forward to June 21 when we will drive down to the farm and then bicycle Southeast through the state of Indiana as we head to Cathy and Bruce’s home in LaGrange, KY.
On May 16, 2014 Phil and I celebrated that 50th Anniversary. Our children, Phil and Carmen Pattengale along with Cathy and Bruce Mitchell as well as Tammy and Gary Shoemaker helped us celebrate by hosting the Coffee Hour between services at our church, the First Presbyterian Church of Sturgis, MI. We had made plans to ride to Philip and Carmen’s house on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, then to South Bend, IN on Monday and on to the farm at Kouts, IN on Tuesday. During the festivities Cathy announced that unknown to us they had contacted Chris Herrmann (who has worked for us off and on during the last couple of summers at the store) and made arrangements with him to work for us the week of June 21 through June 29 so that we could have that entire week to ride the next section of our 50th Anniversary Ride.
Memorial Day Weekend was a beautiful weekend and we had sunny skies, warm temperatures and no rain!!! all three days. Sunday afternoon we rode 41.4 miles Northwest to Portage, MI. On Monday morning we left for South Bend, IN. and rode 68 miles southwest with a few hills along the way. Along the way we rode into Lawton, MI and discovered a fund-raiser pulled pork dinner being served at the fire station. We contemplated whether we should eat our peanut butter sandwiches we had packed or go for the Pulled Pork sandwiches. I’ll let you figure out which one we chose!! Tuesday we continued our ride southwest towards the family farm in Kouts, IN stopping that afternoon at the Oak Grove Cemetery where we sat on a cement bench and had a snack of bananas, almonds, and hard-boiled eggs. The Cemetery was beautiful with the veterans’ tombstones decorated with flags. We had fun riding on a brand new road that was closed to traffic as they finished rolling the top layer of asphalt. Unfortunately, the 8-10 mph winds of the day were coming from the southwest so we rode into the wind all 62 miles that day. BUT, LaPorte and Porter counties in Indiana are pretty much “flat as a pancake”! We arrived at the homes of Larry & Charlene Hamann and Kevin & Christi Hamann shortly after 6:00 pm. After chatting for an hour or two we loaded our tandem and BOB trailer into our van (which we had dropped off on Saturday evening) and headed back to Sturgis. We were tired, sunburned, happy, and proud that we had ridden 171 miles in three days. We had a great time on our three-day ride and had no problems…body, bike, or weather.
And now we are looking forward to June 21 when we will drive down to the farm and then bicycle Southeast through the state of Indiana as we head to Cathy and Bruce’s home in LaGrange, KY.