Day 6: Lompoc to Ventura 86 miles

Today we rode through the hills to the coast. We watched dolphins swimming north as we sat on the cliff above the sea at our morning rest stop. The community of Santa Barbara served us a wonderful array of ice creams and toppings along our route. We danced en masse at our afternoon rest stop. And along the way, I thought about the gift and the power of empathy.
The gift of listening and communicating to someone that you care and are in touch with what they are feeling. That at that moment when they need it mostthe rise is at least one person who is connected to them, like a land line they can hang onto and pull themselves up. The power of empathy goes beyond just the help it gives those who receive it, the power of empathy extends to the giver, for they too are strengthened by the giving. They too get the strength of the connection that is forged in the moment they let go of themselves and the two souls reached out toward one another.

Tomorrow, we have been warned, will be especially tough on the first year's. We have lived for a week in this traveling utopia on earth, where people express their unconditional caring and empathy every day to people they don't even know. Where people ask "How was your ride today?", and really want to know. Where their first impulse is to help you, to let you go first, and invite you to join them. Tomorrow night at this time, that world will be just a memory, something that we cannot explain to our other world friends. Lorri Jean says we must try to spread the spirit ALS during the coming year. And change the world, one act, one person at a time. So that next year, when once again the riders come together, that humanity is better able to deal with the challenges of our time. And we as individuals, are further on our way.